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Fitzroya

Family

Cupressaceae

A monotypic genus of conifers, native to a restricted area of temperate S. America, named after Captain Fitzroy, commander of the surveying voyage of the Adventure and Beagle, who brought back specimens and gave an interesting account of the tree. Its distinguishing characters are the short, dark green, spreading leaves, arranged in whorls of three; and its cones with nine scales arranged in three whorls, the lowermost sterile, the upper and sometimes the middle one fertile. In Libocedrus uvifera (Pilgerodendron uviferum), with which it occurs in the wild, and with which it has been confused, the leaves are arranged in four ranks and the cones have only four scales. A related genus, not further treated in this work, is Diselma, which has been included in Fitzroya by some botanists. It contains only one species – D. archeri Hook. f. – a native of Tasmania. It is a shrub or small tree with closely appressed leaves and cones with four scales.

Species articles