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Nothofagus betuloides (Mirbel) Blume

Modern name

Nothofagus betuloides (Mirb.) Oerst.

Synonyms

Fagus betuloides Mirbel

An evergreen tree or shrub of dense, leafy habit, said to attain a height of almost 100 ft in valleys where it is sheltered from the Pacific winds, but more common under 50 ft high and often a shrub on the coast. Young shoots sticky, minutely downy. Leaves set about 14 in. apart on the twigs, ovate, wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, 12 to 1 in. long, 14 to 34 in. wide, margins edged with small usually bluntish teeth, upper surface dark varnished green, lower surface paler, finely net-veined, often sprinkled with minute dark glands, glabrous on both sides; petiole about 18 in. long. Male flowers solitary, shortly stalked, with ten to sixteen stamens; anthers red. Valves of husk four, narrower than the nutlets, with short tooth-like processes.

Native of the coasts of Chile from Valdivia province to Cape Horn, also occurring in Argentina on Tierra del Fuego and in Santa Cruz province. The date of introduction of this species, and of N. antarctica, is usually given as 1830, though Loudon, the authority for this statement, merely gave it as the reputed date and mentioned no specimens. It was in this year that Capt. King’s surveying expedition to the Magellan region returned to Britain, and it may be that they brought with them plants or seeds of both species. Thirteen years later, J. D. Hooker sent to Kew a Wardian case containing plants of both N. betuloides and N. antarctica, but whether these survived the reversal of seasons is not recorded. It is, however, certain that N. betuloides was established in cultivation in the second half of the 19th century, and available in the trade.

N. betuloides is hardy except in the coldest parts, though it is unlikely to stand exposure to cold, drying winds. It is a sombre but impressive tree of dense habit, its dark green leaves closely crowded on the branchlets. Its relative N. dombeyi is of more open habit, with usually paler, more widely spaced leaves, which are sharply toothed and mostly lanceolate (at least at the tips of the shoots); in N. betuloides the leaves are stubby even at the ends of the shoots and the toothing blunt. There is the further difference that in N. betuloides the male flowers are solitary, whereas in N. dombeyi they are mostly borne in threes.

At Grayswood Hill, Haslemere, there is a fine specimen of this species, planted in 1882. In 1906 it measured 34 × 214 ft; a recent measurement is 50 × 634 ft (1969). In previous editions of this work a tree at Pencarrow, Cornwall, was mentioned; this was planted in 1847 and measured 36 × 414 ft in 1903; it died and was cut down in 1925; another in the collection there, planted several decades later, measures 46 × 7 ft (1957). Another old specimen of which the planting date is known grows at Hafordunas, Denbigh; planted in 1855 it is 46 ft high and has three stems, the largest 812 ft in girth (1960); its size is given by Elwes and Henry as 36 ft × 5 ft 2 in. in 1904.

Some other specimens recorded recently are: Wakehurst Place, Sussex, in Heather Garden, 33 × 412 ft (1965); Kitlands, Leith Hill, Surrey, 45 × 8 ft. (1965); Bulkley Mill, Conway, 49 × 312 ft (1960); Muncaster Castle, Cumberland, 72 × 514 ft (1971); Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, Eire, 52 × 612 ft (1966); Mount Usher, Co. Wicklow, 85 × 834 ft (1966).



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Wakehurst Place, Sussex, 46 × 5 ft (1979); Grayswood Hill, Haslemere, Surrey, pl. 1882, 52 × 734 ft (1982); Pencarrow, Cornwall, pl. 1847, 52 × 8 ft at 3 ft (1975); Hafodunos, Gwyn., pl. 1847, 59 × 912 ft (1984); Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, Eire, 52 × 714 ft (1980); Mount Usher, Co. Wicklow, Eire, 52 × 312 ft (1975).

Genus

Nothofagus

Other species in the genus