“QUEEN OF STATELINESS”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22066, 23 September 1933, Page 6

“QUEEN OF STATELINESS”

CLAIM MADE FOR AUSTRALIAN TREE (From Oub Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, September 14. A band of Australian tree-loverfi have made a claim of most stately tree in the world for a species indigenous to this country and which might be said to be on the verge of extinction. The encroachments o! civilisation lessen the flora of a country, the various species of which can only be safe, eventually, in the national parks or preserves or in cultivation. Some varieties become permanently lost. There is a romance about the " quCen of stateliness ” known to scientists as Callistris Columellaris and to laymen as the Northern Rivers cypress pine. Dr Stuart Scougall, president of the Rangers’ League, whose principal objective is the preservation of Australian flora and fauna, said that while on a visit to the Melbourne Botanic Gardens about three years ago he was spellbound in admiration of a towering tree of great beauty. He identified it as the Northern Rivers cypress pine, but the director of the gardens expressed some doubt about ite classification. The specimen had borne no seed, and had not grown appreciably in 40 years. Subsequently, Dr Scougall examined a specimen in the Sydney Botanic Gardens, but this, too, had given no seed. Forest rangers in the region of its habitat were appraised of the facts, but they were unable to locate specimens, although another one was found in the Lismore Gardens. This bore no seed, as' far as could be ascertained. Recently, Dr Scougall said, his attention was attracted by a resemblance, from a distance, of trees in the grounds of the Gladesville Mental Hospital, near Sydney. These had for long years been admired by tree-lovers as an imported cypress, and the suggestion that they might be indigenous created great interest. Close search revealed that two or three trees, out of a cluster of about 50, had a scanty supply of cones which, with other structures, enabled its identification by_ Mr Edwin Cheel, curator of the national herbarium. Mr Cheel expressed the belief that the trees at Gladesville were probably raised from seed between 70 and 80 years ago, that they were now making their first sparse seeding, and that their life span was probably 200 years. The shape of the Northern Rivers cypbess pine is that of the ordinary cypress, but its foliage is incomparably richer, moulded in rounded bouquets, the dark dimples of the surface being softly edged with bright green, giving the appearance of emerald velvet. Landscape architects say that the tree possesses architectural values that make it a landscape feature of superb and incomparable beauty. One described it as “ the final word in soaring stateliness.” Another said that if the species could be re-estab-lished in horticulture, it would certainly be adopted in suitable locations throughout the world because it was unmatched among fastigiate trees.