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Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
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'Athrotaxis cupressoides' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
A tree of 20 to 50 ft; branchlets round and cord-like, the final subdivisions about 1⁄8 in. in diameter. Leaves scale-like, very closely flattened to the twig, blunt or rounded at the apex, the bases overlapping, the exposed part 1⁄8 to 1⁄6 in. long, diamond-shaped, convex or somewhat keeled on the back, dark green. On the main branches the leaves are much larger, and sharply pointed. Ripe cones to 1⁄2 in. in diameter; scales rounded at the apex, with a short spiny point on the outer side.
Native of the mountains of central and western Tasmania at 3,000–4,000 ft. It is a small tree and not so valuable in Tasmanian forestry as A. selaginoides, besides being rarer. It is easily distinguished from the other two species by its very closely appressed leaves.
In the British Isles it has not grown so tall as the other two species. The best recorded are: Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow, Eire, a two-stemmed tree 45 × 51⁄4 + 31⁄2 ft, and two others both 36 × 41⁄2 ft (1966); Headfort, Co. Meath, Eire, pl. 1914, 30 × 31⁄4 ft (1966); Bicton, Devon, 30 × 21⁄4 ft (1957); Hergest Croft, Heref., 20 × 13⁄4 ft (1961); Leonardslee, Sussex, 20 × 1 ft (1960).
specimens: Bicton, Devon, the tree measured in 1957 no longer exists; Camperdown Park, nr Dundee, 31 × 41⁄2 ft (1985); Clynders, Gareloch, Aberd., 30 × 41⁄4 ft (1979); Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow, Eire, 48 × 6 + 41⁄4 ft, 36 × 51⁄4 ft and 52 × 43⁄4 ft (1980); Headfort, Co. Meath, Eire, pl. 1914, 36 × 33⁄4 ft (1980).