A tree up to 70 ft in the wild in sheltered positions away from the sea, but smaller in exposed places; bark reddish, shed in thin plates. Leaves four-ranked, scale-like, appressed to the stem at the base, the free part spreading, tapered to an acute apex. Cones egg-shaped, brown, 3⁄8 to 1⁄2 in. long, with four scales. Seeds small, unequally winged.
Native of Chile and Argentina, but rare in the latter country and having its main distribution on the Pacific coast south of 42° S. It is common on the Guaitecas Islands and in the Chonos archipelago. At one time this conifer was confused with Fitzroya cupressoides, to which it bears some similarity in foliage and with which it sometimes occurs in the wild. But in L. uvifera the leaves are four-ranked and tapered to the apex, while in Fitzroya they are in threes and broadest above the middle.
Although introduced in 1849, L. uvifera is very rare in collections. Mr Hillier tells us he had a small tree at Chandler’s Ford, Hants, which produced fertile seed. There is a thriving young plant at Wakehurst Place, Sussex, of rather fastigiate habit.