A NEW CYPRESS FOR ARIZONA 



By GEO, B, SUDWORTH 

 Dendrologist, Forest Service, U, S, Department of Agriculture 



APPROXIMATELY nineteen spe- 

 cies of cypress are now known in 

 the world. Eight species occur in 

 the United States. Five of these grow in 

 the Pacific region, two in our South- 

 west, and one species in the South At- 

 lantic and Gulf Coast region. The others 

 inhabit Mexico, Lower California, east- 

 ern Asia, portions of the Himalayas, 

 eastern Mediterranean countries, and 

 southeastern Europe. They are trees of 

 very ancient origin. Remains of them 

 have been found in the tertiary period of 

 the earth's history in Greenland, while 

 subsequently the cypresses appeared in 

 western Europe, in which, however, 

 they are not now represented. 



AH of the cypresses (exclusive of 

 Taxodium ) are grouped either under 

 the genus Cupressus, or divided between 

 this genus and Chamaecyparis. The 

 true cypresses belong properly to the 

 genus Cupressus and comprise the 

 species found in Lower California, 

 Mexico, Arizona, California, southwes- 

 tern Asia, China, the Himalayas, and 

 southeastern Europe. This group of 

 cypresses is characterized by large, 

 thick-scaled fruit, which matures in two 

 years, and produces numerous wingless 

 seeds. The remainder of the cypresses, 

 which may be included under the genus 

 Chamaecyparis, differ from the true cy- 

 presses in having very much smaller 

 fruit, which is matured in one* season, 

 and produce only a few seeds with 

 thin papery wings. 



The cypresses important for their 

 timber are our Pacific Slope species, the 

 Lawson Cypress and "Yellow Cedar," 

 the White Cedar of the Atlantic region. 



two Japanese species, the Himalayan 

 Cypress, and the Pyramidal Cypress of 

 southeastern Europe and southwestern 

 Asia. The latter Old World species 

 ( Cupressus sempervirens) has doubt- 

 less been known longer to civilized 

 people than any other cypress. It does 

 not exist now in the wild state, being 

 preserved only in cultivation. The 

 ancient Romans carried this cypress 

 from Greece to Italy where they planted 

 it extensively. The exceedingly durable 

 wood is -said to have been used by the 

 Egyptians for mummy cases, while the 

 doors of the Roman temple of Diana 

 and the statue of Jupiter are believed 

 to have been made from the wood of 

 this cypress. 



Up to the present time but one cy- 

 jjress, Cupressus arizonica, has been 

 known to inhabit Arizona. It occurs 

 mainly on the Santa Rita, Santa Cata- 

 lina, and Chiricahua mountains. It is also 

 said to occur on the extreme eastern 

 part of San Francisco Mountain. Care- 

 ful explorations are yet required to 

 definitely outline the range of this 

 species, which was discovered as re- 

 cently as 1882. This cypress is charac- 

 terized by a rather thin, somewhat 

 stringy, anastomosely furrowed bark 

 of dark red-brown color. 



In strong contrast with this rough- 

 barked character, is the perfectly 

 smooth bark of the cypress recently 

 found by the writer on the north slope 

 of Verde River canyon in Yavapai 

 County, Arizona, and for which I pro- 

 pose the name Cupressus glabra. The 

 trunks have throughout a very thin, 

 smooth, dark ])urple-red bark. Each 

 year's growth of bark (from about one- 



*Our so-called "Yellow Cedar" (Clwmcccyparis nootkateiisis) may prove an exception 

 to this. Trees planted in England are said to show a biennial habit of fruiting, but con- 

 vincing proof of this is still lacking. Further careful studies are being made of this and 

 other members of this group in order to settle the doubt, recently raised. 



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