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MONOECIA MONADELPHIA. 



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643 



This IS the largest, and in some respects, the most remarkable tree in the 

 low country of the Southern States. Its usual height is from 90 — 100 feet, 

 and though commonly only from 2 — 4 feet in diameter, it is frequently found 

 nearly twice that size, and if measured within 3 feet of the surface of the 

 ground, its dimensions would be still greater. Its roots for 6 or 7 feet be- 

 neath the surface of the ground, appear to be but a continuation of the stem, 

 while its small ramifications rise to the surface of the eaith, and produce at 

 15, 20 or 30 (eet from its base, small conical knobs from 1 — 2 feet high, 

 which are always hollow, and never discover any signs of vegetation. Tlie 

 trunk of this tree for 50 or 60 feet is naked and almost undiminised in size; 

 its branches then rise obliquely, and terminate in a ilat or fastigate summit. 

 From this peculiar conforni'-ition of the branches, a cypress tree can^be dis- 

 tinguished as far as the eye ci^n reach: while from the fineness iyfiU leaves, 



the comparatively small size of its head, and its massive and extended roots, 

 it resists the violence of our autumnal gales more obstinately than any other 

 of ouf forest trees. 



The leaves of the Cypress are small, linear, acute, glabrous, arrayed dis- 

 tichally along small deciduous branches, which serve as a common petiole; a 

 few are sometimes scattered along the small woody branchlets. The sterile 

 flowers in terminal aments. Calyx a scale, ovate-lanceolate, imbricate. Co' 

 rolla 0- Filaments 0. Aatliers 4, nearly round, sessile. The fertile flo- 

 rets in obovate sessile cones, clustered near the summit of the branches. C«- 



lyjo a scale, ovate-lanceolate, l-flowered? Styles 2, thick. Cone globuhr, 

 with an irregular surface, exuding an aromatic gum. Seeds or Nut angular, 

 enclosing a cylindrical kernel which contains the embryo. 



The Cypress grows only in wet miry soils, and it is in situations where a 

 wet alluvial soil of 5 or 6 feet deep overlays a bed of sand, that it attains its 

 greatest dimensions. It begins to decay at the centre in small vesicular 

 cells, from whence, in this state, it is commonly said to be honey-combed at 

 heart. From the straightness of its fibre, it is very liable to be "heart- 

 shaken." 



The wood of this tree is soft, rather fine-grained, and when exposed to the 



weather is the most durable of our timber. Where it can be procured easily it 

 is preferred to the yellow pine for the frames and coverings of houses; and if 

 it were not for its price, would be preferred to the while pine for the inte- 

 rior work. It is universally employed for shingles. Nearly all the ca- 

 noes or small boats of the country are fabricated out of it. It could be 

 employed advantageously in the construction of vessels, and is particu- 

 larly sought after for all of those works which, from the rise and fall of the 

 tide, or from other circumstances are perpetually exposed to the action of 

 heat and moisture. 



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Our inhabitants distinguish two varieties of this tree, called from slight 

 shades of difference In the colour of the bark and wood, White and Black 

 Cypressj the wood of the latter is preferred, and the tree is supposed by 

 Some to grow^in a richer soil. This, however, is but prejudice; the two va- 

 neties are found mingled indiscriminately in the same swamps, and the 

 causes of their difference is not nndei stood. , 



Var. Imbricaria, Nutt. This is a small tree growing in pine-barren ponds. 

 It produces its knobs (Exostoses) more abundantly than thehjrge variety; and 

 <>n its lower branches the leaves are frequently hubricate after the manner of 

 ^he Junipers. But on the upper branches the leaves are often expanded and 



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