98 
SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
CONIFER. 
Cupressus, of which about eighteen species can be distinguished, inhabits eastern and western North 
America, Mexico, and Lower California,! eastern Asia, the temperate Himalayas, the Levant, and south- 
eastern Europe. Seven species are found in the territory of the United States; of these one is 
widely distributed in the Atlantic and Gulf coast regions, and the others are confined to the Pacific slope 
of the continent. The genus is an ancient one, existing in Greenland in the tertiary period and later 
extending into western Europe, from which it has now entirely disappeared.” 
Many of the species of Cupressus produce wood esteemed in the arts, the most valuable timber- 
trees of the genus being the North American Cupressus Lawsoniana, Cupressus Nootkatensis, and 
Cupressus thyoides, the Japanese Cupressus obtusa® and Cupressus pisifera,' the Himalayan Cu- 
nia, China, the Himalayas, southwestern Asia, and southeastern 
Europe. 
CHAM&cyYpPARIS (Sections Chamecyparis and Thuyopsis, Ben- 
tham & Hooker Gen. iii. 427). Fruit small, maturing the first 
year; seeds 1 to 4, with broad wings, thin seed-coats, and minute 
hilums ; branchlets flattened, in one plane, often deciduous ; leaves 
entire, those of the lateral ranks conduplicate, nearly covering 
those of the other ranks. Inhabitants of the coast regions of At- 
lantic and Pacific North America and of Japan. 
1 Hemsley, Bot. Biol. Am. Cent. iii. 183. 
Little is known of the specific characters, distribution, or uses 
of the Mexican Cypresses which appear to be common in highland 
forests. Three species have been described, but two of them are 
perhaps merely forms of the same tree, and it is not improbable 
that the Arizona Cypress, included in this work, should be referred 
to one of the described Mexican species, although material to 
establish its identification is not available. 
Cupressus Guadalupensis (Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xiv. 300 
[1879].— Engelmann, Brewer § Watson Bot. Cal. ii. 114), of 
Guadaloupe Island and the mainland of Lower California, although 
sometimes considered a variety of the California Cupressus mac- 
rocarpa (Cupressus macrocarpa, var. G'uadaloupensis, Masters, Gard. 
Chron. ser. 3, xviii. 62, f. 9, 11, 12 [1895]), appears distinct in its 
more flaky bark, more slender branchlets, and glaucous and more 
glandular foliage. 
This beautiful tree has been cultivated for the last twenty years 
in several gardens near San Francisco, and has been introduced 
into Europe. 
2 Saporta, Origine Paléontologique des Arbres, 98.— Zittel, Handb. 
Paleontolog. ii. 323, 325. 
3 K. Koch, Dendr. ii. pt. uu. 168 (1873). — Masters, Jour. R. 
Hort. Soc. xiv. 207. 
Retinospora obtusa, Siebold & Zuccarini, F7. Jap. ii. 38, t. 121 
(1842?), 
Chamecyparis obtusa, Endlicher, Syn. Conif. 63 (1847). — 
Miquel, Ann. Mus. Lugd. Bat. iii. 168 (Prol. Fl. Jap.). — Parla- 
tore, De Candolle Prodr. xvi. pt. ii. 466. — Franchet & Savatier, 
Enum. Pl. Jap.i. 471. — Beissner, Handb. Nadelh. 92. — Hansen, 
Jour. R. Hort. Soc. xiv. 281 (Pinetum Danicum). 
Chamcecyparis breviramea, Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. Sci. St. Pé- 
tersburg, x. 489 (Meél. Biol. vi. 25) (1866). — Franchet & Sava- 
tier, l. c. 470. — Beissner, J. c. 97. 
Chameecyparis pendula, Maximowicz, I. c. (I. c.) (1866).— 
Franchet & Savatier, J. c. 471. — Beissner, 1. c. 98. 
Thuya obtusa, Masters, Jour. Linn. Soc. xviii. 491 (Conifers of 
Japan) (1881). 
Cupressus obtusa, var. breviramea, Masters, Jour. R. Hort. Soc. 
Zl. v. (1892). 
Cupressus obtusa, the Hi-no-ki of the Japanese, a native of the 
southern mountain provinces, is the most valuable coniferous timber- 
tree of Japan. Sacred to the disciples of the Shinto faith, it is 
planted in the neighborhood of Shinto temples, which are built of 
its wood ; and it is also largely cultivated for its timber in central 
Japan, usually at elevations of two or three thousand feet above 
the sea on northern slopes and in granite soil. In the planted 
forests and in the temple gardens of Nikko the Hi-no-ki often 
attains the height of a hundred feet, with a tall straight trunk 
three feet in diameter near the ground and free of branches for 
fifty or sixty feet, a narrow round-topped head, and pendulous 
branchlets. The wood is light, strong, tough, and very durable 
in contact with the soil, straight-grained, free from knots and resin, 
pleasantly fragrant, and white, straw-colored, or pink, with a lus- 
trous surface. The palaces of the Mikado in Kyoto were made 
from the wood of this tree, and the roof was covered with strips of 
its bark ; it serves for the frames of Buddhist temples and the 
interior finish of the most expensive houses, and is considered the 
best wood to lacquer ; during festivals food and drink are offered 
to the gods on lacquered tables made of Hi-no-ki wood, and from 
a table of Hi-no-ki the victim of Harikari received the fatal 
dagger. (See Dupont, Essences Forestiéres du Japon, 18. — Rein, 
Industries of Japan, 233. — Sargent, Forest Fl. Jap. 73.) 
Introduced into the eastern United States in 1862, Cupressus 
obtusa is hardy as far north as Halifax on the coast of Nova 
Scotia, although, like many other Japanese trees, it suffers in the 
New England and Middle States from summer droughts, and does 
not promise to attain a large size. 
In Japan Cupressus obtusa is a favorite subject for dwarfing, and 
is often cut into eccentric shapes. Many abnormal varieties or 
juvenile forms have long been cultivated, and have been introduced 
The most distinct of these 
abnormal forms are Retinospora lycopodioides (Gordon, Pinetum, 
Suppl. 92 [1862]), in which the stout erect branchlets are densely 
clothed with bluntly awl-shaped dark green leaves, and Retinospora 
Jilicoides (Gordon, Pinetum, ed. 2, 363 [1875]), with long slender 
branches clothed with short broad sprays of quadrangular branch- 
lets. 
For other garden varieties of Cupressus obtusa, see Carriére, 
Traité Conif. ed. 2, 135. — Gard. Chron. n. ser. v. 235. — Veitch, 
Man. Conif. 242. — Beissner, 1. c. 93. 
4 K. Koch, Dendr. I. c. 170 (1873). — Masters, J. c. 207. 
Retinospora pisifera, Siebold & Zuccarini, J. c. 39, t. 122 
(1842 ?). 
Chamecyparis pisifera, Endlicher, J. c. 64 (1847).— Miquel, 
1. c. — Parlatore, J. c. 467. — Franchet & Savatier, l. c. 470. — 
Beissner, J. c. 83. — Hansen, 1. c. 281. 
Thuya pisifera, Masters, Jour. Linn. Soc. xviii. 489 (Conifers 
of Japan) (1881). 
into American and European gardens. 
