1 1 5 2 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



i. Var. horizontalis, Gordon, Pinetum, 68 (1858). 

 Cupressus horizontalis, Miller, Diet. No. 2 (1768). 



Branches spreading, the tree assuming the habit of a cedar. This is the 

 common form in the wild state. 



2. Var. stricta, Aiton, Hort. Kew. iii. 372 (1789). 



Var. pyramidalis, Nyman, Consp. 675 (1881). 

 Var. fastigiata, Hansen, in Journ. Roy. Hort. Soc. xiv. 287 (1892). 

 Cupressus pyramidalis, Targioni-Tozzetti, Oss. Bot. iii.-v. 53 (1808). 

 Cupressus fastigiata, De Candolle, Fl. Franc, v. 336 (1815). 

 Cupressus conoidea, Spadoni, Xilog. i. 189 (1826). 



Branches erect, nearly parallel to the stem, forming a tree of narrowly- 

 pyramidal outline. This is the form most commonly met with in cultivation. 



It is doubtful if the varieties, which depend upon the form of the fruit, though 

 distinguished by Parlatore, can be maintained, as he admits that he observed on 

 the same tree cones of different shapes, ovate-oblong, oblong, and globose, with 

 both umbonate and umbilicate scales. The following may be mentioned, although 

 it is extremely doubtful if it can be distinguished in cultivation. 



3. Var. indica, Parlatore, in De Candolle, Prod. xvi. pt. ii. p. 469 (1868). 



Cupressus Whitleyana, Carriere, Conif. 128 (1855). 



Cupressus Doniana, Royleana, and australis, Koch, Dendrologie, II. pt. ii. p. 146 (1873) 



Habit of var. stricta, with globose cones and mucronate umbonate scales. This 

 variety as well as the spreading form is cultivated in northern India. 



4. Variegated and dwarf varieties, which we have not seen, are mentioned 

 by Carriere. 



5. Var. thujcefolia, Knight and Perry, Syn. Conif. 19 (1850). 



A sub-variety of the upright cypress, in which the branchlet systems are 

 regularly arranged in one plane. 



Distribution 



This species is indigenous in the mountains of northern Persia, in Syria, 

 Cilicia, Greece, and the islands of Rhodes, Crete, and Cyprus. Pliny believed that 

 it was introduced from Crete into Italy. Humboldt considered the native home 

 of the cypress to be in the mountains of Buseh, west of Herat, but so far as our 

 present knowledge goes it is now a rare and always a planted tree in Afghanistan. 

 Hehn's 1 supposition that it was in ancient times imported from Persia into the 

 Lebanon and Cyprus is without any foundation. 2 



Dr. Stapf informs me that this tree is truly wild in the Elburz mountains in 

 northern Persia, where he saw it on rocky slopes opposite Mendjil and Rudbar. 

 Buhse collected it on the sides of the Safed Rud valley. 



1 Wanderings of Plants and Animals, 212. 



* Mouillefert, Essences Forestiires, 402 (1903), identifies with this species some pieces of wood found at Carthage, which 

 had been used for coffins by the Carthaginians about 500 B.C. At present the tree only exists in Algeria near houses and 

 in gardens. 



