424 CUPRESSUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. CUPRESSUS. 



Galeottiana, miniata, ocymoides, pur- 

 purea, Roezli, and silenoides, all of less 

 importance for the flower garden than 

 those before named. 



CUPRESSUS ( Cypress) . Graceful 

 evergreen trees, charming for back- 

 grounds, but not many really hardy, 

 save in seashore and in warm southern 

 districts, and even there they often 

 perish in hard winters. The Monterey 

 Cypress is beautiful in Ireland and in 

 the western coast gardens, but even 

 there it perishes in hard winters. The 

 beautiful Eastern Cypress, so fine in 

 the Italian and Eastern landscape, is 

 worth planting under the best con- 

 ditions ; so distinct a tree would, if 

 hardy, have been everywhere planted 

 long "ago. 



Many know the beauty of a few of 

 these trees in the small state, but few 

 realise their dignity and beauty as 

 forest trees, such as the Great Japanese 

 Cypress, and if we take the trouble to 

 grow and group them well there are 

 no more effective trees in their peren- 

 nial verdure. But the system of 

 increasing them adopted in nurseries 

 by which these trees, being very free 

 in growth, lend themselves to increase 

 from cuttings like verbenas and gera- 

 niums, does not help to the possession 

 of the trees in all their dignity. Trees 

 we should raise always in the natural 

 way i.e., from seed and I find some 

 of these cypresses and their allies break 

 into a number of stems and lose the 

 tree form, the result of this cutting 

 propagation, so entirely needless in 

 the case of forest trees of the highest 

 beauty, which some of these are. 



C. FUNEBRIS (Chinese Funeral Cypress). 

 A hardy, picturesque tree in its own 

 country, and sometimes reaching a height 

 of nearly 50 feet. Robert Fortune de- 

 scribed it as having a beautiful effect in 

 the Chinese landscape, but it is not hardy 

 in our country, though here and there it 

 may be seen in sheltered and warm places. 



C. GOWENIANA (Gowen Cypress). A 

 low growing tree from the neighbourhood 

 of Monterey, in California, and of doubtful 

 hardiness in our country. It may be 

 classed with a group, unhappily, many of 

 them tender in this country. It is known 

 from the Monterey Cypress by its spread- 

 ing, slender, and pendulous habit and 

 small cones. 



C. LAWSONIANA (Lawson Cypress). A 

 tall and beautiful tree of the Pacific coast 

 of N. America, 100 feet high, and very 

 free in our climate. Owing to propaga- 

 tion from cuttings, instead of in the natural 

 way from seed, the tree often breaks into 



a number of stems, which interferes with 

 its natural habit and beauty. It varies 

 very much into what are called " sports," 

 and which are often a manifestation of 

 disease, especially when they take the 

 variegated form. There are a number of 

 fastigiate forms, but they are mere mal- 

 formations, and as they get old the 

 branches are pressed so closely together 

 that they die, unless we take the trouble 

 to tie or wire them up in some way to 

 prevent them falling about. The spread- 

 ing varieties are not so liable to this, but 

 many of them go back, as they get older, 

 towards the natural form of tree of which 

 they are mere states. For the pendulous 

 ones there is perhaps a little excuse for 

 the globular ones none at all ; and the 

 multiplicity of Latin names for these 

 varieties in catalogues does harm in 

 weakening the interest in the natural 

 tree. 



C. LUSITANICA (Cedar of Goa). A name 

 well known through books and lists, and 

 a graceful tree of uncertain origin, but not 

 succeeding in our country, save in seashore 

 gardens and very mild districts. It is 

 naturalised in temperate countries like 

 Spain and Portugal. 



C. MACROCARPA (Monterey Cypress). A 

 very graceful and often stately tree, much 

 planted and succeeding well near the sea 

 coast. It is described in catalogues and 

 even in books on Forestry as hardy, but 

 it is not so, perishing in severe winters. 

 Like many other conifers, it has varieties 

 of little value. 



C. NOOTKATENSIS (Yellow Cypress). 

 Really a most distinct tree, and I think 

 the most precious of the whole family 

 for our country, being quite hardy. It 

 is a native of the N. Pacific coast and 

 British Columbia, and has various 

 synonyms and several variegated varie- 

 ties of no value. I have found it to thrive 

 in cold ordinary soils, and it is a pleasure 

 to see it at all seasons. The English name 

 of Yellow Cypress was given by the 

 colonists of Vancouver's Island from the 

 fresh wood being yellow in colour. 



C. OBTUSA (Great Japanese Cypress). A 

 very beautiful evergreen tree of the 

 mountains of Japan, better known in 

 our gardens under the wrong name of 

 Retinospora. It has many forms and 

 so-called varieties which are really states 

 of growth only, and which are nearly 

 always grown in nurseries under the name 

 of " Retinospora." The confusion of 

 names in this plant and its varieties 

 has caused its great value as a tree to be 

 overlooked. It grows nearly 100 feet 

 high, and is very handsome. In its own 

 country it is much used to form avenues. 



C. PISIFERA (Peafruited Cypress). Here, 

 as with C. obtusa, there is much confusion 

 of names and giving of Latin ones to mere 

 varieties and states of growth. It is a 

 much smaller tree than the great Japanese 



