CYPRESS. 



(Cupressus and Taxodium.) 



The name cypress has been chiefly applied to trees of the gen- 

 era Chamaecyparis, Cupressus, and Taxodium. Most species of 

 the genus Chamaecyparis are now called cedars (see page 173). 

 The Cupressus, while true cypresses and important in Europe, 

 have no significance in America. The single species of the 

 genus Taxodium is not a cypress, but supplies the "cypress " 

 wood of American commerce. It is perhaps best to confine 

 the name cypress to the true cypress (Cupressus} and to the 

 commercial cypress (Taxodium}. 



The true cypress (Cupressus) was once important in the 

 East, and is thought by some to have given the gopher wood 

 of which the Ark was built.* Pliny mentions cypress doors 

 good after four hundred years, and a statue good after six 

 hundred years. Herodotus and other ancient authors f speak 

 of it. Authorities in the middle ages thought that it would 

 never decay. The cypress gates of the early St. Peter's, 

 removed after one thousand years of service, were found to be 

 in perfect condition.^ Cypress was much prized for mummy- 

 cases. Living trees long figured as funeral emblems, and are 

 yet planted over graves in Italy and Turkey. The common 

 or evergreen cypress is the chief European species. The eight 

 or nine American representatives are of little note save as they 

 are sometimes used for hedges and ornamentation. The 

 Monterey and Gowan cypresses (Cupressus macrocarpa and 

 Cupressus goveniana) are thus employed. There are small 

 evergreen scale-like leaves. 



The Monterey cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) is noted 

 throughout the entire California region because of a clump of 

 trees, frequently visited, that include the only original specimens 



* Funk & Wagnalls' Standard Dictionary, quoting Horace Smith, " Gayeties 

 and Gravities," Chapter VII, p. 57- 



f Pliny 16, 214 and 16, 215; Herodotus 4, 16; Virgil, Georgics, 2, 443. 



J Encyclopaedia Britannica, B. 6, p. 745. 



S Brockhaus, Kon-versations-Lexikon, B. 4, P- 6 S4- 



183 



