CYPRESS TREE. 



CUPRESSUS. 



CUPRESSIDE.-E. MON(ECIA MONADELPHIA. 



French, cypres ; Italian, cipresso. 



THE Deciduous Cypress, Cupressus disticha, is a na- 

 tive of America, where it grows in watery places to a 

 prodigious height and bulk. It is very hardy with re- 

 spect to cold, but if planted in too dry a soil, will neither 

 grow freely nor produce much fruit. John Tradescant, 

 who first introduced this tree from Virginia, had one in 

 his garden at South Lambeth, which is thirty feet high, 

 and in good health and vigour, although it was not only 

 neglected, but a number of nails had been driven into 

 the trunk to fasten lines for drying linen. 



Mr. Drummond, in his First Steps to Botany, lately 

 published, gives this tree as an instance of a curious freak 

 of nature. He quotes the following passage from Bar- 

 tram's Travels : 



" It stands'" (this tree, which in America is called the 

 White Cedar) " in the first order of North American 

 trees. Its majestic stature is surprising ; we are struck 

 with a kind of awe at beholding the stateliness of the 

 trunk, lifting its cumbrous top towards the skies, and 

 casting a wide shade upon the ground, as a dark inter- 

 vening cloud which for a time obscures the rays of the 

 sun. The delicacy of its colour, and texture of its leaves, 

 exceed every thing in vegetation. It generally grows in 

 the water, or in low flat lands, near the banks of great 



