CUPRESSUS SEMPERVIRENS. 229 



Cupressus sempervirens. Linnaeus, Sp. Plant. II. 1002 (1753.) Pallas, Fl. 

 Ross. I. 11, t. 53 (1784). ' L. C. Richard, Mem. sur les Conif. 50 (1826). London, 

 Arb. et Frut. Brit. IV. 2464, with tigs. (1838). Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. XVI. 468. 

 Gordon, Pinet. ed. II. 95. Boissier, Fl. orient. V. 705. Hooker fil, Fl. Brit. Ind. 

 V. 645. Beissner, ifadelholzk. 102, with fig. Masters in Journ. R. Hort. Soc. XIV. 

 208 ; and Journ. Linn. Soc. XXXI. 325. And many others. 



C. horizontal, Miller, Diet ed. VIII. (1768). Endlicher, Syiiops. Conif. 56. 

 Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. II. 144. 



C. sempervirens horizontalis, Parlatore, D. C. Prodr. loc. cit. Gordon, Pinet. 

 ed. II. 96. 



C. fastigiata, De Candolle, Flore Frai^aise, V. 336. Endlicher, Synops. Conif. 

 37. Carriere, Traite Conif. ed. II. 146. 



C. sempervirens stricta, Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. IV. 2465. 

 C. sempervirens fastigiata, Beissner, Nadelholzk. 102. 

 C. Whittleyana, Gardon. Pinet. ed. II. 102. 



Eng. Roman Cypress. Fr. Cypres commun. Germ. Echte Cypresse, Saulenformige 

 Cypresse. Ital. Cipresso columnare. Kinrapiffffoc of Homer. 



Cupressus sempervirens is common throughout the Mediterranean 

 region from Portugal to Syria, the fastigiate form being often seen 

 in striking contrast to its surroundings and not infrequently a 

 conspicuous feature of the landscape. It also occurs wild in Asia 

 Minor and northern Persia, and planted in north-west India where 

 it sometimes attains a height of 100 feet with a trunk nine feet in 

 girth near the ground. An hypothesis, strongly supported by 

 circumstantial evidence, has been advanced that the common Cypress, 

 although growing spontaneously in many parts of southern Europe, 

 is really of eastern origin, and that it has spread westwards chiefly 

 through human agency. The two forms have been known from 

 time immemorial, and whilst some authors have adopted the fastigiate 

 one as the type and the horizontal-branched as a variety, others 

 have adopted a reversed view, and others again have described them 

 as distinct species. From analogy with fastigiate forms of other 

 species as C. macrocarpa, C, Lawsoniana and even the common 

 oak whose origin is known, it would be safest to infer that the 

 fastigiate is a divergence from the horizontal-branched form. That 

 the two are not specifically distinct we have the authority of 

 Parlatore for stating that upright and spreading branches have been 

 observed on the same tree, and that the two are connected by 

 intermediate forms in which the gradation from one to the other is 

 plainly perceptible.* Both on the continent of Europe where 

 sufficiently hardy, and also in Great Britain, horticulturists have always 

 preferred the fastigiate form and many remarkable arboricultural 

 effects have been produced by it, especially in Italy.. C. sempervirens 

 was cultivated in Great Britain prior to 1548 in which year it 

 was included by Turner in his "Names of Herbes." 



The Cypress is mentioned by many ancient authors from the poet 

 Homer downwards to the end of the classic period, sometimes in 

 connection with funeral rites and sometimes in reference to rural 



* De Candolle's Prodromus, Vol. XVI. p. 469. 



