LXXVII. CONI'FER^E: CUPRE'SSUS. 1073 



GENUS X. 



CUPRE'SSUS L. THE CYPRESS. Lin. Syst. Monoe v cia Monadelphia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 1079. ; Juss. 413. 



Synonymes. Cypres, Fr. ; Cypresse, Ger. ; Cipresso, Ital. ; Ciproste, Port. ; Cypros, Hungarian. 



Derivation. According to some, from kuo, to produce, and parisos, nearly resembling ; in allusion 

 to the regularity of the branches ; or from Cyparissus, a beautiful youth of the Island of Ceos, who 

 was changed into a cypress ; or, according to others, from the Isle of Cyprus, where one species of 

 the tree was found in abundance. 



Gen. Char. Male flower in terminal solitary catkins. Pollen of each flower 

 contained in 4 cases, attached to the scale on the inner face at the lower 

 edge. Scale!? peltate. Female flowers with the ovaries connate with the 

 bractea, and constituting a receptacle. Ovules to each receptacle 8 or more. 

 Strobile globose. Receptacles, as included in the strobile, peltate, having 

 an obscure tubercle at the tip ; disposed collaterally, not imbricately. Seeds 

 compressed, angular ; affixed to the narrow basal part of the receptacle. 

 Cotyledons 2. 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, evergreen ; adpressedly imbricated, 

 linear. Flowers yellowish. Evergreen trees, or large shrubs ; natives of 

 Europe, Asia, and North America ; remarkable for the fine grain and dura- 

 bility of their wood ; propagated by seeds, which require the same soil and 

 treatment as the ^bietinae. 



t 1. C. SEMPERvfRENS L. The common, or evergreen, Cypress. 



Identification. Hort. Cliff., 449. ; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 2. ; Lam. Diet., 1. 



Synonymes. C. pyramidalis Hort. ; ? C. fastigiata Hjrt. and Pin. Wob. p. 186. ; Cyprus pyramidal, 



Cypres ordinaire, Fr. , gemeine Cypressenbaum, Ger. ; the Italian Cypress. 

 Engravings. Dend. Brit., t. 155. ; N. Du Ham., 3. t. 1. 127 ; the plates of this tree in Arb. Brit., 



1st edit., vol. viii.j and our Jig. 1996. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Branchlets quadrangular. Leaves imbricated in 4 rows, 

 obtuse, aclpressed, convex. Cones globose ; scales mutic. Branches straight. 

 (Wtild.) A fastigiate evergreen tree. South of Europe, Greece, Turkey, 

 Persia, and Asia Minor. Height, in its native country, 50 ft. to 60 ft. ; in 

 the climate of London, 30 ft. to 40 ft., rarely 50ft. Introduced before 1548. 

 Flowering in April and May, and ripening its dark brown cones in the fol- 

 lowing March or April. 



Varieties. 



t C. s. 1 stricta Mill. Diet. Cypres male, Fr. Branches upright, and 

 closely pressed towards the trunk. It is the most common form 

 of the species. (See the plate of C. sempervirens in Arb. Bnt., 1st 

 edit., vol. viii.) 



1 C. s. 2 /wrizontalis Mill. Diet. C. horizontal N. Du Ham. 3. p. 6. ,- 

 C. expansa Hort. Par.; Cipresso femino Ital. Branches spread- 

 ing. (See the plate of this tree in Arb. .Brit., 1st edit., vol. viii.) 

 There is an old tree of this variety in the Chelsea Botanic Garden, 

 which by some is considered a species ; and in the Gard. Mag. for 

 1839, p. 696., an engraving is given of the Cypress of Mistra, which 

 appears to be of this variety. The latter, when measured by the Earl 

 of Aberdeen in 1803, had a trunk 26ft. in circumference at 4ft. from 

 the ground, and appeared to be 150 ft. high. 



The cone of the cypress is composed of large, angular, corky scales, slightly 

 convex on the outside, streaked in rays, and mucronate in the centre ; be- 

 coming woody and separating when ripe ; on the inside, e.nding in a thick 

 angular peduncle, to the extremity of which adhere 4 little nuts, wl.ich are 

 bony, obovate, compressed, or irregularly angular, and covered with a thin 

 membranaceous skin of a dun colour. The seed is of a bay colour, and of a 

 linear-oblong shape. The wood is hard, fragrant, and of a remarkably fine 



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