CUPRESSUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



CUPRESSUS. 



521 



but once started on the path of disease 

 and novelty-hunting, and artificially in- 

 creasing what are often mere " states " of 

 the conifer, it is not so easy to return 

 to more natural ways unless the planter 

 protects himself by raising the tree from 

 seed, or by insisting upon seedling plants. 

 In the case of the Lavvson Cypress there 

 are, without end, variegated (i.e. merely 

 diseased) forms, and many others with 

 pompous Latin names, not only worthless 

 themselves, but filling the catalogues with 

 a pretence of sham science, chaotic lists of 

 long and absurd names, the laughing stock 

 of the learned. Unhappily the public is 

 likely to think one name as good as another, 

 and the really good points of a noble tree 

 are obscured by the system of giving a 

 name to every trifling " form " that hap- 

 pens to occur in a nursery. 



C. FUNEBRIS (Chinese Funeral Cypress). 

 A hardy picturesque tree in its own country, and 

 sometimes reaching a height of nearly 50 feet. 

 Robert Fortune described it as having a beau- 

 tiful effect in the Chinese landscape ; but, un- 

 happily, it is not hardy in our country, though 

 here and there it may be seen in sheltered and 

 warm places. 



C. GOVVEXIANA (Go-wen Cypress). A low 

 growing tree from the neighbourhood of Mon- 

 terey, 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 spreading, slender, and pendu- 

 lous 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. Unfortunately, I think, owing to 

 propagation 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 is called "sports," and which 

 is really often a manifestation of disease, 

 especially when they take the variegated form. 

 There are a number of fastigiate forms of 

 which, perhaps, the best is Waterer's ; but 

 they are mere malformations, and as they get 

 old the branches are pressed so closely to- 

 gether that they die, unless we take the trouble 

 to tie or wire them up in some way to prevent 

 them falling about. The spreading 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 things 

 in catalogues does harm in weakening the in- 

 terest 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 suc- 

 ceeding in our country, save in seashore gar- 



dens and very mild districts. It is naturalised 

 in temperate countries like Spain and Portugal. 



C. MACNABIANA (Maenad's Cypress). A 

 California:! tree, rather dwarf and without 

 much of the grace of the Cypress generally. 

 Compact, glaucous, not more than 10 feet 

 high ; coming from a cold country the true 

 plant is quite hardy. 



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, even near the 

 coast. 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 ot 

 the Northern Pacific coast and British Colum- 

 bia, and has various synonyms and several 

 variegated varieties of no value 

 compared with the wild tree. I 

 have found it to thrive in cold 

 ordinary soils, and it is a plea- 

 sure to see it at all seasons. The 

 English name of Yellow Cypress 

 was given by the colonists of Van- 

 couver's Island from the fresh 

 wood being yellow in colour. 

 Syn : TJniiopsis borealis. 



C. OBTUSA (Great Japanese 

 Cypress). A very beautiful ever- 

 green tree of the mountains of. 

 Japan, better known in our gar- 

 dens 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 Cupressus sem- 

 in nurseries under the name of pervirens. 

 " Retinospera." The confusion 

 of names in this plant and its varieties has 

 caused its great value as a tree to be over- 

 looked. It grows nearly 100 feet high, and 

 is very handsome. In its own country it is 

 much used to form avenues. It has many 

 varieties with Latin names, but few of them 

 of real value as they grow old. 



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 Cypress, 

 but a hardy and useful one. Syn., Re- 

 tinospora. 



C. SEMPERVIRENS (Eastern Cypress). One 

 of the most graceful of all evergreen trees, 

 giving distinct and good effects in many parts 

 of the East and Northern Africa, spreading 

 into Northern India also. In some North 

 Italian gardens it grows well over 100 feet, 

 as in the Giusti Garden at Verona, and there 

 are very old trees in Rome and many other 

 parts of Italy. In Algeria and Tunis I have 

 seen it forming noble shelters for the orange 

 gardens, far better than any clipped tree could 



