THE GIANT CYPRESSaOF MEXICO 



TJ7ITH full appreciation of the beauty, and recogni- 

 " tion of the majestic size of the giant cypress of 

 Mexico shown in the accompanying photograph, excep- 

 tion must be taken to the supposition that it is the 

 "oldest tree in the world." The honor of being the 

 "oldest living thing" belongs to the General Sherman 

 tree in the Sequoia National Park in California. These 

 Mexican cypresses grow to enormous size, and are 

 believed to attain an age of 2000 years, but it must 



(7\ distichum). While the Mexican species is not, in 

 general, believed to be extraordinarily long-lived, a few 

 isolated trees have become famous on account of their 

 enormous bulk and age. The tree shown in the illus- 

 tration is believed to be the largest and oldest of the 

 notable examples of this Mexican cypress. It stands 

 in the church grounds in the center of the little village 

 of Maria Del Tule, which is on the road from Oaxaca 

 to Guatemala by way of Tehauntepec. This tree is 



(Photograph copyrighted, 1920, by the Curtis Publishing Company.) 



THIS PHOTOGRAPH, BY DR. E. J. DILLON, REPRODUCED THROUGH THE COURTESY OF THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, OF 

 PHILADELPHIA, SHOWS ALVARO OBREGON, MEXICO'S PRESIDENT, STANDING IN FRONT OF A GIANT CYPRESS IN MEXICO. 

 THIS TREE HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A PLACE IN THE HALL OF FAME BY MRS. M. E. JUDD, OF DALTON, GEORGIA 



be remembered that the General Sherman was "a lusty 

 youth of fifteen hundred summers , when Christ was 

 born." Its exact age cannot be determined without 

 counting the rings, but it is probably well in excess of 

 thirty-five hundred years. The General Sherman, great- 

 est of all the celebrated Sequoias, with stupendous pro- 

 portions admitting of no exaggeration, stands unassailed 

 as the largest and oldest living thing. 



The Mexican Bald Cypress (Taxodium mucronulatum 

 Tenore), is very closely related to our bald cypress 



about 150 feet high and has a maximum diameter 

 (measured near the ground) of 40 feet. At five feet 

 from the ground its actual diameter is about 35 feet. 

 The spread of the crown is 141 feet and its age is 

 estimated to be about 2,000 years. As is the case with 

 a good many Mexican trees, this cypress, long known 

 and famous among the inhabitants of the country, 

 has been known to science only since 1853, anc ^ 

 even then it was first described from trees cultivated 

 in Italy. 



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