450 CUPRESSUS 



long, awl-shaped, arranged in opposite pairs, and stand out from the axis 

 at an angle of about 45. Var. PLUMOSA ARGENTEA has creamy white young 

 shoots ; var. PLUMOSA AUREA has them yellow ; whilst var. PLUMOSA ALBO- 

 PICTA has them creamy white at the tips only. 



4. Var. SQUARROSA, Masters (Retinispora squarrosa, Siebold.} This retains 

 permanently an even more juvenile type of foliage and branching than 

 plumosa, and one characteristic of seedlings of the species. Normally, seedlings 

 retain it for three or four months, when the plumosa type of foliage develops ; 

 the following year and the year after the typical adult form begins to appear. 

 Var. squarrosa is a very dense-habited bush of uniform silvery, glaucous hue, 

 the branching very bushy, irregular, often lumpy. Leaves about in. long, 

 narrow, flat, and pointed ; glaucous on both sides, and standing out at angles 

 of 45 to 90. They are arranged in pairs or in threes, sometimes spirally, 

 more often decussately. A very pleasing and striking small tree or bush. Var. 

 SQUARROSA SULPHUREA has a distinctly yellowish hue, very marked when 

 grown alongside the ordinary form. Both are apt to get thin with age, and 

 are often improved by an occasional clipping. 



C. SEMPERVIRENS, Linnceus. ITALIAN CYPRESS. 



A tree 80 to 150 ft. high and 4 to 10 ft. in girth of trunk in the Medi- 

 terranean region, its branching either horizontal or fastigiate, the bark 

 thin ; final subdivision of branchlets terete or squarish, ^ to ^ in. wide. 

 Leaves scale-like, dark green, arranged in four rows, closely pressed to the 

 twig or axis, overlapping each other at their bases, the exposed part diamond- 

 shaped, blunt at the apex. Cones globose to oblong, f to \\ ins. long; 

 scales eight to fourteen, usually rising to a point in the middle, but sometimes 

 flat or slightly hollowed, with a thin boss in the centre. Seeds smooth. 



The horizontal form is distinguished as HORIZONTALS, and is probably 

 the type. The erect-growing one is known as STRICTA, but more generally in 

 Italy as "C. pyramidalis," sometimes also as " fastigiata." 



Native of S.E. Europe and Persia, and the " cypress " of the ancients ; 

 cultivated in England for at least four centuries. It lives out-of-doors at 

 Kew, but does not thrive there like C. macrocarpa, needing a warmer climate. 

 This tenderness is more especially marked in young trees. There are fine 

 examples scattered over the south and west parts of our islands. Wherever 

 planted it likes shelter, and should be put out young. The erect-growing 

 form is the most popular in this country, and is the tree whose tall, dark, 

 columnar shape is so characteristic a feature of Italian gardens and cemeteries. 

 It lives to be many hundreds of years old in S. Europe. In the Boboli 

 Gardens, familiar to visitors to Florence, an avenue of cypresses is 300 

 years old, yet shows no evidence of decline. At Somma, in Lombardy, 

 there is, perhaps, the most famous tree in Europe. It is of the horizontal- 

 branched type, and grows close to the Simplon road, which Napoleon is said 

 to have diverted in order to save it. The legend that this tree 'antedates 

 the Christian era is not now accepted as true. The wood of the Italian 

 cypress is remarkably durable, and was much employed for making large 

 chests for clothing, etc., in the Middle Ages, its odour, agreeable to human 

 beings, keeping away moths. According to Loudon, the doors of St Peter's 

 at Rome, made of this wood, stood for over noo years, and were found 

 to be perfectly sound on removal. 



Among the cypresses, C. sempervirens is most closely allied to 

 C. macrocarpa, but may usually be distinguished by the finer, more delicate 

 spray and smaller leaves, also by the frequently shallow, pyramidal apex 

 of the scales, and the smooth, not warted, seeds. 



