102 The Ground Cypresses 



which persist for many years; that of younger stems separates into irregular scales, 

 which expose the bright reddish inner layers on falling. The twigs are stout, be- 

 coming smooth, Ught reddish brown, and somewhat glaucous. The leaves are pale 

 green and glaucous, ovate, about 3 mm. long, tightly appressed, or sHghtly spread- 

 ing at the sharp-pointed apex, thickened, and usually without glands, sometimes 

 faintly glandular on the back. The staminate flowers are oblong, about 5 mm. 

 long, blunt at the apex; the 6 or 8 stamens have broad yellow connectives. The 

 stout-stalked cones are subglobose, about 2 cm. long, reddish brown, densely glau- 

 cous, composed of 6 to 8 scales tipped with stout, often incur\'ed, projections; the 

 seeds are oblong to nearly triangular, 1.5 to 3 mm. long, brown, narrowly winged. 



The wood is soft, close-grained, grayish, with yellow streaks; its specific gravity 

 is about 0.48. It is used locally for fuel and in construction. 



Cupressus guadalupensis S. Watson, with which this tree has been confused, 

 inhabits Lower California. 



XII. THE GROUND CYPRESSES 



CHAMiECYPARIS SPACH 



HAMi^^CYPARIS consists of about 6 species of evergreen trees or 

 shrubs now growing along the eastern and western coasts of North 

 America, in Japan and Formosa, but fossil representatives are reported 

 from Greenland and southern Europe. 



The leaves are in opposite pairs, scale-hke, ovate, taper-pointed, the tips 

 spreading, or appressed; on sterile branches and on young plants they are longer, 

 linear- lanceolate, and spreading. The flowers are monoecious, small, and borne 

 at the ends of the twigs, the two kinds on different branchlets. The staminate 

 flowers are oblong, consisting of numerous stamens, their filaments stout, with 

 connectives that are broader than long, usually covering 2 nearly globular 

 anther-cells; the pistillate flowers are oblong, consisting of about 6 opposite, 

 peltate, fertile scales bearing 2 to 5 erect ovules, and one or more pairs of sterile 

 scales at the base and apex. The fruit is a small globose cone, ripening the first 

 season and remaining on the branches for some time, formed only of the enlarged 

 ovule-bearing scales of the pistillate flower; the scales are abruptly enlarged, and 

 rounded, flattened or depressed at the apex, and marked by a short, central pointed 

 projection. Seeds i to 5 under each cone-scale, ovate to ovate-oblong, the outer 

 coating papery, the inner hard; they have two broad wings and 2 cotyledons. 



The great variety of plume-like evergreens cultivated under the name of 

 Retinospora are of this genus and belong to the Japanese species ohtusa and pisijera. 



The name is Greek, meaning ground cypress, the type species being C. thyoides. 



Eastern swamp tree; twigs slender, flattened. i. C. thyoides. 

 Western trees. 



Twigs stout, scarcely flattened; leaves glandless or obscurely glandular. 2. C. nootkatensis. 



Twigs slender, flattened; leaves distinctly glandular. 3. C. Lawsoniana. 



