72 Illustrations of Conifers. 



CUPRESSUS. 



EVERGREEN trees belonging to the tribe Cupressineae of the order 

 Coniferae. Branchlets 4-angled, flattened or rounded, on adult 

 plants covered with minute scale-like, appressed leaves, either (a) 

 uniform in four ranks, or (b) of two kinds, the back and front pair 

 flattened, the lateral pair conduplicate. The leaves on young plants 

 are spreading and acicular. Flowers monoecious, terminal, solitary. 

 Staminate flowers cylindrical with the stamens arranged in decussate 

 pairs. Female cones composed of four to ten peltate scales each 

 bearing two or more seeds. 



About fifteen species of Cupressus have been described ; natives of the Levant, Hima- 

 laya, China, Japan and North America. 



