CYPERUS-GRASS, MILLET. 



CYPRESSES. 



be esculent. From the integuments of the C. ' 

 papyrus of Egypt, the ancients first obtained a 

 convenient substitute for skins to write upon, 

 and the paper since invented still retains the 

 name of paper, derived from Papyrus. 



Although the genus Cyperus appears to be j 

 widely dispersed over the world, North Ame- i 

 rica and the West Indies possess far the larg- 

 est proportion. About twenty-five or thirty 

 species are found in the United States. (Nut- 

 talfx ('latent.) 



CYPERUS-GRASS, MILLET (Scirpus syl- 

 vutini.-}. The wood clubrush. See SCIRPUS. 



CYPERUS, SWEET, or ENGLISH GA- 

 LINGALE (Cyperus longtis). This is a wild 

 perennial plant, growing, but not common, in 

 marshes and moist places, two or three feet 

 high. Its stalk is green and leafless, except 

 two or three small leaves at the top from 

 which the tufts of flowers rise. The root 

 leaves are a foot long, narrow, grassy, and 

 bright <rreen. The flowers are brown. The 

 root is long, moderately creeping, highly aro- 

 matic, and astringent There is a smaller 

 species, the brown cyperus (C. fuscus), which 

 is an annual, and grows much smaller, not 

 reaching to above six inches high ; root of 

 many simple fibres. (Smith's Eng. Flor. vol. i. 

 p. 53.) 



CYPRESS TREE (Cvpressus sempen 

 A hardy shrub, native of the Levant; growing 

 from fifteen to twenty feet high, which throws 

 out ydlow blossoms in May. Its wood is red, 

 very hard, and sweet-scented. It likes a good 

 soil. It is the symbol of sorrow all over 

 Europe, in the East, and even in China. Its 

 wood, from being sonorous, is used for harps, 

 violins, and other musical instruments. 

 Worms never attack it. (Phillip's Shrub, vol. 

 i. p. 188; M'Culloch's Com. Dirt.) 



CY PRESSES. The researches of botanists, 

 says Michaux, have made us acquainted with 

 only seven species of cypresses, of which two 

 are indigenous to the United States, namely, 

 the Cypressus dislirha, called, in the Southern 

 and Middle States, Bald Cypress, Black Cypress, 

 and White Cypress, the last popular names 

 being applied in the Carolinas. The second 

 species of American cedar is called by bota- 

 nists, Ci'prcssus thyoides, and popularly the 

 White Cedar. Both are highly important trees, 

 for the many useful purposes to which their 

 wood is applied. 



Michaux says of the black or bald cypress, 

 that the banks of Indian river in the southern 

 part of the state of Delaware may be assumed 

 as iis northern limit. In proceeding south- 

 ward from this point it becomes constantly 

 more abundant in swamps; but in Maryland 

 and Virginia is confined to the vicinity of the 

 sea, where the winter is milder. Beyond Nor- 

 folk, its limits correspond exactly with those 

 of the Pine Barrens, and in the Carolinas and 

 Georgia it occupies a great part of the swamps 

 which border the rivers after they have passed 

 from among the mountains and entered the 

 low lands. 



The Mississippi from its mouth to the river 

 Arkansas, a distance of more than six hun- 

 dred miles, following the windings, is bordered 

 bv marshes, which, at the annual overflowing 



of this mighty stream, form a vast expanse of 

 waters. In Louisiana, those parts of the 

 marshes where the cypress grows almost 

 alone are called Cypriercs, cypress swamps, 

 and they sometimes occupy thousands of 

 acres. 



In the deep, miry soil of the swamps in the 

 Southern States, the bald cypress attains its 

 utmost developement, rising sometimes to the 

 height of one hundred and twenty feet, with a 

 circumference of twenty-five and even forty 

 feet, at the conical base, which, at the surface 

 of the earth, is always three or four times as 

 large as the continued diameter of the trunk. 

 On this account, in felling them the negroes 

 are obliged to raise themselves upon scaffolds 

 five or six feet above the ground. The base is 

 generally hollow for three-quarters of its bulk. 

 The summit is not pyramidal like that of 

 spruces, but is widely spread and even depress- 

 ed or drooping upon old trees. The foliage 

 is open, light, and of a fresh and agreeable 

 tint, the leaflets being small and fine. In au- 

 tumn they change from a light green to a dull 

 red, and are shed soon after. Boiled during 

 three hours in water, they afford a fine, durable 

 cinnamon colour. To bunches of very minute 

 flowers, succeed cones about the size of the 

 thumb, roundish and uneven on the surface, 

 filled with irregular seeds containing cylindri- 

 cal kernels. The seeds retain their productive 

 virtue for two years. 



The stocks which grow in places where for 

 half the year they are surrounded with three 

 or four feet of water, have the bark lighter 

 coloured than trees not so much exposed to 

 water. Hence they are called White Cypresses, 

 whilst those less exposed to water, and having 

 browner bark, and heavier, more resinous, and 

 darker wood, are named Black Cypresses. When 

 destined to be employed in the arts, both kinds 

 should be felled in winter, and kept a sufficient 

 length of time for the wood to become* perfectly 

 dry. The wood of the cypress is far more 

 durable than that of the pine, and is especially 

 useful for making shingles to cover buildings 

 of all kinds. Cedar rails for post and rail- 

 fences are also in great demand in every por- 

 tion of the Middle States where the oak and 

 chestnut trees have become scarce. A large 

 trade in cedar shingles is carried on between 

 the southern parts of Norfolk, Wilmington, &c., 

 with the West Indies. 



It would be unavailing, says Michaux, to re- 

 commend the preservation and multiplication 

 of the cypress in the maritime districts of the 

 Carolinas and Georgia, though for an extent 

 of more than nine hundred miles they have 

 neither stone nor slate for building; it becomes 

 .daily more profitable for the increasing popu- 

 lation to convert the marshes into rice-grounds, 

 which afford a sure subsistence to the inhabit-* 

 ants and. swell the mass of exported produce. 

 Instead of wood, the houses will be constructed 

 of brick, which is already beginning to be 

 done, and covered with slate imported from the 

 Northern States or from Europe. It is highly 

 probable that in less than two centuries, the 

 cypress will disappear from the Southern 

 [ States. 



The While Cedar (Cyprcssus thyoides) is one 



383 



