CYPERUS-GRASS, MILLBT. 



CYPRESSES. 



marshes where the cypress grows almost 

 alone are called Cyprie'rcs, cypress swamps, 

 and they sometimes occupy thousands of 

 acres. 



In the deep, miry soil of the swamps in the 



b** esculent. From the integuments of the C. of this mighty stream, form a vast expanse of 



papyrus of Egypt, the ancients first obtained a waters. In Louisiana, those parts of the 



convenient substitute for skins to write upon, marshes where the cypress 

 and the paper since invented still retains the 

 name of paper, derived from Papyrus. 



Although the genus Cyperus appears to be 

 widely dispersed over the world, North Ame- 

 rica and the West Indies possess far the larg- Southern States, the bald cypress attains its 

 est proportion. About twenty-five or thirty utmost developement, rising sometimes to the 

 species are found in the United States. (\ut- height of one hundred and twenty feet, with a 

 talFs Genera.) circumference of twenty-five and even forty 



CYPERUS-GRASS, MILLET (Srirpus syl- ! feet, at the conical base, which, at the surface 



vaticus). The wood clubrush. See SCIRPXJS. j of the earth, is always three or four times as 



CYPERUS, SWEET, or ENGLISH GA- large as the continued diameter of the trunk. 



LJNGALE (Cyperus langrts). This is a wild On this account, in felling them the negroes 



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, tnn^\v, and 

 bright green. 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. Flur. vol. i. 

 p. 53.) 



CYPRESS TREE (Cuprrtsvs ttmperr 

 A hardy shrub, native of the Levant; irrowini: 

 from fifteen to twenty feet high, which throw. 

 out yellow 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'Cnlloch'g Cam. Dirt.) 



CYPRESSES. 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 Cypressits disticha, called, in the Southern 

 and Middle States, Bald Cypress, Klark Cyprest, 

 and White Cypress, the last popular names 

 being applied in the Carolinas. The second 

 species of American cedar is called by bota- 

 nists, Cupressus 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 its 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 j 



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 aivl even depress- 

 ed or drooping upon old tree:. The foliage 

 is open, liirht, and of a fresh ai^ agreeable 

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

 tumn they chain:'' 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, 

 tilN-d with irregular seeds containing cylindri- 

 cal kernels. The seeds retain their productive 

 virtm 1 for two y 



The stocks which grow in places where for 

 half the year they are surrounded with three 

 or f>ur feet of water, have the bark lighter 

 coloured than trees not so much exposed to 

 water. Hence they are called White ('//; /<>..*, 

 whilst those less exposed to water, and having 

 browner bark, and heavier, more resinous, nnd 

 darker wood, are named lllm-k ('yprrw*. 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 preserva4ion 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-groundr, 

 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 White Cedar (Cypressus thyoides) is or.e 



383 



