AMERICAN FOREST TREES 141 



The uses of cypress are so nearly universal that a list is impossible. 

 In Illinois alone it is reported for seventy-eight different purposes. 

 There is not a state, and scarcely a large wood-using factory, east of the 

 Rocky Mountains which does not demand more or less cypress. 



The tree is graceful when young, but ragged and uncouth when 

 old. Though a needleleaf tree, it yearly sheds its foliage and most of its 

 twigs. The fruit is a cone about one inch in diameter; and the seed is 

 equipped with a wing one-fourth inch long and one-eighth inch wide. 



When cypress stands in soft ground which most of the time is 

 under water, the roots send up peculiar growths known as knees. They 

 rise from a few inches to several feet above the surface of the mud, and 

 extend above the water at ordinary stages. They are sharp cones, 

 generally hollow. It is believed their function is to furnish air to the 

 tree's roots, and also to afford anchorage to the roots in the soft mud. 

 When the water is drained away, the knees die. 



Cypress is widely planted as an ornament, and a dozen or more 

 varieties have been developed in cultivation. 



POND CYPRESS (Taxodium imbricarium) so closely resembles bald cypress 

 with which it is associated that the two were once supposed to be the same. Pond 

 cypress averages smaller and its range is more circumscribed. The name pond cy- 

 press, by which it is popularly known in Georgia, indicates the localities where it is 

 oftenest found. It is the prevailing cypress in the Okefenoke swamp in southeastern 

 Georgia. The general aspect of the foliage and fruit is the same as of bald cypress. 

 No detailed examination of the wood seems to have been made, but in general appear- 

 ance it is like the other cypress. It is said that little of it ever gets to sawmills 

 because it grows in situations where logging is inconvenient. 



MONTEREY CYPRESS (Cupressus macrocarpd). This tree has only one name 

 and that is due to its place of growth on the shores of Monterey bay, California. Its 

 range is more restricted than that of any other American softwood. It does not 

 much exceed 150 acres, though the trees are scattered in a narrow strip for two miles 

 along the coast. They approach so close the breakers that spray flies over them in 

 time of storm. Trees exposed to the sweep of the wind are gnarled and of fantastic 

 shapes. Their crowns are broad and flat like an umbrella, but ragged and unsym- 

 metrical in outline. That form offers least resistance to wind, and most surface to 

 the sun. The trees take the best possible advantage of their opportunities. Tall 

 crowns would be carried away by wind ; and the flat tops, with a mass of green foliage, 

 catch all the sunlight possible. They need it, for they grow in fog, and sunshine is 

 scarce. Sheltered trees develop pyramidal tops. It is widely planted in this and 

 other countries, and when conditions are favorable, it is graceful and symmetrical. 

 The largest trees are from sixty to seventy feet tall, others are five or six in diameter; 

 but the tallest trees and the largest trunks seldom go together. The cones are an 

 inch or more in length, and each contains about 100 seeds. The leaves fall the third 

 and fourth years. Wood is heavy, hard, strong, and durable, but is too scarce to be 

 of value as lumber, even if the trunks were suitable for sawlogs. The Monterey 

 cypress is of peculiar interest to botanists and also to physical geographers. The 

 few trees on the shore of Monterey bay appear to be the last remnant of a species 

 which was once more extensive. The ocean is eating away the coast at that point. 



