The Cypresses 



KEY TO SPECIES 



A. Bark of tree thin; ridges flat; leaves blue-green. 

 B. Twigs slender; leaves dull, glandular. 



(C. thyoides) white cedar 

 BB. Twigs stout; leaves bright, not glandular. 



(C N ooikaiensis) sitka cypress 

 AA. Bark of tree thick; ridges rounded, leaves bright green, 

 glandular. (C. Lawsoniana) lawson cypress 



This genus of six species is distributed in North America and 

 Japan and on the Island of Formosa. 



^A^hite Cedar {Chamcecyparis thyoides, Britt.) — A fast- 

 growing, pyramidal tree, 40 to 80 feet high, with flat, graceful spray 

 on erect, spreading branches. Bark pale, reddish brown, furrowed, 

 stringy, often terfninal. Wood light reddish brown, soft, light, 

 weak, aromatic, close grained, easily worked, very durable in soil. 

 Buds naked, very small. Leaves dull blue-green, minute, scale- 

 like, opposite, 4-ranked, lateral pairs keeled, others roncave, fitting 

 compressed twigs. Flowers, April, monoecious, small, terminal, 

 made of 4 to 6 scales; staminate red or yellow, abundant; pistil- 

 late few, greenish. Fruit woody, spherical cone, \ inch in diame- 

 ter, annual, glaucous, blue-green, becoming brown; scales with 

 beak in centre; seeds winged, i to 2 under each scale. Preferred 

 habitat, deep swamps near seacoast. Distribution, seaboard states, 

 Maine to Mississippi. Uses: Important ornamental evergreen. 

 Wood used for interior finish of houses, for boats, fence posts, rail- 

 road ties, buckets, barrels, shingles, and small woodenware. 



The Atlantic seaboard from Massachusetts Bay south has a 

 cypress whose common name, "white cedar," is unfortunate. 

 There ought to be distinct names enough to go around. All the 

 species of a genus ought to have the same generic name in English 

 as well as in Latin or Greek. However, white cedar is the trade 

 name of the lumber, and there is little chance that the cedar mud- 

 dle will be cleared by calling this tree a cypress. 



The tree is a lover of swamps and doesn't get far back from 

 the coast. In cultivation it thrives in any sandy loam, if not too 

 dry. It is lumbered to some extent and devoted to uses that test 

 its durability in contact with water and exposure to sun and wind. 



The Sitka Cypress (C. Nootkatensis, Lamb.) grows over 

 100 feet tall, with a trunk over 5 feet through, near the coast of 

 Alaska. Its yellow branchlets lighten the gloom of its blue-green 



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