10 BULLETIN 207, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



become ashy gray. The spherical cones 1 (Pis. IV, V) are borne on 

 stout stems from one-fourth to one-half of an inch long (PL IV, a) , 

 and mature at the end of the second season. In diameter they 

 range from seven-eighths to one-eighth of an inch, and are composed 

 of from 6 to 8 2 scales, armed with large incurved, somewhat flat- 

 pointed bosses. 



The mature cones are smooth, but conspicuously wrinkled, and 

 covered with a deep blue-gray bloom, which when rubbed off reveals 

 a rich dark-brown color beneath. Very old cones (PL IV, a) are 

 ashy-gray, with bosses much less conspicuous 3 than in newly ma- 

 tured cones (PL V). Immature cones of one season's growth are 

 light reddish-brown, with areas of pale-bluish bloom. Mature cones 

 may remain on the trees unopened for from 14 to 18 years, and 

 possibly even longer. 4 The red-brown seeds vary greatly in shape 

 from a rounded to a triangular and somewhat rectangular form, and 

 may be from three-sixteenths to five-sixteenths of an inch long, more 

 often the latter. Each cone contains from about 70 to 112 seeds, the 

 largest number occurring in cones with 8 scales. The large size of 

 the seeds at once distinguishes them from those of Arizona cypress, 

 though in color and form the two are similar. Seed-leaves vary in 

 number from 3 to 4. 



The sapwood of smooth cypress is a pale straw-color and the heart- 

 wood a very light brownish-yellow. Seasoned wood is hard, rather 

 heavy, strong, and with very narrow rings of growth. As in the case 

 of Arizona cypress, the freshly cut, dry wood has a slightly cedarlike 

 odor, which is less pronounced in green wood. Thoroughly seasoned 

 wood is moderately durable in contact with the soil, fence posts last- 

 ing about 20 years, and corral poles 30 to 35 years. Cabins built of 

 the logs 40 years ago are still in a good state of preservation. The 

 small size of the trees and the limited supply have confined the use 

 of the wood mainly to local needs. It has been employed to a 

 limited extent for fence posts, corral poles, and rough house logs, 

 fuel, telephone poles, and mine props. 



1 Male flower-buds (PI. V,a) were abundant when the trees were seen in late autumn. The writer has 

 had no opportunity for examining trees in the spring, so that female flowers have not been obtained. 



2 Very young cones may have 10 scales, but at maturity 2 of the basal ones become abortive. 



3 Due to the thickening of the tissue through growth after maturity. In the case of Cupressus glabra 

 the formation of green spongy tissue in old cones appears to enlarge or thicken only the main body of the 

 cone-scales without increasing the size of the bosses, while in the case of C. arizonica this growth enlarges 

 the bosses as well as the body of the scales. 



* No systematic tests have yet been made of the germination of seeds from cones of different ages. A 

 physical test, however, showed the majority of seeds in the oldest cones to be in a perfectly sound and 

 apparently germinable condition. The almost phenomenal preservation of these seeds can be accounted 

 for only by the green state of the cone, which supplies and maintains an equable amount of moisture, and 

 by the presence of a considerable amount of tannin in the woody parts of the cone-scales which prob- 

 ably prevents decay of the seeds. 



