Gupressus.] LXXVi. CONIFEEjE. 533 



1. 0. sempervirens, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. xvi. Ji. 468 ; Eeichenb. Ic. Fl. 

 Germ. t. 534. In India only the cylindrical (so-called pyramidal) variety 

 occurs, G. fastigiata, DC. Gypress. — Gvpresso, Ital. Vern. Saru, sarw, 

 sards, N.W. India. 



A tall tree with a fluted stem ; branches erect, often adpressed to the 

 trunk, forming a narrow dense cylindrical crown of dark-green foliage. 

 Branchlets four-sided, leaves ovate-oblong. Cones few, 1 in. diam., and 

 grey when ripe, greatly varying in shape, on peduncles J in. long ; scales 

 rough, with a projecting point or boss, convex or keeled. Seeds ovoid 

 or oblong, angular, with a narrow wing. 



Planted in gardens in Afghanistan and N.W. India, e.g., at Agra, Ajmir, 

 Delhi, also in Kashmir and the outer Himalaya, in Kamaon to 3000 ft. Grows 

 in Calcutta. Cultivated throughout the Mediterranean region. Hardy in 

 England. The pyramidal variety is not found wild anywhere ; the variety 

 with spreading branches, regarded by Grisebach and others under the name of 

 ft honzontalis, as a distinct species, is wild on the west side of Lebanon, on 

 the mountains of Crete and Asia Minor, and probably also in North Persia. 

 Fl. Feb.-April ; the fruit ripens during summer of the second year, and is often 

 long persistent on the tree. In N.W. India the tree attains 6-7, occasionally 9 

 ft. girth, and 70-80, occasionally 100 ft. in height. Its growth is slow ; Grise- 

 bach mentions two cypresses found by him near a convent on Mount Athos, 

 proved by inscriptions to be more than 1000 years old, the radius of which had 

 increased at the rate of ^ inch only a-year. Near Somma, in Lombardy, a 

 cypress is shown which was renowned in Caesar's time on account of its size 

 and beauty. The bark is thin (less than i in.), dark grey or brown, with 

 numerous longitudinal wrinkles and shallow furrows. The wood is reddish- or 

 brownish-white, close-grained, but not hard, the inner belt of each annual ring 

 (spring wood) soft, the outer belt (autumn wood) harder and reddish. Medullary 

 • rays numerous and distinct. Very fragrant, with a strong peculiar and pleasant 

 scent. It is exceedingly durable, and in the Levant and Greece is prized for 

 trunks and boxes, the contents of which are proof against most insects. 



2. O^orulosa, Don; Prodr. Fl. ISTep. ^^. —Himalayan Cypress. 

 Sans. Surahva. Vern. Devi didr, Eavi ; Deodar, KuUu, Baji ; Leauri, 

 Jaunsar; Raisalla, Naini Tal. 



A large tree ; branches horizontal, whorled, with drooping extremities, 

 forming a broad pyramidal crown. Branchlets round or indistinctly four- 

 sided ; leaves ovate-triangular, white-margined. Cones numerous, clus- 

 tered, erect, bluish when ripe, \ in. diam. ; scales flat or convex, rugose, 

 but smoother than those of C. sempervirens. Seeds compressed, convex 

 on both sides, with a narrow orbicular wing. 



Outer ranges of the Himalaya from Chamba to Nepal, but more local and less 

 common than most other Himalayan conifers, generally, but not always on dry 

 warm rooky slopes. Several small patches on the Eavi, more abundant m part 

 of KiiUu, between 5500 and 8000 ft. (not in Mandi, where, according to Stewart, 

 Vigne and Moorcroft mistook a smaU Deodar forest for Cypress.) Common, on 

 hiiestone, on the north side of the Shall and Tikka ridge north of Smila, asso- 

 ciated with Deodar, Abies SmUhiana, A. Webbiana, and Taicus. In Jaunsar, 

 on the limestone rocks of the Lokandi and Moila HiUs, on limestone below the 

 Karama Peak, associated with Deodar and A. SmitkUma. On the south-east 



