Cupressus 1 1 5 3 



In Greece,^ it is now found wild on Mount Parnassus and forms woods between 

 Messene and Kalamata in Peloponnesus. 



In Cyprus,^ the spreading form of the cypress, var. horizontalis, grows in a 

 wild state throughout the northern range of mountains, which consist mainly of 

 limestone, thriving luxuriantly up to the highest point, 3300 ft. above sea-level. 

 There are no large trees now in the forests of this range, the best being about 

 35 ft. high and 5 ft. in girth, since in former times, whenever a tree was large 

 enough to make a rafter it was cut by the villagers, and much damage was also 

 done by forest fires. In the southern range, which is mainly composed of volcanic 

 rocks, there are only a few isolated specimens, which ascend to 3500 ft. elevation. 

 The fastigiate variety is commonly planted in gardens in the plains ; and the finest 

 specimens are one at the Ayia Nicola church in the Famagusta district, 70 ft. high 

 and 9^ ft. in girth ; another of the same height and 1 2 ft. in girth at the Chrysostomos 

 monastery, Kyrenia district ; while a third at the Ayia Katerina mosque, in the 

 Nicosia district, is 78 ft. by 7 ft. 3 in. Attempts to raise cypress from seed on 

 Troodos at 5500 ft. elevation failed, as the plants were killed by the cold. 



According to Pliny,^ it grew in the White Mountains of Crete, being in great 

 abundance on the very summits, from which the snow never departs. Evelyn ^ 

 states that a vast forest of this species in Crete was destroyed by a fire which 

 raged from 1400 to 1407. Mr. A. Trevor Battye found the horizontal form wild 

 in Crete at elevations of about 3000 ft., attaining about 50 ft. high, by 6 ft. in 

 girth. A photograph taken by him in the entrance to the gorge from the plain of 

 Omalu, shows a group of these trees. 



According to Boissier^ it occurs on the Lebanon between 3500 and 5000 ft., 

 and appears to have been collected in the wild state in northern Syria near Bella, 

 and in the mountains of Cilicia. Post^ states that the upright variety is every- 

 where cultivated in the cemeteries in Syria under the name of Saru. 



The cypress has been carried by man both eastward and westward of its 

 original home, and is occasionally even planted in China.^ It is much cultivated 

 in northern India, the fastigiate variety being the most common and attaining 

 occasionally a height of 100 ft. with a girth of 9 ft. 



The cypress is naturalised in many places, as on the eastern shore of the 

 Adriatic,* where, however, it does not thrive at elevations exceeding 1000 ft., and 

 in the Caucasus.*" In Italy it is perfectly naturalised in Tuscany, where in a mixed 

 wood of oak and ash, between Castelfiorentino and Montagone, Sprenger '" noticed 

 thousands of trees of all ages from seedlings to a hundred years old. 



The cypress is cultivated on the continent in a few places north of the Alps, as 

 on the island of Mainau" in Lake Constance, and at Metz; but in France it 



> Halicsy, Consp. Fl. Graca, iii. 454 (1904)- 



3 According to a memorandum, prepared by Mr. A. K. Bovill, Principal Forest Officer, kindly sent by the Chief 

 Secretary to Government, Cyprus. ' Lib. xvi. cap. xxiij. 



* Sylva, 123 (1679). ^ Flora Orienlalis, v. 705 (1881). 



6 Flora of Syria, 748 (1896). ' Cf. Franchet, y««7». de Bot. xiii. 263 (1899). 



' Beck, Veg. illyr. Land. 184 (1 901), with plate representing a grove on the island of Sabioncello. 



" Radde, Pfiansenverb. Xaitkasus, 184 (1899). 

 i« In Mitt. deut. dend. Ges. 1904, p. 195. 

 " A fine tree on this island is figured by Beissner in Gart. Ziitung, November 1891. 



V X 



