1 154 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



IS commc 



lonly planted in Provence and Languedoc about as far north as Valence, and in 

 the south-west ; but is not hardy near Paris. Carriere ' states that the southern slope, 

 on part of which MontpeUier is built, appears to have been formerly occupied by an 

 extensive wood of cypress. The remains of the wooden beams are known as m^/eze, 

 which is the name still used for the cypress by many of the inhabitants of MontpeUier. 

 One of these ancient trees still survived in Carriere's time, and was supposed to be 800 

 years old. It measured 1 3 ft. in girth at 3 ft. from the ground, and 4 ft. in girth at 7 1 ft. 

 up, where it had been broken off by lightning. This remarkable tree belonged to the 

 spreading type, and was situated on a property named Mas-Limasson. (A. H.) 



In January 19 10 Professor Flahault showed me at the Colline de la Vallette, 

 about two miles north of MontpeUier, on a dry limestone hill, a remarkable wood which 

 was planted in 18 10 by Pyrame de Candolle, with cypress. The original trees are 

 supposed to have been cut ; and M. Flahault thought that the existing ones are 

 seedlings from them. The difference in habit between the two forms is very 

 marked, and is well shown in the photograph reproduced on Plate 293 a. The best 

 trees of the pyramidal form are about 50 ft. by 4 ft., the average about 35 to 

 40 ft. Of the horizontal form the best are about 35 ft., the average 20 to 

 30 ft. There are many small seedHngs coming up in the more sheltered parts 

 of this wood, though it is regularly grazed by sheep, and one of these seedlings, 

 though only 3 ft. high, bore fruit. The trees growing with the cypresses are 

 Ptnus halepensis, which seem to be self sown. In the botanic garden at MontpeUier 

 there is a fine specimen of the horizontal form measuring 88 ft. by 8^ ft. 



There are large and beautiful trees in the Generalife Gardens at Granada, 

 which are called cipreses de la reina. These are supposed ^ to have been planted by 

 the Moors, and are about 500 years old. 



The most celebrated cypress in Europe is one at Somma in Lombardy, which 

 is said to have been planted in the year of the Nativity of our Lord. Loudon ^ 

 was informed by the Abbe Beleze that a chronicle exists at Milan, proving it to have 

 existed in 42 b.c. But after having visited the tree I cannot believe that this legend 

 is true, as the tree has no appearance of great age, and I should rather suppose that 

 it is a descendant of some old tree which formerly existed here. Somma is a village 

 about four miles north of Galarate on the railroad from Milan to the Alps, and the tree 

 grows in the corner of a walled garden close to the road, which is said to have been 

 diverted by Napoleon to avoid cutting it down. Manetti, who measured the tree for 

 Loudon, said that * it was 121 ft. high and 23 ft. in girth near the ground. I measured 

 it carefully, and found it to be 85 ft. by 1 7 ft. 3 in. at five feet from the ground. It forks 

 on one side at about 12 ft., and on the other at 15 ft., and then divides into six or seven 

 large trunks. It seemed to be sound, but I could not see into the fork. It is of the 

 horizontalis type, and was covered with full-grown but unripe fruit in October 1906.^ 



» Conif. ii. 149 (1867). 2 Willkomm, Forstl. Flora, 247 (1887). 



3 Arb. et Frut. Brit. iv. 2470, fig. 2325. The figure is copied from a drawing sent to Loudon by Manetti. 



^ Evidently an error, as the Abbe Beleze measured the tree in 1832, and found it to be 70 ft. high and 20 ft. in girth ; it 

 had for many years lost its leading shoot. C£ Loudon, op. cit. i. 169 (1838), and Ann. Soc. cPHortic. xii. 76. 



The story in Loudon, p. 2471, about this tree being wounded by Francis I. is erroneous, as Loudon points out in 

 pp. 2589, 2605. The tree struck by this king, in his despair after the loss of the battle of Pavia, was a Lombardy poplar. 

 More details about the age and history of this tree will be found in Notes and Queries, for Nov. 17, and Dec. 29, 1894. 



