Cupressus ^^11 



Varieties 



A careful examination of all the native material in the Kew herbarium and in 

 Lmdley's collection at Cambridge, together with a study of the numerous examples 

 in cultivation in England, Ireland, France, Italy, and Portugal, show that there is 

 only one species of Cupressus in Mexico, comprising two main forms, distinguishable 

 by their habit of growth, and resembling in this respect C. sempervirens and C. 

 macrocarpa. Pringle writes to me as follows : " After a score of years of vain 

 endeavour to distinguish several species of Cupressus on the mountains of Mexico, 

 it is gratifying to learn that you think it possible that there exists only one variable 

 species there. The Mexican cypress, so far as I have seen, varies no more in all its 

 characters than any one of the admitted species of Mexican pines. Consider its dis- 

 tribution through sixteen degrees of latitude and from 4000 to 10,000 ft. altitude, 

 and its growth in widely different soils, from the richest humus to the poorest 

 volcanic soil, infinitely varying conditions which tell effectively on the character of 

 the species." 



1. The typical form, which has been described above, and which is identical in 

 every particular with the " cedar of Goa," long cultivated in Spain and Portugal, is 

 distinguished by its wide-spreading branches and pendulous branchlets, the ultimate 

 ramifications of which arise at varying angles and are not disposed in one plane. 

 The other form, usually cultivated as C. Knightiana, is distinguished as follows : — 



2. Var. Benthami, Carriere, Conif. 155 (1867). 



Cupressus Benthami, Endlicher, Syn. Conif. 59 (1847); Hemsley, in Biol. Cent. Amer. iii. 183 

 (1883); Masters, m. Journ. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) xxxi. 338 (1896); Kent, Veitch's Man. Conif. 

 201 (1900). 



Cupressus thurifera, Schlechtendal, in Linnaa, xii. 493 (1838) (not Humboldt, Bonpland, and 

 Kunth); Bentham, Plant. Hartweg. 57 (1840). 



Cupressus Knightiana, Knight and Perry, Syn. Conif. 20 (1850); Carrifere, Conif. i. 158 (1867). 



Cupressus Uhdeana, Carrifere, Conif. 129 (1855) (not Gordon). 



Cupressus elegans^ Low, ex ILoch, £>endrologie, ii. pt. 2, p. 156 (1873). 



This variety usually forms a narrow pyramidal tree, with very regular branches. 

 Branchlet systems and their pinnae disposed in one plane. Ultimate branchlets 

 more flattened and compressed than in the type, ^^ in. wide, -^^ in. thick. Leaves, 

 lateral pair narrow, conduplicate, with acuminate free mucronate tips ; facial pair 

 flattened, ovate -acuminate; all usually marked with a central circular glandular 

 depression. Bark, cones, and seeds, as in the type. 



This variety occurs in the wild state in Mexico, and is represented in the Kew 

 herbarium by specimens collected by Hartweg at Banco, by Bourgeau at Orizaba, 

 and by Parry and Palmer at 6000 to 8000 ft. near San Luis Potosi, and is doubtless 

 sporadic throughout the whole range of the species. 



3. Var. Skinneri. 



Cupressus Skinneri^ Carribre, Conif. 128 (1855). 

 Cupressus excelsa, Scott, ex Carribre, Conif. 128 (1855). 



• This is referred to as a garden name for C. Knightiana, in Carriere, Conif. 127 (1855). 



* Skinner was one of the partners in the firm of Klee, Skinner, and Co., in Guatemala, and was much interested in natural 

 history. Cf. Koch, Dendrologie, ii. pt. 2, 157 (1873). 



V 2 A 



