XXIIL 
THE CYPRESS. 
THis genus of coniferous trees probably derives its name 
from the Isle of Cyprus, where one of the first species pre- 
vailed extensively. 
Cupressus sempervirens (Linneus).—The common or ever- 
green cypress is a native of the islands of the Archipelago of 
Greece, Turkey, and Asia Minor, where it grows to a great 
size. Notwithstanding its abundance in Italy, it is said to 
have been introduced into that country from Greece. In 
Britain, where it is cultivated as an ornamental tree, it seldom 
attains a height exceeding forty feet. It is remarkable for its 
close, upright habit of growth, uniformly rising in a tapering 
or flame-shaped figure, resembling that of the Lombardy 
poplar. -Its erect figure has a striking effect under any cir- 
cumstances, but particularly when it rises from among a 
clump of round-headed trees. It has been so frequently 
planted as an embellishment to tombs and cemeteries, that it 
has become, in the language of the poets, the symbol of the 
last residence of man ; and the ancients considered the tree 
as an emblem of immortality. Perhaps the best specimen in 
Britain stands at Stretton Rectory, Suffolk; it measures sixty- 
three feet high, with a trunk two feet in diameter. One of 
the oldest trees in Europe of which there is any record is the 
cypress of Somma, in Lombardy, respecting which, it is said, 
there is an ancient chronicle extant at Milan, which proves 
that it was a tree in the time of Julius Cesar. Its height is 
121 feet, and at a foot from the ground it measures 23 feet 
in circumference. So respected was it by Napoleon, that, when 
laying down his plan of the great road over the Simplon, he 
diverged from the straight line to avoid injuring it. 
