Vv 
CYPRESSES AND JUNIPERS 
(OF THE NATURAL ORDER oF CONIFER, or THE ~ 
FAMILY PINACEA, oF THE TRIBE CUPRES- 
SINEZ, oF THE suB-TRIBE THUYIN) 
Earty History oF THE CYPRESS TREES: INTRO- 
DUCTORY 
Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle, 
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime ? 
Lorp Byron, Bride of Abydos. 
THE Cypress as an object of beauty had evidently 
its circle of admirers among the ancients.. It was 
because of this reputation, it is recorded, that the 
Island of Cyprus was so named. The mythological 
story of the island connection with the goddess of 
beauty runs on this course, that Venus, after her sea- 
foam birth and sea-nymph cradling among the coral’ 
caves of the vasty deep, was wafted by Zephyrus, the 
south wind, to the Island of Cyprus. : 
The inhabitants of that sea-girt isle seem rather 
to have affected a fine taste for the ‘‘ exquisite ” in 
more than one direction. Venus, the goddess of 
beauty, took a title from its name and became known 
among students of the classics as the Cyprian goddess, 
and this record seems to bear witness that the worship 
of her there was by no means a neglected cult. For 
fear of misconstruction it is only fair to add that the 
leaders of scholastic opinion of that day and in those 
155 f 
