188 



CYPRESS TREE. — CUPRESSUS of Pliny, 



AND THE CYPARISSUS OF VlRGIL AND OviD. 



Natural order ^ Coniferce. A genus of the 

 Moncecia Monadelphia class. 



" I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress- 

 tree upon the mountains of Herman." 



Ecclesiasticusy xxiv. 13. 



" Et toi, triste cypres, 



Fidele ami des morts, protecteur de leur cendre, 

 Ta tige, chere au cceur melancholique et tendre, 

 Laisse la joie au myrte et la gloire au laurier. 

 Tu n'es point Parbre heureux de Pamant, du guerrier, 

 Je le sais; mais ton deuil compatit a nos peines." 



This tree, which is the symbol of eternal 

 sorrow in all the civilized countries of Europe, 

 is also the funeral tree of the east, from the 

 Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea; and it is like- 

 wise dedicated to the dead from Mazender&n 

 to Constantinople, as well as to the utmost 

 bounds of China's fruitful shores. 



If we look so far back as even to the destruc- 

 tion of Troy, we shall find 



" In mournful pomp the matrons walk the round, 

 With baleful cypress and blue fillets crown'd, 

 With eyes dejected, and with hair unbound." 



JEneis, Book iii. 



