CYPRESS AND JUNIPER TREES OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION. 5 



margins, while in Chamsecyparis the margins of the leaves are entire 

 or smooth. In Cupressus the leaves of each season's growth remain 

 on the trees from three to four years. The minute flowers, which 

 appear in early spring on the ends of the twigs, are inconspicuous, 

 especially the female flowers. The male flowers, which bear pollen 

 only, and the female flowers, which produce cones and seeds, are 

 borne on different twigs of the same tree. The cones mature at the 

 end of the second season, 1 and bear about 15 or 20 seeds under each 

 fertile cone scale, instead of only 4 or 5 seeds, as in the case of Chamse- 

 cyparis. Seeds of native Cupressus differ fundamentally from those 

 of Chamsecyparis in being without thin, membranous wings. The 

 cones of Cupressus are strongly attached to the branches and remain 

 on the trees for a great many years, while those of Chamsecyparis are 

 lightly attached to the twigs and usually fall from the trees within 

 one or two seasons. Seed-leaves of Cupressus are from 3 to 5, and 

 in Chamsecyparis only 2. 



The strongly aromatic wood of Cupressus is remarkably durable, 

 but the small size and poor timber form of most native species make 

 it of little commercial value. As forest trees, these cypresses are of 

 considerable importance in assisting to form a protective cover on 

 wind-swept, sandy coasts or dry, arid slopes and in sparsely wooded 

 canyons. 



Six species of Cupressus are found in the United States. Four of 

 these are confined to California, while the other two occur in the 

 southern Rocky Mountain region, one extending into Mexico. Trees 

 of this genus are of ancient origin, representatives, now extinct, once 

 growing in Greenland and western Europe. 



ARIZONA CYPRESS. 



Cupressus arizonica Greene. 



COMMON NAME AND EARLY HISTORY. 



This little known species has no accepted distinctive common 

 name. Usually it is called " cypress" by the few who know the tree 

 in its mountain habitat, though its occurrence sometimes in moist 

 situations or near streams has earned for it the local name of " water 

 cypress" or " water cedar." The name "Arizona cypress," based on 

 the technical name, is suggested as appropriate because the tree first 

 became known to botanists and foresters through its discovery in 

 southeastern Arizona, where, in 1880, Dr. Edward L. Greene found 

 it "on the mountains back of Clifton, in the extreme eastern part of 



1 Until quite recently this was believed to be another distinction between Cupressus and Chamsecyparis, 

 the latter being thought without exception to mature their fruit in one season. The fruiting habit of 

 Chamsecyparis nootkatensis is now known to be biennial. See Martin W. Gorman, in Nineteenth Annual 

 Report, U. S. Geological Survey, Part V, 339, 1899; Elwes and Henry, Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 V, 1194, 1910; Sudworth, in Review of Forest Service Investigations, II, 7, PI. 1, 1913. 



