CYCLALS 
CYPRESSES AND THEIR ALLIES 
It would require much space to properly 
point out the characters of the large class of 
cypress-like trees, with their many genera, all 
with their leaf and cone structure usually in 
pairs and opposite, not in spirals and scat¬ 
tered, as in the Pitch Trees described. Their 
leaves are reduced to mere small scales, tri¬ 
angular and pointed; the cones are small, sel¬ 
dom more than an inch long, the scales in 
pairs and in alternate series. The timber of 
all the cypresses is but slightly resinous, and 
is fragrant, often pungent; includes the two 
American Cedars, one, the Red Cedar, or 
Shingle Tree {Thuya) of the north, with 
horizontally flattened, convex sprays of foli¬ 
age and minute, half-inch, upturned cones, 
becoming large trees at the north, and ex¬ 
tensively manufactured into shingles of the 
most durable character; the trunks, usually 
swollen at the base, are apt to be hollow, 
hence were finely adapted for use by the abo¬ 
rigines in making their canoes. 
The other pyramidal, flat-branched, thick- 
barked tree is the Incense Cedar {Libocedrus) 
of the middle elevations of the Sierra, par¬ 
ticularly abundant in and near Yosemite Val¬ 
ley ; foliage like the last, but the cones much 
larger, yellowish, and pendant from the ends 
of the fan-like, usually horizontal sprays, the 
two larger concave scales facing each other 
and holding the four seeds; the timber is very 
fragrant and quite durable, hence much used 
for fence posts. 
The true Cypress ( Cupressus ) has four 
species in California, all distinguished by 
globular and very knobby cones. But two 
species need be mentioned. One, the Law- 
