218 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
ing fragrant shrubs and flowers in these abodes 
of peaee. 
The common European evergreen Cypress is 
a very long-lived tree, and attains to a great size. 
According to Pliny, there were Cypress trees 
growing in his time at Rome, which were more 
ancient than the city itself. Bartholdy makes 
mention of one at Misitra, which was thirty feet 
in circumference. The American species, one 
of the largest trees in the United States, is some¬ 
times found of the same girth, and seventy 
feet high: its branches extend almost hori¬ 
zontally. 
The wood of the Cypress is remarkable foV its 
durability. Many of the chests containing the 
Egyptian mummies are of this material, affording 
a decisive proof of its almost imperishable nature. 
We are further assured that the gates of St. 
Paul’s church at Rome, made of Cypress wood, 
which had lasted from the time of Constantine, 
eleven hundrsd years, were as fresh as new when 
Pope Eugenius IV. ordered gates of brass to be 
erected in their stead. 
