Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 508, September 26, 1885
Various
Science -- Periodicals
THE BHOTAN CYPRESS.
(CUPRESSUS TORULOSA.)
This cypress, apart from its elegant growth, is interesting as being
the only species of Cupressus indigenous to India. It is a native of
the Himalayas in the Bhotan district, and it also occurs on the
borders of Chinese Tartary. It forms, therefore, a connecting link, as
it were, between the true cypresses of the extreme east and those that
are natives of Europe. It is singular to note that this genus of
conifers extends throughout the entire breadth of the northern
hemisphere, Cupressus funebris representing the extreme east in China,
and C. macrocarpa the extreme west on the Californian seacoast. The
northerly and southerly limits, it is interesting to mark, are, on the
contrary, singularly restricted, the most southerly being found in
Mexico; the most northerly (C. nutkaensis) in Nootka Sound, and the
subject of these remarks (C. torulosa) in Bhotan. The whole of the
regions intervening between these extreme lateral points have their
cypresses. The European species are C. lusitanica (the cedar of Goa),
which inhabits Spain and Portugal; C. sempervirens (the Roman
cypress), which is centered chiefly in the southeasterly parts of
Europe, extending into Asia Minor. Farther eastward C. torulosa is met
with, and the chain is extended eastward by C. funebris, also known as
C. pendula. The headquarters of the cypresses are undoubtedly in the
extreme west, for here may be found some four or five distinct
species, including the well-known C. Lawsoniana, probably the most
popular of all coniferae in gardens, C. Goveniana, C. Macnabiana, C.
macrocarpa, and C. nutkaensis (spelt C. nutkanus by the Californian
botanists). The eastern representative of the cypresses in the United
States of North America is C. thyoides, popularly known as the white
cedar. In Mexico three or four species occur, so that the genus in
round numbers only contains about a dozen species. The Californian
botanist Mr. Sereno Watson takes away Lawson's cypress from Cupressus
and puts it in the genus Chamaecyparis, the chief points of distinction
being the flattened two-ranked branchlets and the small globose cones
maturing the first year.
[Illustration: CONES OF CUPRESSUS TORULOSA (NATURAL SIZE).]
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