Several genera of evergreen conifers
Cupressus
is one of several
genera
of
evergreen
conifers
within the
family
Cupressaceae
that have the common name
cypress
; for the others, see
cypress
. It is considered a
polyphyletic
group. Based on genetic and morphological analysis, the genus
Cupressus
is found in the subfamily
Cupressoideae
.
[1]
[2]
The common name "cypress" comes via the Old French
cipres
from the
Latin
cyparissus
, which is the
latinisation
of the
Greek
κυπ?ρισσο? (
kyparissos
).
[3]
Description
[
edit
]
Cypress are
evergreen
trees or large
shrubs
, growing to 5?40 m (16?131 ft) tall. The leaves are scale-like, 2?6 mm long, arranged in opposite
decussate
pairs, and persist for three to five years. On young plants up to two years old, the leaves are needle-like and 5?15 mm long. The
cones
are 8?40 mm long, globose or ovoid with 4 to 14 scales arranged in opposite decussate pairs; they are mature in 18?24 months from
pollination
. The seeds are small, 4?7 mm long, with two narrow wings, one along each side of the seed.
Many of the species are adapted to forest fires, holding their seeds for many years in closed cones until the parent trees are killed by a fire; the seeds are then released to colonise the bare, burnt ground. In other species, the cones open at maturity to release the seeds.
Distribution
[
edit
]
As currently treated, these cypresses are
native
to scattered localities in mainly warm
temperate
regions in the Northern Hemisphere, including western North America, Central America, northwest Africa, the Middle East, the Himalayas, southern China and northern Vietnam. As with other
conifers
, extensive cultivation has led to a wide variety of forms, sizes and colours, that are grown in parks and gardens throughout the world.
[4]
Cultivation
[
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]
Many species of cypress are grown as decorative trees in parks and, in Asia, around temples; in some areas, the native distribution is hard to discern due to extensive cultivation. A few species are grown for their timber, which can be very durable. The fast-growing hybrid
Leyland cypress
(
Cupressus
×
leylandii
), much used in gardens, draws one of its parents from this genus (
Cupressus macrocarpa
, Monterey cypress); the other parent,
Callitropsis nootkatensis
(Nootka cypress), is also sometimes classified in this genus, or else in the separate genus
Xanthocyparis
, but in the past more usually in
Chamaecyparis
.
Cultural references
[
edit
]
It was believed in the Hellenic culture that the cypress tree was sacred to the gods and it is now used as an emblem of grief.
The name of the genus comes from
Cyparissos
, a young man loved by
Apollo
, very attached to a deer which he ended up killing by mistake during a hunting trip. To ease the pain Apollo transformed the boy into a plant.
The association with mourning continued in Roman times, up to the present day, also for a practical reason: the roots of the cypress are straight into the ground, and expand slightly laterally, not damaging the burials.
Taxonomy
[
edit
]
There has long been significant uncertainty about the New World members of
Cupressus
, with several studies recovering them as forming a distinct clade from the Old World members. A 2021 molecular study found
Cupressus
to be the
sister genus
to
Juniperus
, whereas the western members (classified in
Callitropsis
and
Hesperocyparis
) were found to be sister to
Xanthocyparis
.
[5]
Phylogeny
[
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]
Species
[
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]
The number of species recognised within this genus varies sharply, from 16 to 25 or more according to the authority followed, because most populations are small and isolated, and whether they should be accorded
specific
,
subspecific
or
varietal
rank is difficult to ascertain. Current tendencies are to reduce the number of recognised species; when a narrow species concept is adopted, the varieties indented in the list below may also be accepted as distinct species. See also the New World species (below) for a likely split in the genus in the future.
Old World species
[
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]
The
Old World
cypresses tend to have cones with more scales (8?14 scales, rarely 6 in
C. funebris
), each scale with a short broad ridge, not a spike.
C. sempervirens
is the type species of the genus, defining the name
Cupressus
. They are more closely related to
Juniperus
than to the New World species, with the exception of the
Vietnamese golden cypress
, which is more closely related to New World species.
[5]
Image
|
Cone
|
Name
|
Common Name
|
Distribution
|
|
|
Cupressus atlantica
|
Moroccan cypress
|
western Morocco
|
|
|
Cupressus cashmeriana
|
Bhutan cypress
|
eastern Himalaya in Bhutan and adjacent areas of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India
|
|
|
Cupressus chengiana
|
Cheng's cypress
|
Gansu and Sichuan Provinces, China
|
|
|
Cupressus duclouxiana
(syn:
Cupressus austrotibetica
)
[7]
|
Yunnan cypress, South Tibet cypress
|
Yunnan and Sichuan, China
|
|
|
Cupressus dupreziana
|
Saharan cypress
|
southeast Algeria
|
|
|
Cupressus funebris
|
Chinese weeping cypress
|
southwestern and central China
|
|
|
Cupressus gigantea
|
Tibetan cypress
|
Southeast Tibet - China
|
|
|
Cupressus sempervirens
|
Mediterranean cypress, type species
|
northeast Libya, southern Albania, coastal Bulgaria, southern Ukraine (Crimea), coastal Croatia, southern Montenegro, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, southern Greece, southern Turkey, Cyprus, northern Egypt, western Syria, Lebanon, Malta, Italy, Israel, western Jordan, and Iran
|
|
|
Cupressus torulosa
(syn:
Cupressus tonkinensis
)
|
Tonkin cypress, Himalayan cypress
|
Sichuan of China and in Vietnam
|
|
|
Cupressus vietnamensis
(syn:
Xanthocyparis vietnamensis
)
|
Vietnamese cypress, Vietnamese golden cypress
|
Vietnam
|
New World species
[
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]
The New World cypresses tend to have cones with fewer scales (4?8 scales, rarely more in
C. macrocarpa
), each scale with an often prominent narrow spike. Recent genetic evidence
[8]
shows they are less closely related to the Old World cypresses than previously thought, being more closely related to
Xanthocyparis
than to the rest of
Cupressus
. These species have recently been transferred to
Hesperocyparis
and
Callitropsis
. New World species are found in marginal habitats with
xeric
soils, and therefore exhibit a fragmented
allopatric
pattern of distribution. This type of distribution results in disproportionate local abundance with most species restricted to small neighboring populations.
[9]
Image
|
Cone
|
Name
|
Common Name
|
Distribution
|
|
|
Cupressus abramsiana
(
Cupressus goveniana
var.
abramsiana
;
Callitropsis abramsiana
;)
|
Santa Cruz cypress
|
Santa Cruz Mountains of Santa Cruz and San Mateo Counties in west-central California
|
|
|
Cupressus arizonica
(
Callitropsis arizonica
)
|
Arizona cypress
|
southwestern United States (Arizona, Utah, southwestern New Mexico, and southern California, with a few populations in southern Nevada and in the
Chisos Mountains
of western Texas), and in Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas and northern Baja California).
|
|
|
Cupressus bakeri
(
Callitropsis bakeri
)
|
Modoc cypress
|
northern California and extreme southwestern Oregon
|
|
|
Cupressus forbesii
(
Callitropsis forbesii
)
|
Tecate cypress
|
Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County and in San Diego County within Southern California, and in northern Baja California state of Mexico.
|
|
|
Cupressus glabra
(
Callitropsis glabra
)
|
smooth Arizona cypress
|
Sedona, Arizona
|
|
|
Cupressus goveniana
(
Callitropsis goveniana
)
|
Gowen cypress, Californian cypress
|
Monterey County, California
|
|
|
Cupressus guadalupensis
(
Callitropsis guadalupensis
)
|
Guadalupe cypress
|
Mexico, found only on Guadalupe Island
|
|
|
Cupressus lusitanica
(
Callitropsis lusitanica
)
|
Mexican cypress
|
Mexico and Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras)
|
|
|
Cupressus macnabiana
(
Callitropsis macnabiana
)
|
Macnab cypress
|
northern California
|
|
|
Cupressus macrocarpa
(
Callitropsis macrocarpa
)
|
Monterey cypress
|
Cypress Point in Pebble Beach and at Point Lobos near Carmel, California
|
|
|
Cupressus nevadensis
(
Callitropsis nevadensis
)
|
Piute cypress
|
Southern Sierra Nevada, within Kern County, California and Tulare County.
|
|
|
Cupressus nootkatensis
(syn:
Xanthocyparis nootkatensis
)
|
Nootka cypress
|
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
|
|
|
Cupressus pygmaea
(
Cupressus goveniana
var.
pygmaea
;
Callitropsis pigmaea
)
|
Mendocino cypress
|
Mendocino and Sonoma Counties in northwestern California
|
|
|
Cupressus revealiana
|
El Rincon cypress
|
Baja California in northwestern Mexico
|
|
|
Cupressus sargentii
(
Callitropsis sargentii
)
|
Sargent cypress
|
Mendocino County southwards to Santa Barbara County California
|
|
|
Cupressus stephensonii
(
Callitropsis stephensonii
)
|
Cuyamaca cypress
|
San Diego County California
|
Allergenic potential
[
edit
]
All plants in the genus
Cupressus
, including New World
Cupressus
(now
Callitropsis
), are extremely allergenic, and have an
OPALS
allergy scale rating of 10. In warm, Mediterranean climates, these plants release large quantities of pollen for approximately seven months each year.
[10]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Farjon, A. (2005). Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
ISBN
1-84246-068-4
.
- ^
Gadek, P. A., Alpers, D. L., Heslewood, M. M., & Quinn, C. J. (2000). Relationships within Cupressaceae sensu lato: a combined morphological and molecular approach. American Journal of Botany 87: 1044?1057)
- ^
κυπ?ρισσο?
, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott,
A Greek-English Lexicon
, on Perseus Digital Library
- ^
Eckenwalder, James E. (2009).
Conifers of the world: the complete reference
. United Kingdom: Timber Press. p. 720.
ISBN
978-0881929744
.
- ^
a
b
c
Stull, Gregory W.; Qu, Xiao-Jian; Parins-Fukuchi, Caroline; Yang, Ying-Ying; Yang, Jun-Bo; Yang, Zhi-Yun; Hu, Yi; Ma, Hong; Soltis, Pamela S.; Soltis, Douglas E.; Li, De-Zhu (July 19, 2021).
"Gene duplications and phylogenomic conflict underlie major pulses of phenotypic evolution in gymnosperms"
.
Nature Plants
.
7
(8): 1015?1025.
doi
:
10.1038/s41477-021-00964-4
.
ISSN
2055-0278
.
PMID
34282286
.
S2CID
236141481
.
- ^
Stull, Gregory W.; et al. (2021).
"main.dated.supermatrix.tree.T9.tre"
. Figshare.
doi
:
10.6084/m9.figshare.14547354.v1
.
- ^
"Cupressus duclouxiana in Flora of China @ efloras.org"
.
eFloras.org Home
. Retrieved
2019-08-02
.
- ^
Little, D. P., Schwarzbach, A. E., Adams, R. P. & Hsieh, Chang-Fu. 2004. The circumscription and phylogenetic relationships of
Callitropsis
and the newly described genus
Xanthocyparis
(Cupressaceae).
American Journal of Botany
91 (11): 1872?1881.
Abstract
Archived
2010-06-21 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Little, D. P. (2006). Evolution and circumscription of the true Cypresses.
Syst. Bot
. 31 (3): 461-480.
- ^
Ogren, Thomas (2015).
The Allergy-Fighting Garden
. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. p. 95.
ISBN
9781607744917
.
- Farjon, A. (2005).
Monograph of Cupressaceae and Sciadopitys
. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
ISBN
1-84246-068-4
.
- Gadek, P. A., Alpers, D. L., Heslewood, M. M., & Quinn, C. J. (2000). Relationships within Cupressaceae sensu lato: a combined morphological and molecular approach.
American Journal of Botany
87: 1044?1057.
Available online
Archived
2009-09-29 at the
Wayback Machine
.