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Cypress
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
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(Cupressus), in botany, a genus of fifteen species belonging to the tribe Cupressineae, natural order Coniferae, represented by evergreen aromatic trees and shrubs indigenous to the south of Europe, western Asia, the Himalayas, China, Japan, north-western and north-eastern America, California and Mexico. The leaves of the cypresses are scale-like, overlapping and generally in four rows; the female catkins are roundish, and fewer than the male; the cones consist of from six to ten peltate woody scales, which end in a curved point, and open when the seeds are ripe; the seeds are numerous and winged. All the species exude resin, but no turpentine.
C. sempervirens, the common cypress, has been well known throughout the Mediterranean region since classic times; it may have been introduced from western Asia where it is found wild. It is a tapering, flame-shaped tree resembling the Lombardy poplar; its branches are thickly covered with small, imbricated, shining-green leaves; the male catkins are about 3 lines in length; the cones are between i and 12 in. in diameter, sessile, and generally in pairs, and are made up of large angular scales, slightly convex exteriorly, and with a sharp point in the centre. In Britain the tree grows to a height of 40 ft., in its native soil to .70 or 90 ft. It thrives best on a dry, deep, sandy loam, on airy sheltered sites at no great elevation above the sea. It was introduced into Great Britain before the middle of the 16th century. In the climate of the south of England its rate of growth when young is between 1 and 12 ft. a year. The seeds are sown in April, and come up in three or four weeks; the plants require protection from frost during their first winter.
The timber of the cypress is hard, close-grained, of a fine reddish hue, and very durable. Among the ancients it was in request for poles, rafters, joists, and for the construction of winepresses, tables and musical instruments; and on that account was so valuable that a plantation of cypresses was considered a sufficient dowry for a daughter. Owing to its durability the wood was employed for mummy cases, and images of the gods; ..... e; ???//?? FIG. 2. - Carex riparia, the largest British sedge, from 3 to 5 ft. high. i, Male flower of Carex; 2, female flower of Carex; 3, seed of Carex, cut lengthwise.
with its long cord-like underground stem which branches widely. Scirpus lacustris (fig. 3, the true bulrush, occurs in lakes, ditches and marshes; it has a spongy, green, cylindrical stem, reaching nearly an inch in thickness and 1 to 8 ft. high, which is usually leafless with a terminal branched inflorescence. Eriophorum (fig. 3), cotton grass, a statue of Jupiter carved out of cypress is stated by Pliny to have existed 600 years without showing signs of decay. The cypress doors of the ancient St Peter's at Rome, when removed by Eugenius IV., were about i ioo years old, but nevertheless in a state of perfect preservation. Laws were engraved on cypress by the ancients, and objects of value were preserved in receptacles made of it; thus Horace speaks of poems levi servanda cupresso. The cypress, which grows no more when once cut down, was regarded as a symbol of the dead, and perhaps for that reason was sacred to Pluto; its branches were placed by the Greeks and Romans on the funeral pyres and in the houses of their departed friends. Its supposed ill-boding nature is alluded to in Shakespeare's VI., where Suffolk desires for his enemies "their sweetest shade, a grove of cypress trees." The cypress was the tree into which Cyparissus, a beautiful youth beloved by Apollo, was transformed, that he might grieve to all time (Ovid, Met. x. 3). In Turkish cemeteries the cypress "Dark tree, still sad when others' grief is fled, The only constant mourner o'er the dead" is the most striking feature, the rule being to plant one for each interment. The tree grows straight, or nearly so, and has a gloomy and forbidding, but wonderfully stately aspect. With advancing age its foliage becomes of a dark, almost black hue. William Gilpin calls the cypress an architectural tree: "No Italian scene," says he, "is perfect without its tall spiral form, appearing as if it were but a part of the picturesquely disposed edifices which rise from the middle ground against the distant landscape." The cypress of Somma, in Lombardy, is believed to have been in existence in the time of Julius Caesar; it is about 121 ft. in height, and 23 ft. in circumference. Napoleon, in making the road over the Simplon, deviated from the straight line in order to leave it standing. The cypress, as the olive, is found everywhere in the dry hollows and high eastern slopes of Corfu, of the scenery of which it is characteristic. As an ornamental tree in Britain the cypress is useful to break the outline formed by roundheaded low shrubs and trees. The berosh, or beroth, of the Hebrew Scriptures, translated "fir" in the authorized version, in I Kings v. 8 and vi. 15, 2 Chron. ii. 8 and many other passages, is supposed to signify the cypress.
The common or tall variety of C. sempervirens is known as C. fastigiate; the other variety, C. horizontalis, which is little planted in England, is distinguished by its horizontally spreading branches, and its likeness to the cedar. The species C. torulosa of North India, so called from its twisted bark, attains an altitude of 150 ft.; its branches are erect or ascending, and grow so as to form a perfect cone. In the Kulu and Ladakh country the tree is sacred to the deities of the elements. It has been introduced into England, but does not thrive where the winter is severe. The wood, which in Indian temples is burnt as incense, is yellowish-red, close-grained, tough, hard, readily worked, durable, and equal in quality to that of the deodar. Another species, C. lusitanica or glauca, the "cedar of Goa," is a handsome tree, 50 ft. in height when full-grown, with spreading branches drooping at their extremities; it has been much planted in Portugal, especially in the neighbourhood of Cintra. Its origin is doubtful. It was well established in Portugal before the middle of the 17th century, and has since been cultivated generally in the south of Europe, but is nowhere believed to be indigenous. The name "cedar of Goa" is misleading, as no cypress is found wild anywhere near Goa. It was cultivated in England in the 17th century, and the name C. lusitanica was given by Philip Miller, the curator of the Chelsea Physick garden, in 1768, in reference to its supposed Portuguese origin. Experience has shown this cypress to be too tender for British climate generally, though good specimens are to be found in the milder climate of the south and west of England and in Ireland.
The species G. Lawsoniana, the Port Orford cedar, a native of south Oregon and north California, where it attains a height of Too ft., was introduced into Scotland in 1854; it is much grown for ornamental purposes in Britain, a large number of varieties of garden origin being distinguished by differences in habit and by colour of foliage. Other Californian cypresses are C. macrocarpa, the Monterey cypress, which is 60 ft. high. when mature, with a habit suggesting that of cedar of Lebanon,, and C. Joveniana and C. Macnabiana, smaller trees generally from 20 to 30 ft. in height. C. funebris is a native of the north of China, where it is planted near pagodas. C. nootkaensis, the Nootka Sound cypress or Alaska cedar, was introduced into Britain in 1850. It is a hardy species, reaching a height of from 80 to boo ft. Several varieties are distinguished by habit and colour of foliage. C. obtusa, a native of Japan, is a tall tree reaching ioo ft.. in height, and widely planted by the Japanese for its timber,. which is one of the best for interior construction. It is also. cultivated by them as a decorative plant, in many forms, including dwarf forms not exceeding a foot in height.
The "deciduous cypress," "swamp cypress" or "bald cypress," Taxodium distichum, is another member of the order Coniferae (tribe Taxodineae), a native of the southern United. States and Mexico. It is a lofty tree reaching a height of 170 ft._ or more, with a massive trunk io to 15 ft. or more in diameter,, growing in or near water or on low-lying land which is subject. to periodical flooding. The lower part of the trunk bears huge buttresses, each of which ends in a long branching far-spreading; root, from the branches of which spring the peculiar knees which, rise above the level of the water. The knees are of a soft spongy texture and act as breathing organs, supplying the roots with air,, which they would otherwise be unable to obtain when submerged. The stout horizontally spreading branches give a cedar-like appearance; the foliage is light and feathery; the leaves and the slender shoots which bear them fall in the autumn. The cones, about the size of a small walnut, bear spirally arranged imbricated scales which subtend the three-angled winged seeds. The wood is light, soft, straight-grained and easily worked; it is very durable in contact with the soil, and is used for. railway-ties, posts, fencing and for construction. The deciduous cypress was one of the first American trees introduced into, England; it is described by John Parkinson in his Herbal of 1640. It thrives only near water or where the soil is permanently moist.
[[[Caecilius]] Cyprianus, called Thascius j (c. 200-258), bishop of Carthage, one of the most illustrious in the early history of the church, and one of the most notable of its early martyrs, was born about the year 200, probably at. Carthage. He was of patrician family, wealthy, highly educated,, and for some time occupied as a teacher of rhetoric at Carthage. Of an enthusiastic temperament, accomplished in classical literature, he seems while a pagan to have courted discussion with the converts to Christianity. Confident in his own powers, 'he entered ardently into what was no doubt the great question of the time at Carthage as elsewhere. He sought to vanquish,., but was himself vanquished by, the new religious force which was making such rapid inroads on the decaying paganism of the Roman empire. Caecilianus (or Caecilius), a presbyter of Carthage, is supposed to have been the instrument of his conversion, which seems to have taken place about 246.
Cyprian carried all his natural enthusiasm and brilliant powers: into his new profession. He devoted his wealth to the relief of the poor and other pious uses; and so, according to his deacon Pontius, who wrote a diffuse and vague account of his "life and passion," "realized two benefits: the contempt of the world's, ambition, and the observance of that mercy which God has preferred to sacrifice." The result of his charity and activity as a. Christian convert was his unanimous call by the Christian people to the head of the church in Carthage, at the end of 248 or beginning of 249. The time was one of fierce persecution directed against the Christians, and the bishop of Carthage became a prominent object of attack. During the persecution of Decius (250-251) Cyprian was exposed to imminent danger, and was compelled for a time to seek safety in retreat. Under Gallus, the successor of Decius, the persecution was relaxed, and Cyprian returned to Carthage. Here he held several councils for the discussion of the affairs of the church, especially for grave questions as to the rebaptism of heretics, and the readmission into the church of the lapsi, or those who had fallen; away through fear during the heat of the persecution. Cyprian, although inspired by lofty notions of the prerogatives of the church, and inclined to severity of opinion towards heretics, and especially heretical dissentients from the belief in the divine authorship of the episcopal order and the unity of Christendom, was leniently disposed towards those who had temporarily fallen from the faith. He set himself in opposition to Novatian, a presbyter of Rome, who advocated their permanent exclusion from the church; and it was his influence which guided the tolerant measures of the Carthaginian synods on the subject. While in this question he went hand in hand with Cornelius, bishop of Rome, his strict attitude in the matter of baptism by heretics brought him into serious conflict with the Roman bishop Stephen. It would almost have come to a rupture, since both parties held firmly to their standpoint, had not a new persecution arisen under the emperor Valerian, which threw all internal quarrels into the background in face of the common danger. Stephen became a martyr in August 257. Cyprian was at first banished to Curubis in Africa Proconsularis. But soon he was recalled, taken into custody, and finally condemned to death. He was beheaded on the 14th of September 258, the first African bishop to obtain the martyr's crown.
All Cyprian's literary works were written in connexion with his episcopal office; almost all his treatises and many of his letters have the character of pastoral epistles, and their form occasionally betrays the fact that they were intended as addresses. These writings bear the mark of a clear mind and a moderate and gentle spirit. Cyprian had none of that character which makes the reading of Tertullian, whom he himself called his magister, so interesting and piquant, but he possessed other qualities which Tertullian lacked, especially the art of presenting his thoughts in simple, smooth and clear language, yet in a style which is not wanting in warmth and persuasive power. Like Tertullian, and often in imitation of him, Cyprian took certain apologetic, dogmatic and pastoral themes as subjects of his treatises. By far the best known of these is the treatise De catholicae ecclesiae unitate, called forth in A.D. 251 by the schism at Carthage, but particularly by the Novatian schism at Rome. In this is proclaimed the doctrine of the one church founded upon the apostle Peter, whose "tangible bond is her one united episcopate, an apostleship universal yet only one - the authority of every bishop perfect in itself and independent, yet not forming with all the others a mere agglomeration of powers, but being a tenure upon a totality like that of a shareholder in some joint property." Attention must also be called to the treatise Ad Donatum, (De gratia dei), in which the new life after regeneration with its moral effects is set forth in a pure and clear light, as contrasted with the night of heathendom and its moral degradation, which were known to the author from personal experience. The numerous Letters of Cyprian are not only an important source for the history of church life and of ecclesiastical law, on account of their rich and manifold contents, but in large part they are important monuments of the literary activity of their author, since, not infrequently, they are in the form of treatises upon the topic in question. Of the eighty-two letters in the present collection, sixty-six were written by Cyprian. In the great majority of cases the chronology of their composition, as far as the year is concerned, presents no difficulties; more precise assignments are mainly conjectural. In the editions of the works .of Cyprian a number of treatises are printed which, certainly or probably, were not written by him, and have therefore usually been described as pseudo-Cyprianic. Several of them, e.g. the treatise on dice (De aleatoribus), have attracted the attention of scholars, who are never weary of the attempt to determine the identity of the author, unfortunately hitherto without much success.
The best, though by no means faultless, edition of Cyprian's works is that of W. von Hartel in the Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum (3 vols., Vienna, 1868-1871). There is an English translation in the Library of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. The most complete monograph is that by Archbishop E. W. Benson, Cyprian, his Life, his Times, his Work (London, 1897). See also J. A. Faulkner, Cyprian the Churchman (Cincinnati and New York, 1906).
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Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Cypress'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/c/cypress.html. 1910.
