Cupressus sempervirens

Uses

C. sempervirens has been widely cultivated as an ornamental tree for millennia outside its native range, mainly throughout the Mediterranean region and in other areas with similar hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters, including California, southwest South Africa, and southern Australia. It can also be grown successfully in areas with cooler, moister summers, such as the British Isles, New Zealand, and the Pacific Northwest, as well as in humid, subtropical environments such as the coastal southern United States. In some areas, particularly the United States, it is known as "Italian" or "Tuscan cypress". Within its native range, C. sempervirens has historically been planted in gardens and cemeteries and used as a windbreak alongside roads. The tree can also prevent damage to land caused by violent weather.

The vast majority of the trees in cultivation are selected cultivars with a fastigiate crown, with erect branches forming a narrow to very narrow crown often less than a tenth as wide as the tree is tall. The dark green "exclamation mark" shape of these trees is a highly characteristic signature of Mediterranean landscapes.

A 2009 investigation discovered two new species of fungi on the tree, including Phaeobotryon cupressi.

Fire resistance

Unlike many Cupressus species, C. sempervirens has low resin content, and does not readily catch or spread fire. In July 2012, a forest fire lasting five days burned 20,000 hectares of forest in the Valencian village of Andilla. However, a group of 946 cypress trees about 22 years old was virtually unharmed, with only 12 cypresses being burnt. The Andilla cypresses had been planted by the CypFire European project to study various aspects of the cypresses, including fire resistance. This is leading to considerable interest in its use in creating firebreaks in areas prone to wildfire.

Cosmetic and medicinal uses

While some studies show C. sempervirens has modern medicinal properties, it is most noted for uses in folk medicine, where the dried leaves of the plant are used to treat various ailments. In cosmetics, it is used as an astringent, for firming, as an anti-seborrheic, for anti-dandruff, for anti-aging and as a fragrance. It is also the traditional wood used for Italian harpsichords.

Dried seeds of Cupressus sempervirens are sometimes used to help people control skin conditions such as acne and to heal cuts or scrapes. The oil from the leaves of the plant can aid in recovery from minor ailments like nasal congestion.

Habitats

Cupressus sempervirens grows primarily in places with wet winters and hot summers; in the spring and autumn, the tree grows out its roots, stems, and leaves. Like most plants, it requires light for such growth. Because the tree must survive wet winters and hot, dry summers, its roots are adapted to be stout and shallow for easier gathering of the nutrients in the soil. The roots are adapted to function in both acidic and alkaline soils.

In culture

Iran

In Persian, C. sempervirens is called the "Graceful Cypress" (sarv-e nāz), and has a strong presence in culture, poetry and gardens. It bears several metaphors, including the "graceful figure and stately gait of [the] beloved". Iranians considered cypress to be a relic of Zoroaster. A Zoroastrian tradition recorded by Daqiqi maintains that King Vishtaspa, after converting to Zoroastrianism, ordered a cypress brought from paradise by Zoroaster to be planted near the first fire temple.

The oldest living cypress is possibly the Sarv-e-Abarkooh in Iran's Yazd Province; it is estimated to be approximately 4,000 years old, although its exact age has not been determined.

Symbolism

In classical antiquity, the cypress was a symbol of mourning, and in the modern era, it remains the principal cemetery tree in both the Muslim world and Europe. This afterlife association also exists within the Jewish tradition, and since the tree approximates the shape of a candle, a representation of the soul in both Judaism and Islam, it is also common in cemeteries of both faiths in Israel. In the classical tradition, the cypress was associated with death and the underworld because it failed to regenerate when cut back too severely. Athenian households in mourning were garlanded with boughs of cypress. Cypress was used to fumigate the air during cremations. It was among the plants that were suitable for making wreaths to adorn statues of Pluto, the classical ruler of the underworld. This afterlife association also exists within both. the Jewish and Moslem traditions, since the tree approximates the shape of a candle, a representation of the soul in both faiths.

However, the tree had opposing symbolism in some other cultures, where it was seen as a mark of tenacity and long life.

The poet Ovid, who wrote during the reign of Augustus, records the best-known myth that explains the association of the cypress with grief. The handsome boy Cyparissus, a favourite of Apollo, accidentally killed a beloved tame stag. His grief and remorse were so inconsolable that he asked to weep forever. He was transformed into a cypress tree, with the tree's sap as his tears. In another version of the story, it was the woodland god Silvanus who was the divine companion of Cyparissus and accidentally killed the stag. When the boy was consumed by grief, Silvanus turned him into a tree and thereafter carried a branch of cypress as a symbol of mourning.

In Jewish tradition, Mediterranean cypress is held to be the wood used to build Noah's Ark and Solomon's Temple, and is mentioned as an idiom or metaphor in biblical passages, either referencing the tree's shape as an example of uprightness or its evergreen nature as an example of eternal beauty or health. The tree features in classical Aramaic writings.

In popular culture, C. sempervirens is often stereotypically associated with vacation destinations in the Mediterranean region, especially Italy. The tree has been seen on travel posters for decades.