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Cupressus
Also called Cypresses
Cupressus, is the genus of the cypresses, a type of conifers in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. It is currently considered a polyphyletic group. Based on genetic and morphological analysis, the genus Cupressus is in the subfamily Cupressoideae.
As currently treated, cypresses are native plants in scattered localities in mainly warm temperate climate regions in the Northern Hemisphere, including 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 worldwide.
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.
Moroccan Cypress · South Tibetan Cypress · Hesperocyparis bakeri · Bhutan Cypress · Cheng Cypress · Yunnan Cypress · Saharan Cypress · Hesperocyparis forbesii · Chinese Weeping Cypress · Tsangpo cypress · Hesperocyparis glabra · Hesperocyparis goveniana
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cupressus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
