Californian Cypress

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Video: Californian Cypress

Video: Californian Cypress
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Californian Cypress
Californian Cypress
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Californian cypress (Latin Cupressus goveniana) - in the wild, Californian cypress is found only on the Monterey Peninsula (western United States), where it grows in small groups. It is, as a rule, a small tree or shrub, which differs from other species of the Cypress genus (Latin Cupressus), which is a member of the Cypress family (Latin Cupressaceae), in the structure of its needles that do not have resin-producing glands.

What's in your name

The word "Cypress", chosen by botanists to denote a genus of conifers, some people associate with the name of the island of Cyprus, on which such trees have grown in abundance since legendary times.

Others believe that the genus owes its name to a young man named Cypress, whom the ancient Greek god turned into a tree in order to save him from the pangs of conscience for an accidentally killed young man of his own deer.

There are other characters in the legends with the name Cypress, which numerous gods periodically turned into trees, believing that in this way they save the souls of such people from the nervousness of being, or punishing people for unseemly behavior. Such a view of the origin of many plants gives rise to an even more attentive attitude of man to the plant world. After all, behind every plant there may be some person.

Description

Californian cypress is an evergreen tree with a wide range of sizes. The height of adult plants varies from 0.2 to 10 meters, but under ideal conditions of existence, the tree can rise to the heavens to a height of 50 meters. The crown of a tree can be ovoid-conical or conical.

From the smooth or cracking bark of the trunk, branches intertwining with each other with dense dark green scaly foliage depart. The length of the scaly leaves is from 0.2 to 0.5 centimeters. There are no resin glands in the leaves of Californian cypress.

As a rule, the seed cones of the Californian cypress are smaller than those of the large-fruited cypress (Latin Cupressus macrocarpa). Their length can be from 1, 1 to 2, 2 centimeters, and the shape - from spherical to oblong. The number of scales that protect plant seeds from the vicissitudes of the weather varies from 6 to 10 pieces.

After pollination, the buds take 20 to 24 months for the seeds to fully mature. Seed cones, colored green early in life, turn gray-brown or brown by the time they mature.

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Once ripe, the buds continue to keep their seeds locked up for many years. This is how the seed cones of many species of the Cypress genus do. They seem to have been created by nature for critical moments of life. Unfortunately, woody plants are periodically destroyed by fires, including Californian cypresses. Then the moment comes for the seed cones, provoking them to open the protective scales and release the seeds.

The land, naked after a fire, willingly accepts the seeds of Californian cypress, which can quickly heal its wounds. But, although there is such an amazing connection between California cypress and fires, this species of the genus Cypress is listed in the list of plants disappearing from the face of our small blue planet.

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