Page:Floras Lexicon-1840.djvu/88



YPRESS. . Class 2,. Order:. The cypress is the universal emblem of mourning, and is the funeral tree in the eastern world, from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea; it is also dedicated to the dead, from Mazanderan to Constantinople, as well as to the utmost bounds of China’s fruitful shores.

Ovid gives us a traditionary account of the mournful origin of the cypress tree, and we always find it devoted to mournful thoughts, or sad solemnities. , son of Telephus of Cea, was beloved by Apollo. Having killed the favourite stag of his friend, he grieved, pined, and, dying, was changed by Apollo into a cypress tree. Calmet describes it to be a tall, straight tree, having bitter leaves. The shade and smell were said to be dangerous; hence the Romans looked on it as a fatal tree, and made use of it at funerals. It is an evergreen; the wood is heavy, of rather a fragrant smell,—is not liable to be attacked by insects, and does not speedily decay. Shakspeare says that cypress is the emblem of mourning; and we are told by Irving that, in Latium, on the decease of any person, a branch of cypress was placed before the door.