Category:Cypress

Cy"press (s"prs), n.; pl. Cypresses (- Etym: [OE. cipres, cipresse, OF. cipres, F. cypr, L. cupressus, cyparissus (cf. the usual Lat. form cupressus), fr. Gr. g, Gen. vi. 14.] (Bot)

Defn: A coniferous tree of the genus Cupressus. The species are mostly evergreen, and have wood remarkable for its durability.

Note: Among the trees called cypress are the common Oriental cypress, Cupressus sempervirens, the evergreen American cypress, C. thyoides (now called Chamaecyparis sphaeroidea), and the deciduous American cypress, Taxodium distichum. As having anciently been used at funerals, and to adorn tombs, the Oriental species is an emblem of mourning and sadness. Cypress vine (Bot.), a climbing plant with red or white flowers (Ipotoea Quamoclit, formerly Quamoclit vulgaris).

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Cypress - (Heb. tirzah, "hardness"), mentioned only in Isaiah 44:14 (R.V., "holm tree"). The oldest Latin version translates this word by ilex - i.e., the evergreen oak - which may possibly have been the tree intended; but there is great probability that our Authorized Version is correct in rendering it "cypress." This tree grows abundantly on the mountains of Hermon. Its wood is hard and fragrant, and very durable. Its foliage is dark and gloomy. It is an evergreen (Cupressus sempervirens). "Throughout the East it is used as a funereal tree; and its dark, tall, waving plumes render it peculiarly appropriate among the tombs."