Mediterranean Cypress Conservation status: Secure
Mediterranean Cypress foliage and cones
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Pinophyta Class: Pinopsida Order: Pinales Family: Cupressaceae Genus: Cupressus Species: C. sempervirens
Binomial name
Cupressus sempervirens L.

The Mediterranean Cypress Cupressus sempervirens is a species of cypress native to the eastern Mediterranean region, in northeast Libya, southeast Greece (Crete, Rhodes), southern Turkey, Cyprus, western Syria, Lebanon and western Jordan, and also a disjunct population in Iran.

It is a medium-sized evergreen tree to 35 m tall, with a conic crown with level branches and variably pendulous branchlets (but see also below under 'Uses' for the differing cultivated variants). It is very long-lived, with some trees reported to be over 1,000 years old.

The foliage grows in dense sprays, dark green in colour. The leaves are scale-like, 2-5 mm long, and produced on rounded (not flattened) shoots. The seed cones are ovoid or oblong, 25-40 mm long, with 10-14 scales, green at first, maturing brown about 20-24 months after pollination. The male cones are 3-5 mm long, and release pollen in February-March.

It is moderately susceptible to cypress canker, caused by the fungus Seridium cardinale, and can suffer extensive dieback where this disease is common.

Uses

Mediterranean Cypress has been widely cultivated as an ornamental tree for millenia away from its native range, mainly throughout the central and western 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 western Oregon. In some areas, particularly the US, it is known inaccurately as "Italian Cypress"; although the species is very commonly cultivated in Italy, it is not native there.

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 town and village landscapes.

It is also grown for its very durable, scented wood, used most famously for the doors of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, Rome.