Cupressus funebris Endl.
An evergreen, erect tree when young, becoming more open and pendulous with age, branches spreading and drooping, branchlets pendulous, with paired, overlapping, scale-like leaves, and small, spherical female cones. To 15m. [RHSD, Hortus, Hilliers’].
Horticultural & Botanical History
Cupressus funebris was introduced to Europe in 1849. [JD]. ‘Two of the most interesting plants, interesting especially to the lovers of arboriculture, among those detected by Mr. Fortune, during his present second visit to the north of China, are most assuredly the Cupressus funebris, Endl. (C. pendula, Staunton and Lambert, not of Thunberg), and the subject of the present plate [Cephalotaxus Fortuni]. Messrs. Standish and Noble, of the Bagshot Nursery, are the fortunate possessors of young plants of both, and have already found them to be perfectly hardy in this climate. Both were found by Mr. Fortune two hundred miles north of Shang-see. […] To judge of the graceful character of the Funereal Cypress, one has but to look at Tab. 41 of the Atlas of Plates accompanying Lord Macartney’s Embassy to China, where we learn that in the north of China it is the tree used to adorn cemeteries.’ [BM t.4499/1850].
History at Camden Park
Listed in he 1850 and 1857 catalogues [C.26/1850]. There are mature specimens of this tree in the gardens today so it is perhaps the most likely possibility.
Notes
See also Cupressus lusitanica Mill.
Cupressus pendula Griff. (1848) = Cupressus torulosa D.Don. which see.
Cupressus pendula Abel. (1784) = Thuja orientalis L. which see.
Published Aug 01, 2009 - 01:07 PM | Last updated Jul 16, 2010 - 04:58 PM
| Family | Cupressaceae |
|---|---|
| Category | |
| Region of origin | China |
| Synonyms |
|
| Common Name | Mourning cypress, Funeral cypress, Chinese weeping cypress |
| Name in the Camden Park Record |
Cupressus pendula |
| Confidence level | medium |