Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word cypress is derived from Old French cipres, which was imported from Latin cypressus, the latinisation of the Greek κυπάρισσος (kyparissos). Cypress trees are a large classification of conifers, encompassing the trees and shrubs from the cypress family (Cupressaceae) and many others with the word cypress in their common name. Many cypress trees have needle-like, evergreen foliage and acorn-like seed cones.
Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera, which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130–140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or (rarely) dioecious trees and shrubs up to 116 m (381 ft) tall. The bark of mature trees is commonly orange- to red-brown and of stringy texture, often flaking or peeling in vertical strips, but smooth, scaly or hard and square-cracked in some species.
Hesperocyparis macrocarpa also known as Cupressus macrocarpa, or the Monterey cypress is a coniferous tree, and is one of several species of cypress trees endemic to California.
The Leyland cypress, Cupressus × leylandii, × Cuprocyparis leylandii or × Cupressocyparis leylandii, often referred to simply as leylandii, is a fast-growing coniferous evergreen tree much used in horticulture, primarily for hedges and screens. Even on sites of relatively poor culture, plants have been known to grow to heights of 15 metres (49 ft) in 16 years. Their rapid, thick growth means they are sometimes used to achieve privacy, but such use can result in disputes with neighbours whose own property becomes overshadowed. The tree is a hybrid of Monterey cypress and Nootka cypress. It is almost always sterile, and is propagated mainly by cuttings.
Cupressus sempervirens, the Mediterranean cypress, is a species of cypress native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Iran. Cupressus sempervirens is a seeded vascular plant. As a seeded plant, it uses seeds to reproduce. While some studies show it has modern medicinal properties, it is most noted for uses in folk medicine, where the dried leaves of the plant are used for a variety of ailments. It is well adapted to the conditions and the environment that it lives in due to the ability to survive in both acidic and alkaline soils, and withstand drought. Cupressus sempervirens is widely present in culture, most notably in Iran, where it is both a sacred tree and is a metaphor for "the graceful figure of the beloved".
A plant canker is a small area of dead tissue, which grows slowly, often over years. Some cankers are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately lethal and therefore can have major economic implications for agriculture and horticulture. Their causes include a wide range of organisms as fungi, bacteria, mycoplasmas and viruses. The majority of canker-causing organisms are bound to a unique host species or genus, but a few will attack other plants. Weather and animal damage can also cause stress to the plant resulting in cankers. Other causes of cankers is pruning when the bark is wet or using un-sterilized tools.
Hesperocyparis arizonica, the Arizona cypress, is a North American species of tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Populations may be scattered rather than in large, dense stands.
Dieback may refer to a number of plant problems and diseases including:
Brenneria salicis is a Gram-negative bacterium that is pathogenic on plants.
Neonectria ditissima is a fungal plant pathogen. It causes cankers that can kill branches of trees by choking them off. Apple and beech trees are two susceptible species.
Phytophthora citrophthora, also known as brown rot of citrus, is a soil borne oomycete that infects several economically important citrus crops. A diagnostic symptom of P. citrophthora is gummosis, wherein lesions around the base of the tree exude sap. Other common symptoms include dark longitudinal lesions forming at the soil line, a sour smell, and eventual cracking of the bark. Advanced symptoms include yellowing and necrosis of the tree canopy. Girdling action caused by the pathogen around the trunk can often cause the collapse of the tree. Resistant lemon varieties have been developed and their implementation has been effective at controlling the spread of the disease. Fruits that have been infected with P. citrophthora exhibit symptoms of brown rot characterized by a distinct odor. This disease is most active in the moderate temperatures of spring, fall, and winter months, opposite of most other Phytophthora species.
Diaporthe perniciosa a species of fungus in the family Diaporthaceae. It is a plant pathogen.
Lepteutypa cupressi is a plant pathogen which causes a disease in Cupressus, Thuja, and related conifer types.
Lepteutypa is a genus of plant pathogens in the family Amphisphaeriaceae. First described by the Austrian mycologist Franz Petrak in 1923, the genus contains 10 species according to a 2008 estimate. It was increased to 15 in 2020.
Phytophthora kernoviae is a plant pathogen that mainly infects European beech and Rhododendron ponticum. It was first identified in 2003 in Cornwall, UK when scientists were surveying for the presence of Phytophthora ramorum. This made it the third new Phytophthora species to be found in the UK in a decade. It was named Phytophthora kernoviae after the ancient name for Cornwall, Kernow. It causes large stem lesions on beech and necrosis of stems and leaves of Rhododendron ponticum. It is self-fertile. It has also been isolated from Quercus robur and Liriodendron tulipifera. The original paper describing the species, stated it can infect Magnolia and Camellia species, Pieris formosa, Gevuina avellana, Michelia doltsopa and Quercus ilex. Since then many other plants have been identified as natural hosts of the pathogen. Molecular analysis has revealed that an infection on Pinus radiata, recorded in New Zealand in 1950, was caused by P. kernoviae. The pathogen was also noted on Drimys winteri, Gevuina avellana, Ilex aquifolium, Quercus ilex, Vaccinium myrtillus, Hedera helix, Podocarpus salignas.
Seiridium is a genus of plant pathogens in the family Sporocadaceae.
Fusarium circinatum is a fungal plant pathogen that causes the serious disease pitch canker on pine trees and Douglas firs. The most common hosts of the pathogen include slash pine, loblolly pine, Monterey pine, Mexican weeping pine, and Douglas fir. Like other Fusarium species in the phylum Ascomycota, it is the asexual reproductive state of the fungus and has a teleomorph, Gibberella circinata.
Fusarium sterilihyphosum is a plant pathogen. It infects mango trees. Its aerial mycelium is almost white; conidiophores on aerial mycelium are erect, occasionally prostrate, and sympodially branched bearing mono- and polyphialides. Phialides on aerial conidiophores mono and polyphialidic. Sterile hyphae are present. Microconidia are obovoid, oval to allantoid, 0-septate conidia are abundant, 1-septate conidia less common. Sporodochia are seldom present. Macroconidia have slightly beaked apical cells, a footlike basal cell, 3–5 septate. Chlamydospores are absent.
Hesperocyparis is a genus of trees in the family Cupressaceae, containing North American species otherwise assigned to the genus Cupressus. They are found throughout western North America. Only a few species have wide ranges, with most being restricted-range endemics.
Cypress canker is a disease affecting Cupressus species, caused by one of several species of fungus in the genus Seiridium. Infection causes die-back of twigs and branches in susceptible cypress trees, with rapidly increasing amounts of damage and the death of the tree.
