BLUE CYPRESS

BLUE CYPRESS

LATIN NAME: CUPRESSUS ARIZONICA

HOME LAND: MEXICO AND ARIZONA

GENERAL INFORMATION: Its homeland is the mountainous regions of Mexico and Arizona. It can reach 25 meters in length and 2 meters in trunk diameter. It lives an average of 1000 years. The scaly leaves, which are blue-green or gray-blue, are pointed, ovoid, thick and protruding on the back. Blue cypresses, which can grow quite fast and have developed according to the dry and harsh climates of their homeland of Mexico and Arizona, do not need a lot of water. The cypress tree, which can grow even in very hard soils where no tree species can grow, is hard and durable, but also has a sharp and pleasant smell. They can be planted alone, or they can be used to form a windbreak fence by planting in rows on the windy front of the garden, the first examples of which can be found in the ancient Roman Period.

It appears as cupressus sempervirens, which we can call the relative of the cypress family, which has spread to more than one region of the world, in the Mediterranean Region.

Cupressus sempervirens, which is a relative of the Blue Cypress, which we can call the Mediterranean Cypress, has always been an important factor with a folkloric value in the local cultures of the Anatolian Coasts and the hinterland regions close to the coast, which have experienced more theological and cultural change compared to the rest of the Mediterranean Geography in the historical process.

Cypress trees are so hardy that even insects cannot afford to damage them. The pungent smell of the tree not only repels moths, but also adds a very pleasant scent to the clothes in the boxes in which they are made.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the cypress tree, which appears in Vincent van Gogh's painting "Cypress Trees in a Wheat Field" in 1889 in recent history, is almost "the symbol of everything" of the history.

For the first time in history, in the sense of official record, BC. The cypress tree appears in a tablet where Assyrian King Assurnasirpal the second, who ruled between 883 and 859, describes his own garden. From the aborigines in Australia, to the first tree to grow in Paradise in Persian Mythology. From the garden decorations in the rich villas of Rome. From the burial culture in Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt, to the beautiful deer Cyparissus of Apollo. Down to the crowns of Hades priests. It is mentioned in almost all historical processes and cultures,

The effect of the cypress tree, which is known to symbolize the eternal life after death in pagan beliefs in ancient times burial rituals still continues as a motif on the tombstones in the Teke Peninsula, which is located between Muğla and Antalya provinces of Turkey, known as Lycia in ancient times, although the religion of Islam is widespread today. Among other cypress tree rituals from ancient times on the Teke Peninsula, it is frequently seen in cemeteries because it symbolizes the way to Heaven with its tall and thin height. Since it is believed to provide a comfortable and happy journey on the way to the other World after death, the graves are covered with cypress tree branches right after the burial and left until they dry.