If there is a conifer that can be had in all types of gardens, be they large or small, that is the common cypress. It is one of those plants that you can see in the green spaces of the cities, and also near the sea.
Withstands drought, temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius, and pollution So if you are looking for a truly adaptable plant, this is undoubtedly the common cypress.
What is the common cypress like?
Our protagonist, whose scientific name is Cupressus sempervirens, and by the popular names Mediterranean cypress, Italian cypress and common cypress, it is an evergreen conifer native to the eastern Mediterranean. It can reach a maximum height of 35 meters, although it does not usually exceed 25m. It forms a dense dark green foliage, composed of scale-shaped leaves between 2 and 5mm in length.
Features male and female flowers. The former are cylindrical, measuring between 3 and 5mm long, and shed from pollen in late winter. The latter are formed by sets of cones of 2 to 3 cm in diameter whose color is greenish gray. The pineapple develops in spring and finishes maturing the following fall. Inside are the seeds.
His life expectancy is about 500 years.
Varieties
- horizontally: the branches grow somewhat horizontally.
- pyramidalis: the branches grow vertically.
- Fastigiata: the most compact and narrow carriage.
How do you take care of yourself?
How to take care of this extraordinary plant? Very simple: following our advice 🙂:
- Location: outdoors, in full sun or in semi-shade.
- Land: it is not demanding, although it prefers limestone.
- Irrigation: two or three times in summer, and once a week the rest of the year.
- Subscriber: in spring and summer it should be fertilized with, for example, earthworm humus or manure.
- Planting time: in spring.
- Multiplication: by stratifying the seeds in autumn-winter, in the refrigerator for three months at 6ºC.
- Rusticity: withstands frosts down to -10ºC, wind, drought and pollution.
For what do you use it?
The common cypress is used as an ornamental plant, but also has other uses:
- The leaves and cones are used as astringents, expectorants, diuretics, vasconstrictors, sudorifics, and febrifuges.
- The wood from its trunk is used in construction and carpentry.
Interesting, right?
Hello, I live in Mexico in the city of Mexicali, I had some cypress trees but they withstood the heat, a person from a nursery told me that it requires too much water in summer because of the heat so strong that it reaches 50 centigrades, what variety do you recommend with this review ?
Hello Cosme.
In the Mediterranean (temperatures in summer up to 45ºC) Cupressus sempervirens is widely planted, and they bear it well. Five more degrees will not affect them. Of course, as they told you, they need a lot of water during the hottest months.
A greeting.