The Cypress Tree.

Botanical name: 

Cypressus.

A TREE kept in our gardens, an evergreen, and singular in the manner of its growth. It rises to twenty or thirty foot high, and is all the way thick beset with branches. These are largest towards the bottom, and smaller all the way up; so that the tree appears naturally of a conic figure. The bark is of a reddish brown. The leaves are small and short, they cover all the twigs like scales, and are of a beautiful deep green. The flowers are small and inconsiderable. The fruit is a kind of nut, of the bigness of a small walnut, and of a brown colour and firm substance. When ripe, it divides into several parts, and the seeds fall out.

The fruit is the only part used. It is to be gathered before it bursts, and carefully dried and given in powder; five and twenty grains is the dose. It is an excellent balsamic and styptic. It stops the bleeding of the nose, and is good against spitting of blood, bloody-flux, and overflowing of the menses. We are not aware how powerful a remedy it is; few things are equal to it.


The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill.