Mediterranean cypress or cupressus sempervirens is coniferous evergreen middle - sized tree native to Mediterranean region.

It is the most elegant tree you can see in the forest or in the karst. It can grow up to 40 meters and it can live to 1000 years. Many people connect cypresses with mourning and you can see a lot of these around the graveyards. But it can look really stunning in the nature.

You can find two different types of Mediterranean cypress.

First is with upright branches that form pyramidal shape of the tree. Old folks would say that is a "male" tree, but that has nothing with the gender of the tree. The other type is with flat branches and it is a little bit wider than the first one. The old folks would say that's the "female" tree.

Mediterranean cypress has grey or dark brown bark.

When the tree is young, the bark is smooth. And it can stay smooth for very long time. This tree has scale - like leaves - 5 mm long and their color is dark green.

The seed cones are rounded or ovoid.

The diameter of these cones is between 25 and 40 mm. It takes 2 years for the cones to mature. The male cones are much smaller, mostly 5 mm and they release pollen is the late winter.

There are many different uses of Mediterranean cypress.

First, I already mentioned that people plant those trees on the cemetery. And it went so far that a lot of people connect cypresses with death. Other use of those trees is the wood. Wood which is used for building. Doors, windows and furniture made of Mediterranean cypress can last for hundreds of years.

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