Cupressus sempervirens 'GARDA' Mediterranean cypress, Tuscan cypress, pencil pine

Cupressus

The entire genus Cupressus is like an ancient witness to Earth’s history. It belongs to the cypress family and includes about 25 species distributed from North America across the Mediterranean to Asia. Fossil evidence proves its existence since the Tertiary period, tens of millions of years before humans appeared. The first botanical descriptions of cypresses date back to antiquity, but the genus was formally named by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century. The popular Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) is an evergreen tree mainly spread in the eastern Mediterranean, though its exact origin remains elusive even to modern botany. It is an exceptionally long-lived species – the oldest recorded specimen in Iran, known as Sarv-e-Abarkooh, is estimated to be around 4,000 years old. In its natural form, this evergreen conifer has an ovate crown shape, however, with the rise of ornamental horticulture, narrower columnar forms were selected, becoming iconic features of certain landscapes. Hence the alternative name Tuscan cypress, since no view of the Tuscan countryside seems complete without its slender silhouettes. Its wood is durable and fragrant, historically used for shipbuilding and fine furniture.

Yet the Mediterranean cypress grows throughout the entire landscape surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. In Middle Eastern countries, it has long been a tree of gardens and sacred spaces. In Persia, it became a symbol of immortality and nobility – its slender silhouette graces Persian miniatures, carpets, and ceramics. In traditional Iranian gardens, listed as UNESCO heritage, cypresses form the central axis of compositions meant to evoke paradise. In Islamic art, it appears as a sign of eternal life because it never sheds its foliage. Likewise, in ancient Greece and Rome, it was associated with funerary rites, which is why it appears in old necropolises. Its image runs through history – from Persian poets praising it as the “tree of freedom” to European painters. In Renaissance landscapes, it frames Tuscan horizons, and in Van Gogh’s works, it becomes a dramatic symbol of life and death. The cypress is not just decoration but a cultural phenomenon linking East and West in a green line that has lasted thousands of years.