What Tree Is Cypress? A Guide to the Origins of Cypress Essential Oil
Where does cypress essential oil come from? What tree is cypress? Do you know? Let's take a look together.
The origins of cypress essential oil
Main producing areas: France, Germany
Cypress has a woody, balsamic fragrance. People in ancient times used cypress essential oil to lose weight, reduce swelling and treat bleeding hemorrhoids, while people today distill the fresh leaves of cypress into essential oil, which can help with weight loss and slimming, condition the skin and purify the mind. The masculine scent of cypress can also be used as a men's cologne or aftershave, because its astringent effect is very good. It contains astringent, hemostatic substances, and ancient Egyptian medical classics almost always mention its hemostatic effect, especially its therapeutic effect on bleeding hemorrhoids and cystitis. In Greek and Roman mythology, cypress can almost always be seen in connection with gods or temples related to the underworld, which also shows that Europeans mostly planted cypress around cemeteries.
What tree is cypress
It is a cylindrical evergreen coniferous tree of the genus Cupressus, with more than twenty species, tall in form and reaching 25-45 meters. Scale-like small leaves press against the trunk and twigs, male and female flowers grow on the same tree, and the female flowers produce brownish-gray round cones containing winged seeds. Its place of origin is the Mediterranean coast of Europe, but today it is also grown in many parts of temperate Europe and North America.
Cypress trees are planted very close to one another, so in southern France, whole groves of cypress are often used as windbreaks to block the northwest wind; besides this, they are also commonly found among the garden plants of southern France, Greece and Italy.
Because the cypress tree has a characteristic of being resistant to decay, it was given the Latin species name Sempervirens, meaning "everlasting life," and because of this characteristic, cypress has possessed extremely high practical value since ancient times. The Cretans used it to build houses and ships; the Greeks used it to sculpt statues of gods, and the ancient Egyptians used cypress to make coffins and also applied it in various medical uses.