Cypress Tree Facts

'Mourning' (ancient Greece), 'Death', 'Despair'.

The Mediterranean Cypress is often found in Mediterranean cemeteries, due to the tree's symbolism.

Contrarily, Christians regard this evergreen as a 'Tree of Life' and it is a Turkish symbol of 'Life' and 'Immortality'.

When Assyrian youth Cyparissus accidentally killed his pet stag, the Gods took pity and turned him into this tree.

While digging for lignite (brown coal) in 2007, miners in northeastern Hungary discovered an 8 million year old swamp cypress forest. 16 fossilised trees were found, up to 6 metres tall, and amazingly, they had not petrified (turned to stone) as preserved trees usually do - instead, they had retained their original wood. (Ripley's Believe It or Not 2010)