64. Cupressus himalaica Silba CUPRESSACEAE

Weeping Himalayan cypress; Bhutia: chandang, tchenden

Woodcut after drawing by J.D. Hooker, from Hooker’s Himalayan Journals

This tree, with beautiful drooping foliage, occurs wild in Bhutan at altitudes of up to 3000 metres. Its wood is used there in the construction of temples, and its aromatic leaves are burnt as incense. The wild species was first scientifically described from Bhutan as recently as 1987, but it had first been collected there in 1838 by William Griffith. It is closely related to Cupressus cashmeriana seen in the glasshouses (Number 21 of the this series), but that species differs in its bluish-grey foliage. In January 1849 Joseph Hooker was impressed by a tree planted beside a temple at Yoksum, Sikkim, which had a trunk with a girth of 16½ feet (five metres).