Variety of Cypresses

The Mediterranean cypress, in latin "Cupressus Sempervirens" is definitely one of the most iconic trees we have in Tuscany.

Despite not being originally from this area, but from Cyprus (probably imported by the Phoenicians or Etruscan back then). I made another article sometime ago about it and if you scroll a little bit back on my feed you will find more information, also about the sacral meaning of it.

When I took this photo a few days ago, I immediately thought it would have been a great opportunity to talk about Cypresses again. Despite the two different shapes, these Cypresses belong to the same family.

Still, they are two different varieties: "horizontalis" and "pyramidalis", the second one is a result of a graft, while the horizontalis is the more ancestral and original type.

Here in Italy, especially between people working in the floricultural industry (yes, I consider that an industry, not agriculture) they are just called Cipresso and the other one with a more bulky shape Cipressa, (using the feminine substantive).

Truth is though there is no male or female here, just the names.

And when we say Cypresses in reality we are talking about at around 25 different species of them, spread between Europe, Asia, North Africa and the North West of US.

On the photo here aside we see the a hedge made of Thuja, which it still belongs to the Cypressus family but is only used nowadays to make fences and to define the limit between properties.

Choosing Asimismo and going for a ride with me means you'll be able to learn lots of facts like these one while we pedal.

Knowing a territory and sharing what it has to offer is one of my favorite parts from being a guide.

Describing a landscape and being able to comment on everything we see along the way is definitely a good opportunity for me to engage with my land and make every of my clients more knowledgeable about what we come across.

Knowing nature as the first step to then respect it.