Cypress
Cupressus
- Known today as
- Cupressus sempervirens: cones, leaves, and wood.
- Kind
- Plant, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- alpha-pinene, delta-3-carene, cedrol, and 1 more
- Earliest authority here
- Ovid (43 BC–AD 17/18)
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search
Cypress: what was it used for?
The cones astringent, for fluxes and bleeding; the wood burnt to perfume.
Cypress: what does modern science say?
Astringent from its tannins; no established medicinal use.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- The cones are astringent by their tannins and the leaf oil is antimicrobial; the pollen is a major allergen of the Mediterranean spring.
- Toxic dose
- Safe in the old uses; the oil is a skin irritant.
- Standing
- No monograph; the cone is in French traditional use for venous complaints.
- Charpin, D., et al. (2019). “Cypress pollinosis: from tree to clinic.” Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology 56. Not indexed
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Cypress: what lore surrounds it?
Planted in cemeteries from antiquity to the present: an evergreen for the dead.
Cypress: what did the older authorities say?
- Ovid
- Cyparissus, mourning the stag he killed, is turned by Apollo into the cypress, the tree of grief.
Sources
- Ovid, Metamorphoses X. Verified against its record · doi:10.2307/jj.38238890
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 2 cited: 1 verified against its record, 1 not indexed.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Cypress.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cypress.
- MLA
“Cypress.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cypress. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Cypress. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cypress
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See Also
Sharing alpha-pinene, delta-3-carene, proanthocyanidins
Juniperus communis · Daucus carota · Pistacia lentiscus · Turpentine · Prunus spinosa
Also in Ovid
Laurel in Ovid · Coral, red in Ovid · Aconite in Ovid · everything Ovid names →
Nearby in the alphabet
Cyprus powder (a perfumed toilet powder) · Cyclosporin fungus (A soil fungus) · Damascus prunes (Prunus insititia, dried) · Cyclamen, greater (Cyclamen purpurascens or C) · Dandelion (of the daisy family) · Cuttlefish bone (washed up on beaches) · Deadly fibrecap (of spring and summer woods) · Cumin (Cuminum cyminum)
Historical description, not medical advice.