Astounding cypress

Cupressus gigantea

There were many surprises last summer on my trip to Tibet. One of the most thrilling was a visit to the "Giant Cypress Grove" near the town of Bayi in Southeastern China. Above you can glimpse a portion of the biggest of the grove we visited with a rather charmingly clad visitor....I'll translate the stone in a minute.

Cupressus gigantea

We all have our touchstones: cypresses are one of mine. My father's village in Crete has a large grove of wild Mediterranean cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) growing next to it, and I've been an agent in discovering and introducing several cold-hardy cypresses to cultivation in colder regiions (C. arizonica, C. glabra, C. bakeri), and I've admired cypresses in the wild from Guatemala to California...but somehow I never realized that the world's LARGEST cypress grew in a small area of south eastern Tibet--and I certainly never dreamed I'd stumble on this grove of it!

I know enough Chinese to tell you this stone says "World's king of cypresses" with its statistics following--you will see those in a later view...

Cupressus gigantea

The grove is extensive--I can't recall how many acres but it had to be at least 50 acres in extent. There were dozens, likely hundreds of cypresses on it--a gentle south facing slope...

Cupressus gigantea

While there were not too many tourists the day we visited, it was obviously a site prepared for great numbers of visitors: traffic is restricted to a boardwalk through the grove with sides and signage to discourage trampling of the soil around the trees, which I thought was very thoughtful. There were pavilions and many places to stop and linger and admire the wonderful trees.

Cupressus gigantea

Which I did. We had perhaps an hour. Not nearly enough time!

Cupressus gigantea

I was intrigued to see some broken branches. Snow? Wind? This is Tibet--only a part of Tibet that never gets terribly cold despite amazing altitude (Bayi is 3000 m., and this is perhaps a few hundred feet above that putting it at 10,000'--however the climate is probably USDA Zone 7 at the very coldest.)

Cupressus gigantea

More glimpses...hang in there: I think this gets even more interesting...

Cupressus gigantea

A huge concrete rendering of a trunk dissection in the large plaza as you enter the tree compound. There is a welcome center and other large buildings where there's interpretation and tourist facilities--and as you leave a brand-spanking-new complex of shops on either side of the path which were only starting to be occupied selling knick-knacks, paddywacks, herbs and the usual souvenirs appealing mostly to Chinese...

Cupressus gigantea

Veryt snazzy directional kiosks here and there..always with Tibetan on top, larger Chinese characters and smaller English...

Plaza

Not quite sure what's up with the Concrete tree off to the side...not very cypressy...but what the hey!

Cupressus gigantea  plaza

A map showing the whole grove and the raised trail through it.

Bayi in the distance and a Hypericum in front.

Not terribly far from the main city of Ningchi province--a bustling town with lots of luxury hotels (like every other Tibetan town we stopped in)

Cannabis wild there

As a Coloradoan I coudn't help but notice the Marijuana growing wild: I'm not anti-pot per se, but hate the impact legalization has had in Colorado: it has negatively impacted our Greenhouse industry--conventional greenhouse crops can't compete monetarily with hemp and pot--and we've lost a lot of businesses to what I fear may be a bubble industry. And the cash it generates has inflated our housing market. Not crazy about pot right now--Tibet can have it.

Cupressus gigantea  

 A Tibetan pilgim draping silk bandanas on the fencing...I hate to be a fuddy duddy, but I was not charmed by the Tibetan penchant for draping things in white silk cloth. I know it's their country and their religion, but I could do with a lot fewer prayer flags on the heights. Such a curmudgeon!

Cautionary sign

 I collected countless images of these garbled translations in China and Tibet...Just gotta love 'em!

Arisaema flavum

Get a load of that seed pod! Sorry we weren't there to see it turn red! I shall forever associate this jack-in-the pulpit with Tibet: it was everywhere. Mostly in relatively dry, exposed areas. There were masses of it on the Potala in Lhasa.

The sign speaks for itself in three languages!

Many of the trees had signs indicating their diameter and height. The character "米" means both meter and rice. Here it just means meter! You can read Chinese!

Feeble attempt at a closeup of Cupressus gigantea  

The dang trees were so big and branches so high it was hard to get a closeup!

Cupressus gigantea

What fun to see the variety of form...tree geeks get their jollies easily!

Quercus sp.

There were a few other trees--mostly scrubby oaks. Not sure of the species...

Cupressus gigantea

A view of the very fancy boardwalk wending through the grove...

There were a number of ferns. Very frustrating not to know the names!

We saw this tall Indigofera (I presume) quite a few places. Haven't keyed it out yet--shouldn't be too hard. I have good references...

I admired the massive trunk on this one...

Arisaema flavum

Most of the jack-in-the pulpits were over, but I spied one flower that remained. I need to grow this thing! I think it will love Colorado!

Another clump...

Who can argue with this sentiment? Such a fine sign to boot! There is so much garbage in America about the pollution and other environmental challenges in China that we forget they are making sincere efforts to rectify and improve their environmental records while America's current regime is trashing ours. But I digress!

Not sure what to make of the faux-cypress picnic tables...

Lots of Buddhist prayer wheels along the path leaving the trees--in Tibetan AND Chinese. Which is significant I believe...

Cupressus gigantea

Last two pictures show the massive roots of some specimens on a steep bank...tree roots are insufficiently appreciated!

Cupressus gigantea

I have a few parting thoughts as we're guided out of the grove...

I noticed other groves not too far away: fortunately this is not the only one...

Cupressus gigantea

A finish with a last glimpse back at "the King of Cypresses"...I could and perhaps should write a rather longish essay about "my life with cypresses": this would be a central chapter. It provoked many thoughts--one of which is how this is an excellent example of the tourist "honey pots" being designed all over Tibet (and Western China in general) to gear up for the rising crescendo of Chinese tourism. Any one who has a smidgeon of globe-trotter in them knows that Chinese tourists are a major force in tourist destinations all over the globe (Colorado thus far is not one of these--our tourist board isn't doing a good job). Foreign tourists are really not encouraged in Tibet at all: no reason to do so. There is a swelling tsunami of Chinese tourists who would just as soon have the "roof of the world" as their personal touristic domain! I was astonished at the quality of roads, the airports, the bullet train: I saw as many Chinese stuffing money in the welcoming brickwork of the monasteries as Tibetans. The magnificent Buddhist legacy of Tibet was not impacted nearly as much as it was in China where countless pavilions and an inconceivable quantity of antiquities were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution.

I cannot see China relinquishing Tibet any more than the American west would secede from the American Union. Who would give up the world's greatest Mountains if they had them to themselves?

A second essay should follow discussing how "cypress" has been used to translate "柏" in Chinese. Juniper is technically 杜松. The classic Chinese Juniper (Juniperus chinensis) grows all over the high mountains of Western China and Tibet--but also across much of northern and Central China. I admired countless enormous junipers in Qufu, Confucius home town in Shandong province in 1998 that were reputed to be 2500 years old (planted by the sage himself) and almost as large as these Tibetan cypresses.

If you have read Chuangtzu, "cypresses" are major players in that classic Philosopher's text. I don't believe any species of cypress grow naturally in the regions where Chuangtzu lived: but his junipers are insistently translated into English as "cypress". Time for Chinese classicists to brush up on your botany please!

Finally, it's that time of year. Denver Botanic Gardens is hosting the 7th Annual "Tree Diversity Symposium" on March 20, 2020. Tibet's giant cypress suggest you click on that yellow link and sign up and join us!