Common Cypress: a Multipurpose Tree with a Strategic Role for...

Common Cypress: a Multipurpose Tree with a Strategic Role for Environment and Economy

of the Mediterranean CountriesRoberto Danti – Gianni Della Rocca

Vincenzo Di Leonardo – Giovanni TorracaCNR - Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante

L.

Common cypress is native of the Mediterranean and is greatly linked with the culture of the Med peoples which have used it as a multipurpose tree for:

• timber production;

• its ornamental and symbolic value;

• its usefulness in agricultural works. In virtue of its thriftiness and flexibility, recently it has been used also for:

• protection of cultivations and soil;

• environmental recovery;

• contrasting some natural emerging risks: erosion, desertification, forest fires.

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94 Common Cypress: a Multipurpose Tree with a Strategic Role for Environment and Economy of the Mediterranean Countries

geographic distribution Primary (native) distribution area is fragmented: Iran, Turkey, Greece (Aegean islands, Dodecanese, Crete), Siria , Lebanon, Cyprus, Tunisia; relic populations, often located in inaccessible zones where the exploitation is hard;

sole presence of the var. ‘ ’.

Secondary distribution area covers all the perimeter of the Mediterranean; here cypress is naturalized;

It reflects man-made introductions that had occurred in the past.

Native and naturalized populations: their important biological role

important source of genetic resources (biodiversity) and also useful to study the ecological dynamics (e.g. host-pathogen interactions)

Registered in the RRMFB, they are certified as suited for the production of seed to be used for forest plantings in virtue of: extent; good quality and evenness of phenotypic traits; quality of production; vigour and healthy condition; representing different ecological conditions.

Creta

Toscana


Roberto Danti – Gianni Della Rocca – Vincenzo Di Leonardo – Giovanni Torraca 95

Ornamental role

• Ancient times: widely used as ornamental in the gardens of Babylon and Persia;

• Etruscan and Roman age: to embellish villas, gardens, avenues, monuments and sacred places;

• ‘500: widely used in the Italian Renaissance Gardens as: viale, wood, labyrinth, hedge;

• ‘8-900: used in many gardens to form barriers, hedges, green geometrical structures and to design hills’ profile (Fiesole).

Ornamental role Today it is widely used in urban sites as:

• parks and gardens (both public and private); • flowerbeds, roundabouts, sport facilities, junctions, urban and periurban avenues, sacred places.

Arranged in: rows, hedges, small groups or as single tree.

Rodi, (Grecia)

Lisbona

Antibes, (Francia)

Toscana

Umbria

Akko, (Israele)

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Landscape role Deep connection between cypress with life and work in the country;

Tuscany: the role of cypress as landscape tree finds here its greatest expression;

cypress has begun an essential element of territory;

due to its peculiar shape and to this connection with culture and tradition cypress typifies landscape in variuos ways;

In Tuscany cypress raises a well-wishing and positive look.

“Cypress is sad except in Tuscany” (Curzio Malaparte)

Lanscape role: cypress as a tree reflecting old traditions and uses of countrylife.



Lago di Garda, Sirmione (BS)

Trentino

Lombardia (BS)

Sicilia (RG)

Corfù (Grecia)

Granada (Spagna)

Haifa (Israele)

Creta (Grecia)

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Cypress for soil protection : thrifty and flexible tree.

marked tolerance to different kind of soils: arid, superficial, rocky, clayey, calcareous (limestone), magnesium iron soils (serpentine);

good tolerance to hot and dry Mediterranean summers.

Soil protection

Cypress has been used in Tuscany for the covering and protection of slopes since the 19th-century (calcareous marl with rocky and superficial soils; clay) alone or mixed with other species ( ; ;

; ).

Cypress woods in Tuscany: 5000 ha extent (IFRT)

Later:

• Province of Verona, around Garda lake;

• Umbria e Marche;

• Calabria (Badia di Paola);

• Sardinia;

• Sicily (Troina, Chiaramonte Gulfi, Monte Cammarata, Monte Pellegrino).

Nucleuses can be found in all Tyrrhenian regions.



Soil protection

Soil protection

Forest plantations realized in the past has been successful in covering superficial, rocky as well as clayey soils.

Enna

Sesto Fiorentino (FI)

Fontegreca (CE)

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Soil protection

Planted on the top of hills to limit gully erosion and to stabilize clayey slopes.

(Crete senesi, Tuscany).

Environment recovery

Of degraded areas chracterized by particularly severe edaphic and microclimatic conditions: dismantled quarries, mining areas, set-aside farmlands, disturbed slopes (forest fires, overpasturing ecc.).



Productive role: timber

Cypress wood has always been appreciated for its durability, strenght, stability, fine texture and the essential oils contained.

Used for: outdoor uses: doors, windows, furnishings, floorings; • furniture (wardrobes, chests, cupboards, sideboards) suited to preserve fabrics; • shipbuilding (resistance to sea mollusc); • shearing and plywood; • poles and stakes (specialized plantings in Greece); • cabinet-making, sculptures.

Market: only protective woods, specialized (to timber

productionn) plantings are needed;

limited production (only sanitation cuttings);

high productive potential (as much as 8-9mc/ha/year).

Productive role: ESSENTIAL OILS AND TANNIN

Extracted by distillation of twigs and cones of ;

Used in chemical-pharmaceutical manufacturing for the production of:

perfumes and cosmetics;

phytotherapics (antiseptic, tonic, decongestant and antispasmodic properties).

Main producing countries: Spain, France and Morocco.

Other cypress species are under evaluation to study their suitability to the production of essential oils.

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Windbreaks

Selection of multiclonal varieties:

resistant to cypress canker;

suited habit (branch structure); stability (rooting and

grounding);

tolerance to cold and salty winds.

‘Mistral’: multiclonal variety of , among these

“Agrimed n. 1”;

Other 50 clones are under evaluation within Interreg and P.O Med Projects.

Windbreaks to protect cultivations

Essential complement for agriculture in the windy regions:

• increase crop production;

• better conduct.

Effects on:

wind dynamics;

soil water content (conservation);

watering regime;

absorbption and release of the heat of the sun.

Cypress canker have destroyed most windbreaks expecially in France and Greece. Other species used to substitute for cypress have exhibited worse results.



Cypress and allergy Allergy due to cypress pollen has occurring more and more frequently among peoples of Mediterranean Europe;

Local governments are more and more responsive to this problem.

‘Cyprall’ (Craft-EU) project

Involved Countries: Italy, France, Portugal, Spain;

Objectives:

setting up of extract for diagnosis;

setting up of therapy products;

studying the variability of cypress concerning the allergenic potential of the pollen, the lenght and amount of flowering.

Cypress and allergy: outlook

products for diagnosis and therapy have been set up;

a wide variability of the duration and amount of male flowers was detected among cypress clones;

2 clones characterized by a significantly lower allergenicity of the pollen were detected;

possibility of selecting hypoallergenic or sterile cypresses through classic breeding strategies;

possibility of creating male-sterile cypress clones through biotechnology;

Real problem; several activities have been started up with promising results.

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Economic role (nursery production)

Patented varieties – licence holder nurseries:

more than 20.000 patented plants sold per year; 20% of their sales;

availability of grafted plants from 80 to 700 cm tall, both in vase or balled, having prices ranging from 10 to 400 €; limited availability of even taller plants

(more than 7m) that are sold at higher prices.

Economic role (nursery production)

5 mln of grafted cypresses are sold per year in the Mediterranean countries; increasing trend.

Pistoia nurseries (30% of the national production, 80% of the regional production):

Cupressaceae = 18% of the entire production;

Export in the Mediterranean countries: France, Spain, Greece; but also CH, UK, NL, Austria and extraeuropean countries as well.



Timber

industrial wood (trunks)

for joinery: 25-40 € / qfor shearing: 25-50 € / q

boards

non seasoned wood: 465-670 € /m3

seasoned wood: 1100-1120 € /m3

Limited supply, because plantings assigned to wood production are lacking.

Essential oils (production per year)

France: 5 t (45 € /kg) = 225.000 €

Spain: 15 t (27 € /kg) = 405.000 €

Morocco: 2 t (32 € /kg) = 64.000 €

Economic role

Economic role Basis for a further increase of the economy (market) of cypress Common cypress is a strategic tree for the protection of the environment, for increasing productions and supporting the economy of the Mediterranenan countries:

• tolerance and flexibility;

• versatility (multipurpose tree);

• large canker resistance pool of varieties selected to date.

50 canker resistant genotypes are in course of evaluation within pilot experiments (Interreg e P.O. Med):

aims: selecting high performance clones to face up current and emerging risks;

method: comparative trials in experimental fields set up in various Mediterranean countries.

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Economic role Common cypress: a reply to current and emerging problems.

recovery of marginal lands, controlling erosion and desertification, planting windbreaks

creating special plantings for the control of forest fires

high quality timber production (arboriculture) (CNR - Regione Toscana project);

stabilizing clayey slopes (CNR, Regione Toscana, Provincia di Siena project);

selection of male-sterile and hypoallergenic clones (‘Cyprall’ Craft project);

Ornamental purposes: 6 canker-resistant cv. patented by IPP are currently on sale (Giorgio Tesi Vivai and Umbraflor), new selections will be available in the next years.

CypMed and MedCypre projects

CypFire project (in course)

Selected 10 canker resistant clones with high productive potential and suitable technol. properties

Cyprall Project (Craft): variability of pollen production and allergenicity among clones, extracts obtained for diagnosis and therapy.


Villa Reale di Castello - Firenze

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