Average conceptions of cypress trees include life signs such as strength, protection, and everlasting life. Their first historical applications were by planting them as temple posts and monuments. At the same time, the trees gained the qualities of honor and loyalty because of their elegant and stiff nature.

Cypress trees used to be found in places of burial and hence it became a symbol of death. The Greeks and the Romans in the old days had the custom of planting cypress trees in the graves they considered due to their staying green and lasting long. These trees also grow straight toward the sky which people saw as connecting earth to heaven.

False cypress has more resemblance to a true one than difference. It has a fan-shaped spread of branches with thin and scale-like leaves instead of needles. The tree may be anything from blue-green to yellowish-golden, which means that designers have a lot more choices of false cypress rather than the standard ones.

The Bible refers to cypress trees as perfect things to build with in several passages. Some versions mention cypress wood in the construction of the Arc of Noah and the temple. It gained recognition because of its strength along with its good resistance to rotting that is why it was the most desirable resource for monumental buildings in the old days.

One of the special features of cypress is their tough and durable wood that is resistant to rot. They mature in places full of water where no other trees can grow and have a life span of more than a thousand years. The wood, furthermore, is very resistant to pests and rotting even if there is no treatment applied on it, this is why cypress is very useful for outdoor construction.