Cypress

"(Heb. tirzah, "hardness"), mentioned only in Isa. 44:14 (R.V.," holm tree). The oldest Latin version translates this word by "ilex, i.e., the evergreen oak, which may possibly have been the" tree intended; but there is great probability that our "Authorized Version is correct in rendering it "cypress." This" tree grows abundantly on the mountains of Hermon. Its wood is "hard and fragrant, and very durable. Its foliage is dark and" "gloomy. It is an evergreen (Cupressus sempervirens). "Throughout" "the East it is used as a funereal tree; and its dark, tall," "waving plumes render it peculiarly appropriate among the tombs."