Abstract: Recent embryological evidence of studies of seedlings of Cupressus L. along with chemotaxonomic studies of heartwood components has demonstrated that Cupressus lusitanicaMill. did indeed originate from the country of India. In the midsixteenth century, Portuguese merchants established early trade routes between India and Portugal. The trade developed from the spice industry confirms Miller’s ( 1768 ) original description that Cupressus lusitanica did indeed originate from India. Later authors suggested that Cupressus lusitanica cultivated in Portugal was introduced from wild populations of Cupressus in Mexico. However, this latter theory was never accepted by native botanist in the country of Mexico, including noted botanist
M. martinez (1948 ). In fact, all Cupressus species in India seem to have a different embryology than that of all Cupressus species in Nepal, Bhutan, China and Vietnam (Silba, 1994 ).

Key words: Cupressus