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Taxodium distichum, also known as Bald Cypress, Baldcypress or Swamp Cypress, is a species of conifer native to the southeastern United States, from Delaware Bay south to Florida and west to southern Texas, and also inland up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers north to southern Illinois and Indiana.
It is a large tree, reaching 30-45 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 3 m. The leaves are spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, 1-2 cm long and 1-2 mm broad; unlike most other cypresses, it loses the leaves in the winter months (hence the name 'bald'). The cones are green maturing gray-brown, globular, 2-3.5 cm in diameter, and disintegrate when mature to release the large seeds. The seeds are 5-10 mm long, the largest of any species in the cypress family, and are water-dispersed.
Bald Cypress occurs mainly along riparian (riverside) wetlands subject to periodic flooding by silt-rich 'brownwater' rivers, unlike the related Pond Cypress, which occurs in silt-poor blackwater rivers and ponds. Ancient Bald Cypress forests, with some trees over 1200 years old, once dominated swamps in the southeast US. The largest remaining stand of Bald Cypress is at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, near Naples, Florida. These trees are around 500 years of age and some exceed 40m (130 ft) in height.
Bald Cypresses growing in swamps have a peculiarity of growth called cypress knees. These are woody projections sent above the water from the roots. One rather popular view of their function is that they provide oxygen to the roots that grow in the low dissolved oxygen (DO) waters typical of a swamp (see also mangroves, which have similar adaptations). However, there is little evidence for this; in fact, swamp-dwelling specimens whose knees are removed continue to thrive. Another more likely function is that of structural support and stabilization. Lowland, or swamp grown cypress which are flooded or flood prone, tend to be buttressed, as opposed to cypresses grown on higher ground which may grow with very little taper.
The natural northern limit of the species is not due to a lack of cold tolerance, but to specific reproductive requirements; further north, regeneration is prevented by ice damage to the year-old seedlings. If slightly larger young trees are planted, they are able to tolerate much lower temperatures, and can be grown as far north as Minnesota. It is also commonly planted elsewhere outside of its native range in other temperate regions of the world.
The Bald Cypress was designated the official state tree of Louisiana in 1963, and is considered by some to be a symbol of the southern swamps.
References and external links
Tisovec dvouřadý | Sumpcypres (Taxodium distichum) | Echte Sumpfzypresse | Mocsárciprus | Moerascipres | cypryśnik błotny
"Taxodium distichum"