BALD CYPRESS

Taxodium distichum

Cupressaceae

BALD CYPRESS, also called swamp cypress, is native to southeastern United States, but is adaptable to a wide variety of conditions. Baldcypress is long-lived, and can become quite large. In wet conditions bald cypresses can produce "knees," knobby projections from the roots that stand above the water.

Bald cypress is a member of the cypress family, and has more in common with dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) than our coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in that it is deciduous, and loses its leaves each autumn. The small, delicate needles are two-ranked, and fall with the twig.

Article about ancient bald cypress forests here

Excellent six-minute film about bald cypress forests in North Carolina here

December 19, 2020

January 8, 2021

Female cones (strobili) are round, and a little over an inch in diameter. Here photographed in early September, they turn brown when mature, and disintegrate on the tree.

February 5, 2022

November 3, 2021

May 22, 2022