BALDCYPRESS

Taxodium distichum

Cupressaceae

BALDCYPRESS, also called bald cypress and 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 baldcypresses can produce "knees," knobby projections from the roots that stand above the water.

Baldcypress 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.

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Article about ancient baldcypress forests here

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Excellent six-minute film about baldcypress forests in North Carolina here 

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.