Taxodium distichum
Baldcypress forest in a central Mississippi lake
Conservation status
Least Concern[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Pinophyta Class: Pinopsida Order: Pinales Family: Cupressaceae Genus: Taxodium Species: T. Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States The conservation status of a Species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future Least Concern ( LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category Plants are living Organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. The Order Pinales in the Division Pinophyta, Class Pinopsida comprises all the extant Conifers This order was formerly known as the The Cupressaceae or Cypress family is a Conifer family with worldwide distribution Taxodium is a Genus of one to three Species (depending on taxonomic opinion of extremely flood-tolerant Conifers in the cypress distichum
Binomial name
Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.

Taxodium distichum (Baldcypress, Bald Cypress, or Swamp Cypress) is a species of conifer native to the southeastern United States. Carl Linnaeus (Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as, May 23 new style (13 May old style 1707 who laid the foundations for Louis Claude Marie Richard ( September 19, 1754 - June 6, 1821) was a French Botanist. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[2][3][4]

Characteristics

Foliage

It is a large tree, reaching 25–40 m (rarely to 44 m) tall and trunk diameter of 2–3 m, rarely to 5 m. A tree is a perennial Woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or The bark is gray-brown to red-brown, shallowly vertically fissured, with a stringy texture. Bark, also known as periderm is the outermost layer of stems and Roots of Woody plants such as Trees It overlays the Wood and consists The leaves are borne on deciduous branchlets that are spirally arranged on the stem but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, 1-2 cm long and 1-2 mm broad; unlike most other species in the family Cupressaceae, it is deciduous, losing the leaves in the winter months, hence the name 'bald'. In Botany, a leaf is an above-ground Plant organ specialized for Photosynthesis. Botany Autumn leaf color. See --> In Botany and Horticulture, deciduous Plants, including It is monoecious. Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of Sexual reproduction systems found across the Plant kingdom Male and female strobili mature in about 12 months; they are produced from buds formed in the late fall, with pollination in early winter. A strobilus (plural strobili is an organ of many Plants that contains the reproductive structures The seed cones are green maturing gray-brown, globular, 2-3. A cone (in formal botanical usage Strobilus, plural strobili is an organ on Plants in the division Pinophyta ( Conifers 5 cm in diameter. They have from 20–30 spirally arranged four-sided scales, each bearing one or two (rarely three) trianglular seeds. A seed (in some plants referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic Plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat usually with some stored The number of seeds per cone ranges from 20–40. The cones 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 produced every year but with heavy crops every three to five years. The seedlings have 3–9 (most often 6) cotyledons. A cotyledon ("seed leaf" from Greek: κοτυληδών kotylēdōn, from κοτύλη ''kotýlē'', "cup bowl" ^[2]

The largest individual specimen is "The Senator", near Longwood, Florida; it is 35 m tall, and with a trunk diameter of 344 cm and an estimated volume of 119. The Senator is the largest Baldcypress tree in the United States. Longwood is a city in Seminole County, Florida, USA. The population was 13745 at the 2000 census 4 m³. While the tallest known, near Williamsburg, Virginia, is 44 m tall, and the stoutest known, on Cat Island, Louisiana, is 521 cm diameter. Williamsburg is a city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads region in southeastern Virginia Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the Diameter of the trunk of a Tree. ^[4]

Taxonomy

The closely related Taxodium ascendens (Pondcypress) is treated by some botanists as a distinct species,^[5] while others classify it as merely a variety of Baldcypress,^[2][4] as Taxodium distichum var. Taxodium ascendens, also known as Pond Cypress, is a species of Taxodium native to the southeastern United States, In Botanical nomenclature or biological nomenclature variety is a low-level Taxonomic rank below that of species and signifies members of different populations can imbricatum (Nutt. ) Croom. It differs in shorter leaves borne on erect shoots, and in ecology, being largely confined to low nutrient blackwater habitats. A blackwater river is a river with a deep slow-moving channel that flows through forested Swamps and Wetlands. A few authors also treat Taxodium mucronatum as a variety of Baldcypress, as T. Taxodium mucronatum, also known as Montezuma Cypress, Sabino, Ahuehuete (name derived from the Nahuatl language) is a species distichum var. mexicanum Gordon, thereby considering the genus as comprising only one species. ^[6]

Habitat

Range

Bald Cypress on the Texas side of Caddo Lake. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Caddo Lake (Lac Caddo is a 25400 acre (103 km² Lake and wetland located on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County

The native range extends from Delaware Bay south to Florida and west to Texas and southeastern Oklahoma-(Little Dixie region, Oklahoma), and also inland up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers north to southern Illinois and Indiana. Delaware Bay is a large Estuary outlet of the Delaware River on the Northeast seaboard of the United States whose fresh water mixes for many miles Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the East Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Little Dixie is the name given to the southeast region of Oklahoma, which is heavily influenced by southern "dixie" culture as it was settled chiefly by The Mississippi River is the second longest River in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to The Ohio River is the largest Tributary by volume of the Mississippi River. The State of Illinois ( roughly ill-i-NOY is a state of the United States of America, the 21st to be admitted to the Union. The State of Indiana ( was the 19th US state admitted into the union Ancient Baldcypress forests, with some trees more than 1,200 years old, once dominated swamps in the southeast US. A forest is an area with a high density of Trees There are many definitions of a forest based on various criteria A swamp is a Wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water The largest remaining old-growth stand of Baldcypress is at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, near Naples, Florida. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is a National Audubon Society sanctuary located in southwest Florida, north of Naples Florida and east of Bonita Springs Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, USA. As of 1 July 2006, the U Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the These trees are around 500 years of age and some exceed 40 m in height.

It is native to humid climates where precipitation ranges from about 760 mm (in Texas) to 1630 mm (along the Gulf Coast).

Although it grows best in warm climates, 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 seedlings. Ice is a Solid phase, usually crystalline, of a Non-metalic substance that is liquid or gas at Room temperature, such as Ammonia Larger trees are able to tolerate much lower temperatures and lower humidities.

Soils and Topography

Most Baldcypress grow on flat ground on alluvial soils, usually at elevations of less than 50 m above sea level, although some stands may occur at elevations of 500 m in Texas. Alluvium (from the Latin, alluvius, from alluere, "to wash against" is Soil or Sediments deposited by a river or other running

Baldcypress occurs mainly along riparian (riverside) wetlands normally subject to periodic flooding by silt-rich 'brownwater' rivers, unlike the related Taxodium ascendens, which occurs in silt-poor blackwater rivers and ponds. "Riparian" redirects here For the legal doctrine see " Riparian water rights. Taxodium ascendens, also known as Pond Cypress, is a species of Taxodium native to the southeastern United States, A blackwater river is a river with a deep slow-moving channel that flows through forested Swamps and Wetlands. A pond is a body of water smaller than a Lake, both being examples of Terrain features Although the term pond is universally used to describe waterbodies that Baldcypress tolerates minor salinity, but does not grow in brackish or saline coastal waters.

Ecology

A Baldcypress in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana

The seeds remain viable for less than one year, and are dispersed in two ways. One is by water; the seeds float and move on water until flooding recedes or the cone is deposited on shore. The second is by wildlife; squirrels eat seeds but often drop some scales from the cones they harvest. A squirrel is one of the many small or medium-sized Rodents in the family Sciuridae. Seeds do not germinate under water and rarely germinate on well drained soils; seedlings normally become established on soil that is continuously saturated, but not flooded, for one to three months. After germination, seedlings must grow quickly to escape floodwaters; they often reach a height of 20–75 cm (up to 100 cm in fertilized nursery conditions) in their first year. A nursery is a place where Plants are propagated and grown to usable size Seedlings die if inundated for more than about two to four weeks. Natural regeneration is therefore prevented on sites that are always flooded during the growing season. Although vigorous saplings and stump sprouts can produce viable seed, most specimens do not produce seed until they are about 30 years old. In good conditions, Baldcypress grows fairly fast when young, then more slowly with age. Trees have been measured to reach 3 m in five years, 21 m tall in 41 years, and 36 m in 96 years; height growth has largely ceased by the time the trees are 200 years old. Some individuals can live over 1,000 years. It may be difficult to determine the age of an old tree because of frequent missing or false rings of stemwood caused by variable and stressful growing environments. Dendrochronology (from Greek grc δένδρον dendron, "tree" grc χρόνος khronos, "time" and grc -λογία ^[7]

Bald Cypress forest in winter, showing "knees" and (brown) high flood level. Lynches River, Johnsonville, South Carolina. Johnsonville is a city in Florence County, South Carolina, United States.

Baldcypress growing in swamps have a peculiarity of growth called cypress knees. In the biology of trees a cypress knee is a distinctive structure in a root of a cypress Tree of any of various species of the subfamily Taxodioideae. These are woody projections sent above the ground or water that are part of the root system. ROOT is an object-oriented program and library developed by CERN. Their function was once thought to be to provide oxygen to the roots, which grow in the low dissolved oxygen (DO) waters typical of a swamp (as in mangroves). Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the Mangroves (generally are Trees and Shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the Tropics and Subtropics. However, there is little evidence for this; in fact, roots of swamp-dwelling specimens whose knees are removed do not decrease in oxygen content and the trees continue to thrive. Another more likely function is that of structural support and stabilization. Baldcypress growing on flood-prone sites tend to form buttressed bases, but trees grown on drier sites may lack this feature. Buttressed bases and a strong, intertwined root system allows them to resist very strong winds; even hurricanes rarely overturn them. A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous Thunderstorms that produce strong winds and Flooding ^[7]

Many agents damage Baldcypress trees. The main lethal damaging agent is the fungus Stereum taxodi, which causes a brown pocket rot known as "pecky cypress". A fungus (ˈfʌŋgəs is a eukaryotic Organism that is a member of the kingdom Fungi (ˈfʌndʒaɪ It attacks the heartwood of living trees, usually from the crown down to the roots. A few other fungi attack the sapwood and the heartwood of the tree, but they do not usually cause serious damage. Insects like the cypress flea beetle and the baldcypress leafroller (Archips goyerana) (closely related to the fruit tree leafroller) can seriously damage Baldcypress trees by destroying leaves, cones or the bark of tree. Insects ( Class Insecta) are a major group of Arthropods and the most diverse group of Animals on the Earth with over a million described Coypu also clip and unroot young Baldcypress seedlings, sometimes killing a whole plantation in a short amount of time. The coypu, or nutria ( Myocastor coypus) is a large herbivorous, semiaquatic Rodent and the only member of the family Myocastoridae ^[7]

Cultivation and uses

It is a very popular ornamental tree, grown for its light, feathery foliage and orange-brown fall color. Ornamental plants are typically grown in the flower Garden or as House plants Most commonly they are grown for the display of their Flowers Other common In cultivation it thrives on a wide range of soils including well-drained sites where it would not grow naturally due to the inability of the young seedlings to compete with other vegetation. Cultivation is successful far to the north of its native range, north to southern Canada. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page It is also commonly planted in Europe, Asia and elsewhere with temperate to subtropical climates. It does however require continental climates with hot summers for good growth; when planted in areas with cool summer oceanic climates, growth is healthy but very slow (some in northeastern England have only reached 4–5 m tall in about 50 years^[8]), and cones are not produced. Continental climate is a Climate that is characterized by Winter Temperatures cold enough to support a fixed period of Snow cover each Year An oceanic climate (also called marine west coast climate and maritime climate) is the Climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes

Baldcypress has been noted for its high merchantable yields. In virgin stands, yields from 112 to 196 m³/ha were common, and some stands might have exceeded 1000 m³/ha. Baldcypress swamps are some of the world's most productive ecosystems.

Baldcypress wood has long been valued for its water resistance. Still-usable prehistoric wood is often found in swamps in New Jersey and occasionally as far north as New England although it is more common in the southeast. The somewhat-mineralized wood is mined from some swamps in the southeast, and is highly prized for specialty uses such as wood carvings. Pecky cypress, caused by the fungus Stereum taxodii is used for decorative wall paneling.

The Baldcypress was designated the official state tree of Louisiana in 1963, and is considered by some to be a symbol of the southern swamps. This List of US state trees includes official trees of the following states and U The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

References

See also

• Battle Creek Cypress Swamp, Maryland

Gallery

			Knees of a Bald Cypress in Chester County, Pennsylvania
Leaf closeup	A large planted tree in Belgium, 2. Chester County (known colloquially as "Chesco" is a County located in the U 73 m diameter.	Same tree, in winter.