Plant · P-1004

Bald Cypress

Taxodium distichum

Bald cypress is a deciduous conifer of southern swamps and river bottoms, one of the very few conifers that drops its needles every autumn after they turn a deep terra cotta. It thrives standing in water that would kill most trees, and its buttressed trunk and knobby root "knees" anchor it firmly in saturated, flooding ground while filtering sediment and pollutants out of the water. It is exceptionally long-lived, with individuals over a thousand years old still standing, and its rot-resistant heartwood has gone into construction, boat planking and shingles for generations - though a planted tree takes about two centuries to grow wood that decay-resistant. Seedlings need a wet-then-drying cycle to germinate at all, so on ground that never floods, new trees have to be planted rather than left to seed themselves.