Tree Description
One of the few deciduous conifers of North America, baldcypress is a large tree to over 100 feet tall and a straight trunk to 8 feet in diameter, with numerous ascending branches. Young trees display a narrow, conical outline, but old trees have a swollen, uted base, a slowly tapering trunk, and a broad, open, at top. In swamps they develop distinctive woody growths from the root system called “knees.”
Range / Site Description
In East Texas, west to the Nueces River and Central Texas, growing on riverbanks, bottomlands, and in swamps which are ooded for prolonged periods. Planted widely as a landscape tree.
Leaf
The slender, light green leaves are attened, about 0.5″ to 0.75″ long, very narrow, and arranged in feather-like fashion along two sides of small branchlets 2″ to 4″ long, which are deciduous in the autumn with the leaves still attached. Flowering branchlets sometimes have awl-like leaves. Fall color is a striking copper or reddish-brown.
Flower & Fruit
Male conelets or “fowers” arranged along a thread-like catkin 3″ to 4″ long, appearing in the spring; female conelets small and inconspicuous.
A rounded cone about 1″ in diameter, wrinkled into thick rough scales, greenish or with a waxy coating.
Interesting Facts
Central Texas populations of this species do not produce the woody “knees,” the function of which is not known. They may serve to help balance the tree on soft, muddy soils.
Species Summary
| Scientific Name: | Taxodium distichum |
| Secondary Names: | Bald Cypress |
| Tree Type: | Deciduous |
| Dimensions: | Height: 100 feet Trunk Diameter: 8 feet |
| Leaf Structure: | Simple, alternate |
| Leaf Size: | 0.5″ to 0.75″ long |
| Leaf Shape: | Linear, lanceolate |
| Leaf Margin: | Entire |
| Additional Information: | iNaturalist – Bald Cypress |
Source: Texas A&M Forest Service Trees of Texas – Bald Cypress