Tree Description
Montezuma cypresses are fast-growing, large trees, reaching 70 feet in height with a thick trunk about 6 feet in diameter. They have irregular, rounded, or flat-topped crowns and drooping branchlets. Unlike the closely related baldcypress, this species does not produce “knees”.
Range / Site Description
These trees occur naturally on streambanks along the Rio Grande River, its tributaries, and nearby resacas. They are planted as landscape trees as far north as Houston, where the leaves become deciduous.
Leaf
The delicate, light green leaves are flattened, about ½” to ¾” long, very narrow, and arranged in feather-like fashion along two sides of slender branchlets 3” to 6” long. It is persistent and evergreen in extreme South Texas, but semi-evergreen or deciduous farther north.
Flower & Fruit
Male flowers in long clusters resemble oak catkins, 6” to 12” long, with the individual flowers spread out spirally along the central thread-like stem. Female flowers are small and inconspicuous swellings on the previous year’s branchlets.
The fruit is contained within a round cone, up to 1” in diameter, with rough surface. It is green and glaucus at first but turns brown and woody later.
Interesting Facts
The largest reported tree of this species, the “Tule tree”, near Oaxaca, Mexico, measures over 125 feet tall with a circumference over 150 feet!
Species Summary
| Scientific Name: | Taxodium mucronatum |
| Secondary Names: | Montezuma Baldcypress, Sabino, Ahuehuete |
| Tree Type: | Evergreen |
| Dimensions: | Height: 70 feet Trunk Diameter: 6 feet |
| Leaf Structure: | Simple, alternate |
| Leaf Size: | ½-¾ inches long |
| Leaf Shape: | Lanceolate, linear |
| Leaf Margin: | Entire |
| Additional Information: | iNaturalist – Montezuma Cypress USFWS – Montezuma Cypress fact sheet 1994 |
Source: Texas A&M Forest Service Trees of Texas – Montezuma Cypress