Taxodium distichum is a very upright, pyramidal, stately tree that tolerates dry to very wet sites. Bald Cypress has fine-textured, medium green summer foliage, good orange-brown autumn foliage, ornamental red-brown exfoliating bark, and winter catkins.
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F E A T U R E S |
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Form
-large tree, deciduous conifer
-maturing at about 70' tall x 30' wide under urban conditions, but much larger in the wild (where in the Southern U.S. it may have Spanish Moss hanging from its branches)
-upright pyramidal growth habit, sometimes becoming upright conical with age
-rapid growth rate |
Foliage
-spirally arranged along the stems, with the leaves on deciduous branchlet
-linear, very fine-textured, medium green in summer, and becoming cinnamon-brown in autumn before abscising |
Flowers
-monoecious, pendulous staminate immature inflorescences to 4" in winter, pistillate flowers, ornamentally insignificant
-Mar.-Apr., with the staminate flowers elongating and swaying in the breeze |
Fruit
-1" brown cones maturing in 1 yr., often go unnoticed
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Twig
-stems light green and thin, becoming brown with prominent rounded leaf scars |
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Trunk
-exfoliating in thin strips with a red-brown color
-trunk very straight with a strong central leader, slowly tapering to the apex
-buttressing "knees" may develop if the roots are submerged in water |
C U L T
U R E
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Culture
-full sun
-prefers acidic soils but is adaptable to heavy, alkaline soils (alkaline soils may result in some chlorosis)
-tolerates very dry or very wet sites
-prefers sandy soils
-virtually no diseases or pests of significance
-moderately available, primarily in B&B |
Hardiness
-zones 4 to 9
Origin
-native to Southern U.S. swamps, rivers, and bayous
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U S A G E |
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Assets
-stately and formal year-round appearance, being a strongly pyramidal focal point that maintains its central leader throughout its life (actually a deciduous conifer)
-rapid growth and establishment
-wet-site-loving and dry-site-adaptable
-ultra-fine-textured foliage (resulting in dappled shade in youth) and fine-textured true stems
-exfoliating strips of subtly ornamental cinnamon bark
-rich cinnamon-brown autumn leaf color
-leaf cleanup in autumn is minimal or not needed
catkins in late winter and early spring are attractive on mature trees as they sway in the wind
-bark and wood is processed from natural stands in the Southeastern U.S. as a slow-decaying, orange-brown mulch
Liabilities
-none serious
-taproot system makes B&B transplant success difficult with larger caliper saleable trees (hence the practices of field root-pruning of saplings while in production, or growing in containers, should alleviate this problem) |
Function
-specimen or focal point tree
-wet or dry site tree
Texture
-fine textured in foliage and when bare
-average density in foliage and when bare |
S E L
E C T I 0 N S |
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Varieties
and Cultivars
- Search
OSU PlantFacts for additional plants in this species
Alternates
-stately pyramidal trees of deciduous foliage (Alnus glutinosa, Liquidambar styraciflua, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Oxydendrum arboreum, etc.)
-evergreen foliage (Abies concolor, Picea abies, Picea pungens, Pinus strobus 'Fastigiata', Tsuga canadensis, etc.)
-trees that perform very well in both dry or wet sites (Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Gleditsia triacanthos, Quercus palustris, Salix alba, etc.)
-trees with fine texture, at least when in foliage (Gleditsia triacanthos, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Quercus phellos, Salix babylonica, etc.)
-other deciduous conifers (Larix, Metasequoia, Pseudolarix) |