Common Names

Bald-cypress, southern-cypress (Watson 1993).

Taxonomic notes

Synonymy:

• Cupressus disticha L. 1753;
• Cupressus laeta Salisb. 1796;
• Schubertia disticha (L.) Mirb. 1825;
• Cuprespinnata disticha (L.) J. Nelson 1866;
• Cupressus disticha L. var. patens Aiton 1789;
• Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. var. patens (Aiton) Sweet 1827;
• Taxodium sinense J. Forbes var. pendulum J. Forbes 1839;
• Glyptostrobus pendulus (J. Forbes) Endl. 1847;
• Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich var. pendulum (J. Forbes) Carr. 1867;
• Taxodium sinense Nois. ex Gordon 1858 non J. Forbes 1839;
• Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. var. nutans Carr. 1867 non Sweet 1827.

Description

Trees to 50 m tall and 400 cm dbh. "Bark usually dark reddish brown to light brown with shallow furrows. Branchlets mostly with leaves in 2 ranks, pendent to horizontally spreading. Leaves mostly narrowly linear, ca. 5-17 mm, laterally divergent, free portion contracted and twisted basally. 2n= 22 (Watson 1993).

Range

USA: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia at 0-500 m elevation in brownwater rivers, lake margins, and swamps, occasionally in slightly brackish water (Watson 1993).

Big Tree

The official "big tree" has a dbh of 521 cm, height of 25 m and crown spread of 26 m, located on Cat Island, LA (American forests 2000). The specimen with greatest known stem volume is the "Senator" (also called the "Sovereign Cypress"), located in Big Tree Park, Longwood, Florida. This tree has a dbh 344 cm, a height of 35.0 m, and an approximate stem volume of 119.4 m ³ (Van Pelt 1998). The tallest known one is in Carter's Grove, Williamsburg, Virginia; it is 44.11 m tall (Rucker 2003).

Oldest

Dendrochronology

Ethnobotany

Observations

Remarks

See Also

Farjon (2005).