BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Taxodium distichum | Baldcypress 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Cypress is a large-sized, native, deciduous, conifer, frequently 100 to
120 feet (30-37 m) in height.  It is slow growing and very long-lived.
Individual trees have been reported up to 1,200 years old in Georgia and
South Carolina [19,26].  In the forest, baldcypress typically has a
broad, irregular crown, often draped in curtains and streams of gray
Spanish moss.  The trunks of older trees are massive, tapering, and
particularly when growing in swamps, buttressed at the base [11].  The
deciduous leaves are linear and flat with blades mostly spreading,
fastened alternately around the twig.  Cypress is monoecious with its
male and female flowers forming slender tasslelike structures near the
edge of the branchlets [10,53].  The bark of cypress is usually quite
thin and fibrous with an interwoven pattern of narrow flat ridges and
narrow furrows.  Cypress develops a taproot as well as horizontal roots
that lie just below the surface and extend 20 to 50 feet (6-15 m) before
bending down [19,21].

Knees:  Cypress knees are a unique polymorphic structure of cypress
trees.  They start out as small swellings on the upper surface of a
horizontal root and then protrude above the mud and water providing
extra needed support.  They vary in height from 1 to 12 feet (0.3-3.7 m)
depending on the level of the water [21].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Seed production and dispersal:  Baldcypress produces seed every year,
and good seed production occurs at intervals of about 3 years
[15,20,53].  Because of the large size of the seeds and the relatively
small wing size, cypress seeds are not dispersed to any distance by the
wind.  Flood waters disperse the seed along rivers and streams
[12,37,40].

Seedling development:  The exact requirements for moisture immediately
after seed dispersal seems to be the key to the survival and
distribution of cypress.  Under swamp conditions, the best seed
germination generally takes place on a sphagnum moss or a wet-muck
seedbed.  An abundant supply of moisture for a period of 1 to 3 months
after seedfall is required for germination.  Seed covered with water for
as long as 30 months may germinate when the water receeds.  On better
drained soils, seed usually fails to germinate successfully because of
the lack of surface water [10,16,53].

Vegetative reproduction:  After disturbance, cypress will sprout from
the stumps of young trees.  Trees up to 60 years of age send up healthy
sprouts.  Trees up to 200 years of age may also sprout but not very
vigorously [10,24].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Cypress is usually restricted to very wet soils consisting of muck,
clay, or fine sand where moisture is abundant and fairly permanent
[1,3,38].  More than 90 percent of the natural cypress stands are found
on flat or nearly flat topography at elevations less than 100 feet (30
m) above sea level.  The upper limits of its growth in the Mississippi
Valley is at an elevation of about 500 feet (152 m) [6,13,28].

Common tree associates of bald and pondcypress are: American elm (Ulmus
americana), water hickory (Carya aquatica), red maple (Acer rubrum),
green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), sugarberry (Celtis laevigata),
sweetgum (Liquidambar sylvatica), loblolly-bay (Gordonia lasianthus),
and sweetbay (Magnolia virginia) [39,42,53].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Obligate Climax Species

Cypress swamps represent an edaphic climax; they are held almost
indefinitely in a subfinal stage of succession by physiographic
conditions [17,38,42].  Cypress is intermediate in shade tolerance.
Best growth occurs under a high degree of overhead light, but the tree
persists under partial shade [17,20,51,53].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
The flower buds of cypress trees appear in late December or early
January.  The flowers appear in March and April; fruit ripens from
October through December [7,29].

Related categories for Species: Taxodium distichum | Baldcypress