Taxodium distichum Bald Cypress
Height: 50.00 to 70.00 feet
Spread: 20.00 to 45.00 feet
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium to wet
Suggested Use: Rain Garden
Tolerate: Deer, Clay Soil, Wet Soil, Air Pollution
Taxodium distichum, commonly called bald cypress, is a long-lived, pyramidal conifer (cone-bearing tree) which grows 50-70' tall (less frequently to 125'). Although it looks like a needled evergreen (same family as redwoods) in summer, it is deciduous. It is native to southern swamps, bayous and rivers. In the deep South, it is a familiar sight growing directly in swampy water, often in large strands, with its branches heavily draped with Spanish moss. In cultivation, however, it grows very well in drier, upland soils. Trunks are buttressed (flared or fluted) at the base, and when growing in water, often develop distinctive, knobby root growths ("knees") which protrude above the water surface around the tree. Soft, feathery, yellowish-green foliage turns an attractive orange/cinnamon-brown in fall. Rounded, wrinkled, 1 inch diameter, purplish-green cones mature to brown. Closest relative is the dawn redwood (Metasequoia) which is also deciduous.