BALD CYPRESS; DECIDUOUS CYPRESS ( Taxodium distichum 

 Rich) . 75 to 150 feet. Tall, pyramidal tree with wide-spread- 

 ing, pendulous lower branches, becoming round-headed when 

 aged. Trunk lobed and flaring into buttresses at base, which 

 is usually hollow. Roots stout, horizontal, bending upward 

 to form woody, angular "knees." Bark pale reddish gray, 

 nearly white on young trees and branches; twigs reddish, at 

 first pale green. Wood soft, light, brown, easy to work, dur- 

 able, used for construction, posts, ties, cooperage, shingles, 

 doors, and fencing. Leaves deciduous with the branchlets 

 that bear them, 2-ranked, spreading, bright yellow-green, 

 often pale beneath; on pendulous branchlets, closely appressed, 

 keeled, scale-like. Flowers small; staminate in loose panicles, 

 drooping, showy; pistillate button-like, scattered near ends 

 of last year's growth, scaly, purplish. Fruit woody, globular 

 cones, 1 inch in diameter, in pairs or solitary. Dist.: Coast 

 or river swamps, Delaware to Florida, west to Texas; Illinois 

 and Indiana to the Gulf, along the Mississippi River. Fine 

 park tree. 



