382 TAXODIUM. 



No. 1. Taxodium distichum, Richard, the Deciduous Cypress. 



Syn. Cupressus Virginiana, Plukenett. 

 Tradescanti, Ray. 



Americana, Catesby. 



disticha, Linnaius. 



Schubertia disticha, Mirbel. 



Taxodium distichum patens, Endlicher. 



nigrum, Hort. 



Cupressus disticha patens, Aiton. 



Leaves in two rows, flat, rather distant, pectinate, spread 

 out horizontal, and twisted at the base ; linear, tapering to a 

 sharp point, bright green, and thin at the margins, half an 

 inch long, and one line broad, somewhat arched, with the con- 

 vex side outwards, and changing in the autumn from a light 

 green to a dull red, and soon after falling off. Branches stout, 

 stiff, horizontal, or rising upwards at the ends, lateral ones 

 rather pendulous. Branchlets very slender, and elegantly 

 pinnated. Male and female flowers on the same plant. The 

 male catkins are produced in flexible pendulous aments, and 

 the female ones in very small bunches. Cones somewhat 

 rounded, or roundish-ovate, from one to one inch and a half in 

 diameter, and about the size of a pigeon's egg, hard, and un- 

 even on the surface. Scales thick, slightly striated, dull 

 brown, raised in the middle, with a small mucro in the centre, 

 which soon disappears after maturity. Seeds compressed. This 

 tree is rather pyramidal when young, but when old and full 

 grown has fiat, horizontal branches, and becomes a lofty tree, 

 120 feet high, and from twenty-five to forty feet in circum- 

 ference at the base, covering large tracts of country in the 

 swamps of the Southern States of North America. 



The Deciduous Cypress is found growing along the banks of 

 rivers, and in swamps from the Delaware, which may be con- 

 sidered its northern boundary, to Florida; in Maryland and 

 Virginia it is confined to within view of the sea, where the 

 winters are milder, and the summer more intense. In Carolina 



