LXXVII. CONl'FKRjE: TAXO^DIUM. 



1079 



2006. T. distichum. 



The deciduous cypress, in America, attains its largest size in the swamps of 

 the southern states and the Floridas, on the deep miry soil of which a new 

 layer is every year deposited by the floods. The roots of large trees, par- 

 ticularly in situations subject to inundation, are charged with conical protu- 

 berances, commonly from 1 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. high, and sometimes from 4 ft. to 

 5 ft. in thickness : they are always hollow, smooth on the surface, and covered 

 with a reddish bark, like the roots, which they resemble also in the softness 

 of their wood. Michaux says that " no cause can be assigned for their ex- 

 istence : they are peculiar to the deciduous cypress, and begin to appear when 

 it is only 20 ft. or 25 ft. high." The Rev. J. Mitford has suggested that the 

 absorption of air is the probable purpose for which the knobs protrude 

 above the water. They are made use of by the negroes for beehives. The 

 wood is universally employed, throughout the United States, for the best 

 kind of shingles ; and in Louisiana it is used for almost every other purpose 

 to which timber is applied. A rich moist soil is required to produce the 

 deciduous cypress of any size, and it will not thrive in elevated situations. 

 The species is increased by seeds, which are procured from imported cones : 

 they may be treated in all respects like those of the common evergreen 

 cypress, and, like them, come up the first year. The tree may also be pro- 

 pagated by cuttings, put in in autumn, in sand or heath soil, in the shade, and 

 kept moist ; a practice which, Bosc observes, is in use in the nurseries at 

 Orleans, but not in those at Paris Cuttings of the winter's wood, or of the 



3z 4 



