CYPRESS 



(Taxodium Distichum) 



THE name cypress has been used quite loosely in this country and 

 the old world, and botanists have taken particular care to explain 

 what true cypress is. It is of no advantage in the present case to join in 

 the discussion, and it will suffice to give the American cypresses according 

 to the authorized list published by the United States Forest Service. Two 

 genera, one having two and the other six species, are classed as cypress. 

 These are Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum), Pond Cypress (Taxodium 

 imbricarium), Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa),Go\ven Cypress 

 (Cupressus goveniana), Dwarf Cypress (Cupressus pygmaea) Macnab 

 Cypress (Cupressus macnabiana), Arizona Cypress (Cupressus arizonica), 

 and Smooth Cypress (Cupressus glabra). The first two grow in the 

 southern states, and the others in the Far West. Bald cypress, which is 

 generally known simply as cypress in the region where it grows, is more 

 important as a source of lumber than are all the others combined. It 

 probably supplies ninty-nine per cent of all cypress sold in this country. 

 Its range is from southern Delaware to Florida, westward to the Gulf 

 coast region of Texas, north through Louisiana, Arkansas, eastern 

 Mississippi and Tennessee, southeastern Missouri, western Kentucky 

 and sparsely in southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana. It is a 

 deep swamp tree, and it is never of much importance far from lagoons, 

 inundated tracts, and the low banks of rivers. Water that is a little 

 brackish from the inwash of tides does not injure the tree, but the 

 presence of a little salt is claimed by some to improve the quality of the 

 wood. It is lumbered under difficulties. The deep water and miry 

 swamps where it grows best must be reckoned with. Some of the ground 

 is not dry for several years at a time. Neither felling nor hauling is 

 possible in the manner practiced in the southern pineries. Owing to the 

 great weight of the green wood, it will not float unless killed by being 

 girdled for a year or more in advance of its being felled. In the older 

 logging operations, cypress was girdled and snaked out to water- 

 ways and floated to the mills. Lately many cypress operations are 

 carried on by the building of railroads through the swamps, which are 

 largely ; on piling and stringers, although occasionally earth fills are 

 utilized. The usual size of mature cypress ranges from seventy-five to 

 140 feet in height and three to six in diameter. 



The wood is light, soft, rather weak, moderately stiff, and the grain 

 is usually straight. The narrow annual rings indicate slow growth. 

 The summerwood is comparatively broad and is slightly resinous; 



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