THE SOUTHERN" CYPRESS. 23 



logical period, as arms and bays of the ocean, extended far into what 

 is now the Coastal Plain and great central vaUey. 



LONGEVITY. 



Cypress attains so great an age that the life periods of virgin stands 

 are better spoken of in terms of centuries than of decades. Trees 

 from 400 to 600 years old are very common, and those from 600 to 900 

 years are scattered through most virgin cypress stands. Individual 

 trees 750, 820, and 845 years old were noted in the Okefinokee Swamp, 

 915 years in southern Louisiana, and about 1,200 years in the Flint 

 River in southwestern Georgia. 1 Roth determined the age of a cy- 

 press near the Santee River in South Carolina 2 as over 1,200 years. 

 There is considerable evidence that the greatest ages are reached in 

 the region from South Carolina to northern Florida in the nonallu- 

 vial and slightly acid swamps subject to only slight differences in 

 water level. The age attained seems to be limited chiefly by the 

 ability of the tree to resist the attacks of fungi and force of the wind. 

 Old trees die backward or downward durhig a period usually of one 

 to three or four centuries. The last stage is usually a hollow cylinder 

 consisting of sapwood from which the heart has been removed by 

 decay (PL III) . It is not improbable that the ages of these hollow 

 veteran cypresses range from 1,000 to 2,000 years. 



SIZE. 



The prevailing size of mature trees in ordinary situations is some- 

 where a,bout 3 to 5 feet in diameter at breastheight (4-| feet above 

 the ground) by from 100 to 120 feet in height. In the highly acid 

 soils of ponds and poorly drained, flat swamps the average maxi- 

 mum size is about 2 feet in diameter by from 50 to 70 feet in 

 height. The largest trees scattered on ordinary sites are 7 to 8 feet 

 in diameter. 3 The maximum diameter for cypress is about 12 feet 

 measured at breastheight. Maximum heights of from 140 to 150 

 feet are occasionally reached. 1 In all cases, however, the culmina- 

 tiorv in height comes from one to four centuries earlier than the 

 greatest diameter. The trunks of the trees of largest diameters are 

 usually hollow at the base and more or less broken at the top. 



FORM. 



Iii form, cypress is a tall, si might-stemmed tree (PI. I). In 

 regions of prolonged inundations the tree usually develops a high, 



i Age . ■■>■'■/ similar to thacofl i redwood of California, Sequoia .sempcrvirens Endl. 

 '!■ ' Ircoloi 19, p. '■'■■ 



* Sno also dJ ' u rIod ol rolume on p. 'U. 



♦ Sargent, C. 8., "Manual ol the 1 reee ol North America," p. 72. 



