Pond Cypress 



91 



and along rivers and streams. Its maximum height is about 50 meters, with a 

 trunk diameter of 4 m. above the enlarged, often hollow, base. 



The trunk is prominently fluted below and tapers to the top; the bark is 

 about 2.5 cm. thick, rather smooth and brownish red. The branches are short, 

 rather slender, widely spreading and forked, 

 forming a conic tree; the lower branches dis- 

 appear from old trees, or some become elon- 

 gated and drooping or wide-spreading, forming 

 a grotesque, irregular head often 30 meters 

 across, or in the crowded forest the top is ex- 

 ceedingly narrow. The twigs are slender, pale 

 green, becoming hght reddish brown and some- 

 what shining, and finally darker and covered 

 with scaly bark. The leaves are thin and flat, 

 mostly 2-ranked, linear, i to 2 cm. long, often 

 curved, sharp-pointed, sessile, light yellowish 

 green on both sides or slightly whitish beneath; 

 they turn brown in the fall and, with the lat- 

 eral twigs, fall off. The staminate flowers are 

 in drooping panicles i to 1.5 dm. long, i to 2 

 mm. in diameter and purpUsh. The pistillate flowers in the axils of the leaves, 

 are globose, 3 mm. in diameter. The cones, usually in pairs at the ends of the 

 branches, are globose, about 2.5 cm. in diameter, wrinkled, the scales closely 

 fitting together by their edges. The seed is 8 to 10 mm. long. 



The wood is soft, rather weak, close, and straight-grained, variable in color 

 from Ught to dark brown; its specific gravity is about 0.45. It is very durable and 

 easy to work, being largely used in general carpentry, and is the most desirable 

 wood for greenhouse or conservatory construction. Lumbermen recognize a 

 "white" and "black" cypress lumber; the latter is said to be the most durable 

 and hardest; it is taken from the base of the tree. A resin obtained, especially 

 from the cones, is used in the South as a healing appUcation to wounds. 



This tree has been in cultivation for a long time, especially in Europe, where 

 specimens reputed to be 150 years old occur. It is hardy as far north as Massa- 

 chusetts, but is not seen in cultivation as often as it deserves to be. 



Fig. 68. — Bald Cypress. 



2. POND CYPRESS — Taxodium ascendana Brongniart 



Cupressus disticha inibricaria Nuttall. Glyptostrohus pendulus Endlicher 



Taxodium imbricarum (Nuttall) Harper 



This tree, which is considered by some to be only a variety of the former species, 

 is rather smaller. Its enlarged base is more conic, and it grows mostly in ponds 

 in the pine lands from Dismal swamp, Virginia, to Florida and Alabama, usually 

 over clay. Its maximum height is 25 meters, with a trunk diameter of i m. 



