30 



above the water level, known as "knees"; bark gray or reddish-brown, 

 separating from the trunk in long thin narrow strips ; shoots light green, 

 smooth, turning reddish-brown the first 3'ear, then a darker brown; 

 leaves spirally arranged, appearing as if 2-ranked on vegetative shoots, 

 linear, 5-15 mm. long, sessile, acute, yellowish-green, turning brown in 

 the fall and dropping off; staminate flowers numerous, borne on long 

 terminal panicles, pistillate flowers solitary in the axils of the leaves; 

 fruit a cone, globose, about 2.5 cm. in diameter, the surface with some 

 wrinkles made by the edges of the closely fitting scales; wood light, soft 

 and straight-grained, rather weak, does not warp or shrink much and 

 reputed to be very durable when exposed to soil or weather. 



Distribution. — Along the Atlantic coast from Delaware to Florida 

 and along the Gulf Avest to Texas and north along the Mississippi 

 Valley to Indiana. In Indiana it has a peculiar and limited distribu- 

 tion. The mass distribution was just north and west of Decker in Knox 

 County. Collett' estimates that 20,000 acres were "covered with a 

 fine forest of cy])ress". Wright- maps the other places m the southern 

 part of Knox County where the cypress was known to have occurred. 

 At present the only cypress ui Knox County is in the extreme south- 

 west part of the count.y, and is known as Little Cypress swamp. Here 

 it is associated with such trees as wdiite elm and Schneck's oak. It is 

 believed that it extended only a few miles north of the Deshee 

 River. Cioing southward it has not been seen in Gibson County, and 

 is fij-st noted in Posey County along the Wabash River in a cjrpress pond 

 about 12 miles southwest of Mt. Vernon. Then again in Posey County 

 along the Ohio River on the shores of Hovey Lake, and in a slough 

 about 3 miles east of Mt. Veinon. It occurred in a few spots in Vander- 

 burg County along the Ohio River southwest of Evansville. It again 

 appears in limited numbers along Cypress Creek a few miles east of 

 Newburg in Wiirrick County, which is its eastern''' known limit. 



The cypress in all of its stations is found onl}^ in places that are for 

 the greater part of the year under water. 



Remarks. — The original stand of cypress in Indiana has practically 

 all been cut, and the swamjjs drained and now under cultivation. In 

 the slough east of Mt. Vernon for several years, thousands of seedlings 

 of the year have been noted, but for some reason they do not survive a 

 second ja-ar. The ])resent indications are that the cypress will be ex- 

 tinct in Indiana before many years because practically no small trees 

 can be found. 



This species is highly recommended bj^ some nurserymen for orna- 



ilncl. Cieol. Surv. Kept. .5:.33S:1874. 

 oProc. Ind. Acad. Sci. 1897:173;lSaS. 



aFiaird & Taylor's reference to this spccio.s is regarded as a. cultivated tree or as an error ; 

 >ranual Pii))lic Schools of CJlark County, Ind. 1S7S-9. page 62. 



