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Taxodium distichum - (image 1 of 4)

Taxonomy

Family: Taxodiaceae

Habitat

Swamps and riverine and lucustrine margins. Occasionally in brackish water.

Associates

 Distribution

Mainly along the coastal plain from DE to FL and TX and north in the Mississippi Valley to southern IN.

Morphology

Deciduous tree to 40 m with a horizontal branching habit; bark reddish brown with shallow furrows and exfoliating in older specimens. Leaves linear, 5-15 mm, divergent, seemingly in two ranks on the branchlets. Flowers initiated in the fall and develop the following spring; male cones numerous, in drooping panicles; female cones on branches of the previous year, persistent, subglobose, with dull rugose scales each containing 2 ovules..

Notes

Flowers March to April

Wetland indicator: Obligate

A deciduous conifer. The fall color is not all that great, at best reddish-brown, but the summer foliage is rich green and has a very soft look to it. Native to the southeastern U.S. but cold hardy much further north. Older plants develop "knees", which are upright roots that are thought to aid in gas exchange.

References

Dirr, Michael A. 1998. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses.
5th ed. Champaign, Illinois: Stipes Publishing L.L.C.

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.

The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY

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