Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)

NATIVE RANGE:

Southeast North America

DESCRIPTION:

Deciduous conifer, green needle leaves turn orange and fall off in winter,

bald-cypress-trees-ID 70379766 © Huayjean | Dreamstime.com.jpg

UNDERWATER FOREST:

This iconic tree of southern swamps has some amazing characteristics. It has aerial roots that stabilize it in shifting water and sand. These roots, called “knees,” reach above the water line and help it to breath in standing water where other trees would suffocate. The bald in bald cypress hints to the fact that its leaves turn orange and fall off before the winter. While it has the pine cones and needles of conifers, it is termed a false conifer because of its leaf loss.

What may be most exciting however is the fact that off the coast of Alabama a hurricane shifted the sands 100 feet down in the gulf of Mexico. This storm uncovered a forest of bald cypress that had been buried for thousands of years. Read more about the story here: An Underwater Forest