Out
On A Limb / February 2007
Bald is Beautiful
There are many reasons to appreciate trees, but with beauty, function, durability and determination, the bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, has a list of contributions and characteristics that make it absolutely award winning.
Although it looks like an evergreen, bald cypress is a deciduous conifer, not a fir or pine tree. True cypresses belong to a separate family. Bald cypress has cones and sheds its needle-like foliage, hence the “bald’ designation. The leaves turn reddish-brown in the autumn when the twigs with the attached needles fall. The bald cypress provides visual interest for all four seasons. Along with a massive, tapered trunk, it develops a taproot and horizontal roots that lie just below the surface, buttressed by ‘knees’ that grow above water for additional support. The bark is thin and fibrous with an interwoven pattern of narrow flat ridges and narrow furrows. Indistinguishable male and female flowers bloom in mid-spring and form slender tassle-like structures near the edge of the branchlets.
The redwoods and bald cypresses are the only species native to North America. Naturalists have dated some bald cypress in Florida from 200 to over 600 years old. Once widely distributed across North America, most of the early prehistoric forests are extinct, but the trees are found throughout the southeastern US. Along the North Atlantic coast, bald cypress is native from coastal Maryland and Delaware to Florida, but natural stands are seldom found more than 100 miles upriver from the Atlantic Ocean. The bald cypress trees in West Virginia, western PA, MD, VA or NC are all planted trees.
Bald cypress has excellent wind resistance and is relatively litter-and pest-free. Non-toxic to livestock or nearby plants, in addition to many other fine qualities, the tree has a wide range of hardiness, Zone 3 to 11.
The Society of Municipal Arborists chose bald cypress as their 2007 Urban Tree of the Year. The Urban Tree of the Year must be adaptable to a variety of harsh urban conditions and have strong ornamental traits. The contest has been running for twelve years, and past winners include Kentucky coffeetree, ‘Chanticleer’ flowering pear and ‘Autumn Blaze’ red maple.
The bald cypress, a tree native to swampland that also survives and thrives on the high plains, was recognized as a tree of merit for its adaptability, unique structure, and rooting characteristics.
Landscapers note that bald cypress trees are so versatile, they can be can be grouped around a small-acreage pond, utilized as a windbreak or planted for screening along a sandy upland site. They are often selected for use in state forests, arboretum plantings and as ornamentals.
Early Native Americans used bald cypress for canoes. Today, they remain an important timber tree, valued as softwood lumber for shingles, cabinetry and especially for greenhouses. Benches, boats, railroad ties, river pilings, and bridges are all made from bald cypress.
Its seeds are eaten by wild turkey, wood ducks, evening grosbeak, squirrels, waterfowl, and wading birds. Cypress domes provide unique watering places for numerous birds and mammals and breeding sites for frogs, toads, salamanders, and other reptiles. Bald cypress tops provide nesting sites for bald eagles, ospreys, herons, and egrets.
The trees have potential for rehabilitating margins of surface-mined lakes. Cypress domes can serve as tertiary sewage treatment facilities for improving water quality and recharging groundwater. Riverine swamps with bald cypress reduce damage from floods, acting as sediment and pollutant traps as they cause floodwaters to spread out, slow down, and infiltrate the soil. Besides being planted throughout its range for shade or as an ornamental, bald cypress is planted as a canopy closure in mosquito control programs.
Slow-growing and long-lived, bald cypress can reach 100 to 120 feet in height and 3 to 6 feet in diameter. A bald cypress in Weston is one of the larger trees in West Virginia. It measures 208 inches in circumference, about five feet in diameter, and is 106 feet tall.
Bald cypress prefers very wet soils of muck, clay or fine sand where moisture is abundant and fairly permanent. It is usually found on flat or nearly flat topography at elevations less than 100 feet above sea level.
Under swamp conditions, seed germination is generally on sphagnum moss or wet-muck seedbed. Seed usually fails to germinate on better drained soils due to lack of surface water. Germination requires soil saturation for 1 to 3 months after seedfall. Ever willing, bald cypress will produce vigorous sprouts from stumps of young or old trees. But, their thin bark offers little protection against fire and during drought years, fire kills great numbers of these outstanding trees that contribute so much to people and the environment. PL
Copyright © 2007 A Woman's View. All rights reserved.
Top • Home • Subscribe • Advertise • Submit • Distribution • Contact
Support Our Advertisers • Organization Resources • Women Owned Business
Designed by Livewire Studio
Send an Email About This Article