Taxodium 2010 Taxodium Images

Taxobox

image = Taxodium distichum NRCSMS01010.jpg
image_width = 270px
image_caption = Bald Cypress forest
in a central Mississippi lake
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Pinophyta
classis = Pinopsida
ordo = Pinales
familia = Cupressaceae
subfamilia = Taxodioideae
genus = ''Taxodium''
genus_authority = Rich.
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = ''Taxodium ascendens'' - Pond Cypress
''Taxodium distichum'' - Bald Cypress
''Taxodium mucronatum'' - Montezuma Cypress
''Taxodium'' () Within the family, ''Taxodium'' is most closely related to Chinese Swamp Cypress (''Glyptostrobus pensilis'') and Sugi (''Cryptomeria japonica''). Species of ''Taxodium'' occur in the southern part of the North American continent and are deciduous in the north and semi-evergreen to evergreen in the south. They are large trees, reaching diameter, with 10-25 scales, each scale with 1-2 seeds; they are mature in 7-9 months after pollination, when they disintegrate to release the seeds. The male (pollen) cones are produced in pendulous racemes, and shed their pollen in early spring.

Species

The three taxa of ''Taxodium'' are treated here as distinct species, though some botanists treat them in just one or two species, with the others considered as varieties of the first described. The three are distinct in ecology, growing in different environments, but hybridise where they meet.
''Taxodium ascendens'' Brongn. - Pond Cypress The Pond Cypress occurs within the range of Bald Cypress, but only on the southeastern coastal plain from North Carolina to Louisiana. It occurs in still blackwater rivers, ponds and swamps without silt-rich flood deposits.
''Taxodium distichum'' (L.) Rich. - Bald Cypress The most familiar species in the genus is the Bald Cypress, native to much of the southeastern United States, from Delaware to Texas, especially Louisiana and inland up the Mississippi River to southern Indiana. It occurs mainly along rivers with silt-rich flood deposits.
''Taxodium mucronatum'' Ten., 1853 - Montezuma Cypress, Ahuehuete The Montezuma Cypress occurs from the Lower Rio Grande Valley south to the highlands of southern Mexico, and differs from the other two species in being substantially evergreen. A specimen in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, the Árbol del Tule, is in diameter. It is a riparian tree, occurring on the banks of streams and rivers, not in swamps like the Bald and Pond Cypresses.

Uses

s at low water, Wee Tee Lake, South Carolina The trees are especially prized for their wood, of which the heartwood is extremely rot and termite resistant. The heartwood contains a sesquiterpene called cypressene, The shredded bark of these trees is used as a mulch, although the current harvest rate for this product is unsustainable and is causing substantial environmental damage especially in the south where cutting boundaries are not being followed.

Evolution

In earth's history ''Taxodium'' was widespread. It is known since the Jurassic and can be found as fossil e.g. in layers from Tertiary times.

References

External links

Gymnosperm Database - Taxodium
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary website
National Audubon Society, undated. ''Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. A Companion Field Guide''. Artype Inc., Ft. Myers. 25 p.

Taxodium