Bald Cypress / Taxodium distichum
Family: Redwood / Taxodiaceae
Characteristics: Bald Cypress is a deciduous tree with medium-fine texture and a medium to fast growth rate. Form is pyramidal when young (sometimes narrow) and becomes broader with age. In nature, older trees are flat-topped with few lower branches, which is probably due to competition for light. Its bark is reddish brown, fibrous, and very attractive. Bald Cypress produces "knees" (vertical root extensions) in swamps, but not when grown in upland sites.
Landscape uses: Bald Cypress is planted as a specimen tree. It does well in the average home landscape, displaying good drought tolerance and adaptability to sandy or clay soils as well as wet and dry sites. Uniform shape, lacy fernlike foliage, pest resistance, and russet-red fall color are some of this tree's landscaping merits. It needs full sun.
Size: 60 to 100 feet high with a spread of 40 to 50 feet
Zones: 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b
Habitat: Wet, swampy, soils along riverbanks and floodplains, and other areas where water collects.
Native to: Delaware to Florida, west to southern Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.