Pond-Cypress (MatBio: TREES & SHRUBS - Matanzas Biodiversity)

Pond-Cypress

Taxodium ascendens

Summary ⁶

Taxodium ascendens, also known as Pond Cypress, is a deciduous conifer of the genus Taxodium, native to North America. Many botanists treat it as a variety of Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum (as T. distichum var. imbricarium) rather than as a distinct species, but it differs in ecology, occurring mainly in still blackwater rivers, ponds and swamps without silt-rich flood deposits. It predominates in cypress dome habitats.

Physical description ⁷

Tree, Deciduous, Evergreen, Monoecious, Habit erect, Trees with knees, Tree with bark rough or scaly, Young shoots in flat sprays, Young shoots 3-dimensional, Buds not resinous, Leaves needle-like, Leaves alternate, Needle-like leaf margins entire (use magnification), Needle-like leaf margins finely serrulate (use magnification or slide your finger along the leaf), Leaf apex acute, Leaf apex obtuse, Leaves < 5 cm long, Leaves < 10 cm long, Leaves not blue-green, Scale leaves without raised glands, Needle-like leaves flat, Needle-like leaves not twisted, Needle-like leaves per fascicle mostly 1, Twigs glabrous, Twigs not viscid, Twigs without peg-like projections or large fascicles after needles fall, Berry-like cones orange, Woody seed cones < 5 cm long, Bracts of seed cone included, Seeds tan, Seeds brown, Seeds wingless.