• Taxodium distichum
• South-east North America, Florida, Mexico

Taxodium comes from the Latin word Taxus and means yew.

The wood of the bald cypress species is similar to that of the yew.

Growth: Deciduous tree up to 50 meters high and twelve meters wide, narrow pyramidal, broad-cone-shaped tree with a landscape-defining effect on lakes, ponds and streams. In its native habitat in south-eastern North America, it grows like a forest in mangrove swamps in brackish water.

In older trees, hollow, knee-shaped outgrowths from the roots around the root plate are noticeable. These are so-called breathing knees that protrude from the water, up to 30 centimetres thick and up to one meter long. They serve a supporting function and are equipped with aeration tissue for oxygen exchange.

Needles: Needle-leaf shedding, including last year's short shoots; needles short, small, light green, two-lined, narrow, reddish brown in fall

Flowers: monoecious; male flower panicles up to 13 centimetres long; female flowers: small cones, green, later brown; cones ovoid, spherical up to three centimetres in size.

Bark: thin, smooth, reddish brown, fissured

Use of timber: as with redwood from sequoias: construction timber, house building and many others

Characteristics: frost-hardy, resistant to urban climates, tolerant of backwater, wind-resistant, resistant to pollution; can stand in water all year round