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| habit--notice how the cypresses like to have their feet wet? | typical look of a creek in central Texas--baldcypresses line the creek bank |
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| leaves--at first glance, these leaves appear compound--in reality, they are simple. The needles are arranged in two ranks (that is, they occur in exactly two rows on each side of the stem)--this is called distichous (hence the epithet distichum). | leaves dying in Fall--Taxodium distichum is one of only a few species of deciduous conifers, and it is the only one in Texas (and that's why it's called "bald" cypress!) |
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| bark | bark again, showing the texture |
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| the trunks of cypresses flare out at the base--when cypresses grow in swamps, they develop "knees"--knobby structures that stick out of the water around the base of the tree. There is still no consensus about what these knees do! | immature female cones--these are fleshy and green while they develop... |
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| ...and they will eventually darken to a brown color (as these are doing), and then dry out at maturity. | male cones developing in Summer |
