Bald Cypress

Barbara Wagner, Erie County Master Gardener I first encountered a bald cypress tree on a hike with Firelands Audubon's Kids Nature Club in Sheldon's Marsh. We were hiking a back trail when we came to a bunch of knobs sticking up above the leaves in a wet place in the woods. These were "cypress knees." What an interesting tree.Mary Warren, our guide for this hike, explained to the kids that the knees were protrusions from the roots, an adaptation that allowed the roots to get oxygen when the land was flooded.According to National Wildlife, these protrusions are called "pneumataphores" meaning "airbearing." These protrusions allow the trees to grow in very wet, swampy soils like part of Sheldon's Marsh. They may also help stabilize the tree. They certainly make it easy to identify in winter.The bald cypress is also unusual in other ways. It is a deciduous conifer, Taxodium distichum, in the redwood family. The foliage of the tree is needle-like but falls off in the autumn like other deciduous trees. The nearly one inch long needles line up on both sides of a small twiglet which is then attached to a bigger twig to form compound leaves. The leaves are light green in the summer but turn brown in the fall before the entire twig falls off. Pictures of the autumn tree on the internet look like the tree is dying, but it isn't.The cones are produced from the female flowers of the tree. According to OSU Extension's Ohio Trees, the trees are monoecious, bearing both female and male flowers on the same tree. The male flowers form catkins, drooping clusters of pollen, easily seen in the winter. Wind pollinates the inconspicuous female flowers which form golf ball sized cones, green in summer to gray or light brown in fall. Each cone contains two triangular seeds.The trees are large and slow growing. USDA says the largest may grow to 120 feet with a 3-6 foot diameter. They are also long lived. One in Florida called The Senator was thought to be 3500 years old before it was destroyed by arson in 2012. The trees regularly live 600 years.The trunk of the tree is wide at the bottom tapering to a pyramidal shape at the top. The bark is gray or brown and peels off in strips. The knees will protrude away from the trunk at the base of the tree.Bald cypress has value for wildlife. National Wildlife lists wild turkeys, squirrels, wading birds, and evening grosbeaks among those that benefit from the seeds. In swampy areas, frogs, toads and salamanders breed around the knees. The hollow trunks become nests for wood ducks. Raptors nest in the canopy.In the past the heartwood, called "Wood eternal' in the Audubon Society field guide, was prized for its resistance to decay. It was used for fence posts, docks, bridge, boats, cabinetry, and interior trim. According to National Wildlife, there is little harvest for timber today because there are not many trees left and their growth is slow.The tree also has ornamental uses. Because it also grows in dry conditions, it can have street value. The Arbor Day Foundation recommends planting the tree in full sun in "acidic, loamy, moist, sandy, silty loam, well-drained and clay soils." In moist areas, it helps prevent flooding by soaking up water. It also helps prevent erosion.If you are fond of walking around Parker Lake in McBride Arboretum, you can easily spot a bald cypress tree. There is one growing on the edge of the lake near the bridge on the side where the crabapples grow. Its knobby knees make it an interesting tree no matter what time you are there.