Part 63

BALD CYPRESS Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.

Growth Form: Large tree to over 100 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 8 feet; crown open and spreading to pyramidal; base of trunk often swollen; “knees” usually produced if tree is growing in water.

Bark: Pale reddish-brown, broken into numerous thin scales, becoming fibrous.

Twigs: Slender, reddish-brown; leaf scars absent.

Buds: Spherical, up to ⅛ inch in diameter, pale brown.

Leaves: Needles borne singly, pointed at the tip, up to ¾ inch long, yellow-green, falling away during the autumn.

Flowers: Staminate borne in branched clusters up to 5 inches long, purplish; pistillate few to several near the ends of the twigs, spherical.

Fruit: Cones nearly spherical, up to 1 inch in diameter, green to brown, wrinkled in appearance.

Wood: Soft, durable, light in weight, brown.

Uses: Railroad ties, fence posts, barrels, bridges; often planted as an ornamental.

Habitat: Swamps and low, wet woods.

Range: New Jersey across to southern Illinois and southern Missouri to eastern Texas, east to Florida.

Distinguishing Features: Bald Cypress is distinguished by the feathery appearance of its leaves and by its spherical, wrinkled cones.

BASSWOOD Tilia americana L.

Other Name: Linden.

Growth Form: Medium or large tree to 80 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown broadly rounded.

Bark: Brown, scaly, deeply furrowed.

Twigs: Slender, gray or brown, smooth; leaf scars alternate, half-elliptical, with 3 to several bundle traces.

Buds: Ovoid, red, smooth, up to ¼ inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades ovate, pointed at the tip, heart-shaped at the very asymmetrical base, up to 8 inches long, up to ⅔ as broad, coarsely toothed along the edges, green and smooth on the upper surface, paler and smooth or with tufts of hair on the lower surface; leafstalks up to 2 inches long, smooth.

Flowers: Few in clusters on a long stalk attached to a paddle-shaped structure, each flower fragrant, greenish-yellow, with 5 petals, appearing in June and July.

Fruit: Hard, spherical but often with a short point at the tip, up to ⅓ inch in diameter, light brown, finely hairy.

Wood: Light in weight, close-grained, strong, not durable.

Uses: Coarse construction, furniture, paper pulp, fuel.

Habitat: Rich woods.

Range: New Brunswick across to Manitoba, south to Texas, east to North Carolina.

Distinguishing Features: The large, heart-shaped leaves sometimes resemble the leaves of the Red Mulberry, but the leafstalks of the Basswood do not have milky sap in them. The Basswood differs from the White Basswood by the virtual absence of hairs on the lower surface of the leaves.

WHITE BASSWOOD Tilia heterophylla Vent.