Baldcypress is a long-lived, deciduous wetland species that grows along rivers, streams, and creeks as well as in swamps with slow moving water. It can live up to 600 years old. It is a legendary tree of the Deep South known for its "knees," moss-draped crown, and buttressed trunk. It occurs in the coastal plains along the Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean and north up through the Mississippi River Valley.

Because of the unique shape of the base of each trunk, artists have created clocks, furniture, and wall décor from the cross-sections of this tree. In the landscaping industry, baldcypress is planted for its ornamental beauty. Old-growth heartwood is especially desired in the timber industry for its durability and resistance to rot. However, lumber use has declined because it is a slow-growing tree, it is harvested from wetlands, and the population of mature trees is much smaller than in the past.

Baldcypress is a very important tree in the

swampland ecosystem. It is valuable for wildlife food and cover. Canadian geese migrating to the south feed on the seeds. Swamp rabbits and other birds, such as Florida cranes and ducks, also feed on baldcypress. White-tailed deer escape to the cover of baldcypress swamps during hunting season. Many animals find shelter in and around the base of large old-growth trees.

Old-growth baldcypress has a flattened crown usually dangling with Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides). Some river edges still have stumps of giant cypress trees that were logged in the early 1900s. A few old giants live in parks across Florida. Baldcypress and pondcypress are in the Taxodiaceae family, which are not true cypresses. True cypresses are in the Cupressus family and are not native to the southeastern United States.

Baldcypress can be easily confused with another variety of the same species, pondcypress (Taxodium distichum var. nutans). Close attention to detail can differentiate these two varieties. Pondcypress has smaller, scale-like leaves pressed on the twigs. A twig of pressed pondcypress leaves resembles a pine needle pointing up or out from the branchlet. Baldcypress leaves are linear and featherlike, and the twigs hang down looking more pendulous than pondcypress twigs and leaves. Also, pondcypress tends to occur in still-water wetlands rather than flowing-water wetlands of the baldcypress habitat.

"Knees" are present in both pondcypress and baldcypress root systems when they are growing in water. Cypress "knees," or pneumatophores, are cone-shaped extensions of the root system protruding from the ground. Pneumatophores are thought to function as the trees' means of obtaining oxygen for the roots during flooded conditions. Baldcypress and pondcypress are "Trees with knees."

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