Taxodium
Taxodium Temporal range:
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Bald cypress forest in a central Mississippi lake | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Gymnospermae |
Division: | Pinophyta |
Class: | Pinopsida |
Order: | Cupressales
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Family: | Cupressaceae |
Subfamily: | Taxodioideae |
Genus: | Taxodium Rich. |
Type species | |
Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.
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Species | |
Synonyms | |
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Taxodium /tækˈsoʊdiəm/[1] is a genus of one to three species (depending on taxonomic opinion) of extremely flood-tolerant conifers in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. The name is derived from the Latin word taxus, meaning "yew", and the Greek word εἶδος (eidos), meaning "similar to."[2] Within the family, Taxodium is most closely related to Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis) and sugi (Cryptomeria japonica).
Species of Taxodium occur in the southern part of the
Species
The three extant
Image | Name | Common name | Distribution |
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Brongn. |
pond cypress | Occurs within the range of bald cypress, but only on the southeastern coastal plain from blackwater rivers, ponds and swamps without silt -rich flood deposits.
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Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. | bald cypress | Native to much of the southeastern United States, from Delaware to Texas, especially Louisiana and inland up the Mississippi River to southern Indiana. It occurs mainly along rivers with silt-rich flood deposits. | |
Taxodium mucronatum Ten. | Montezuma cypress, ahuehuete, sabino | Occurs from the Lower Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, the Árbol del Tule, is 43 m (141 ft) tall and has the greatest trunk thickness of all trees, 11.42 m (37.5 ft) in diameter. It is a riparian tree, occurring on the banks of streams and rivers, not in swamps like the bald and pond cypresses.
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- †Taxodium dubium (Sternb.) Heer
Formerly placed here
- Glyptostrobus pensilis (Staunton ex D.Don) K.Koch (as T. japonicum var. heterophyllum Brongn.)
- Sequoia sempervirens (D.Don) Endl. (as T. sempervirens D.Don)[3]
Uses
The trees are especially prized for their wood, of which the heartwood is extremely rot- and termite-resistant. The heartwood contains a sesquiterpene called cypressene,[4] which acts as a natural preservative. It takes decades for cypressene to accumulate in the wood, so lumber taken from old-growth trees is more rot resistant than that from second-growth trees.[5] However, age also increases susceptibility to Pecky Rot fungus (Stereum taxodii), which attacks the heartwood and causes some damaged trees to become hollow and thus useless for timber. Bald Cypress wood was much used in former days in the southeastern United States for roof shingles.[6] The shredded bark of these trees is used as a mulch.
Evolution
In earth's history Taxodium was much more widespread in the Northern Hemisphere than today.[7] The oldest fossils were found in Late Cretaceous deposits from North America. The trees persisted in Europe until around 2.5 million years ago, during the Pliocene.[8]
See also
References
- ^ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
- ISBN 978-0-8240-7240-7.
- ^ "GRIN Species Records of Taxodium". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2010-11-30.
- ^ Buchanan, M. A. (1965-10-07). "The Fatty Materials in Southern Cypress Wood" (PDF). Institute of Paper Chemistry: 3.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ISBN 978-0-88192-607-1.
- ^ Toliver, L. P.; Wilhite, J. R. (1990). "Taxodium distichum". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Conifers. Silvics of North America. Vol. 1. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 2009-10-11 – via Southern Research Station.
- doi:10.26879/906.
- ISBN 978-0-88192-974-4.
External links
- Gymnosperm Database - Taxodium
- Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary website
- National Audubon Society, undated. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. A Companion Field Guide. Artype Inc., Ft. Myers. 25 p.