What is the difference between pond cypress and bald cypress

Skip to content. Educational Story The Pond Cypress, Taxodium ascendens, is a tree that lives in swampy ground, but can adapt to drier lands. At last, bald cypress Taxodium distichum is getting some well-deserved attention. When bald cypress is mentioned, most people, even those who know conifers, envision a plant in an arboretum or botanical garden, or in any case very near water, as in the photo above. Bald cypress seems to have the status of a novelty tree.

The bald cypress is the best known of the three species of Taxodium, and the one which has been most often planted. At that location the water was at various depths; bald cypress was growing in deeper water, whereas pond cypress was growing in shallow water and appeared to be stunted in slightly deeper water. The native habitat includes the Atlantic coastal plain from Delaware to Florida, and then westward in coastal states bordering the Gulf of Mexico and Texas.

It extends from the Gulf States northward into southeast Oklahoma and then via the Mississippi River valley to the southern parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. It almost always appears in elevation not exceeding 99 feet 30 m , except on the Edwards Plateau in eastern Texas where it grows at an elevation of ft m. But bald cypress need not grow in or near water. There are reports of bald cypress growing in Minnesota and New York in zone 5 or colder. For example, an allee of bald cypress was planted at Longwood Gardens before The leafless winter branches do not collect or support a great deal of snow.

There are many reasons to grow bald cypress: in the north, the leaves remain on the tree almost four weeks longer than other deciduous trees and the orange fall color is eye-catching. The new seed cones are colored a slight pinkish-green and are symmetric, and the tree itself provides a fantastically beautiful silhouette in the winter. At places where the bark is fragmenting, there are pretty patches of orange-brown color showing through. Leaves drop seasonally at different times depending on the latitude.

The branches on younger trees may be slightly ascending and become more horizontal upon aging. Large patches of orange-peeling bark appear on young trees and trees exposed to high amounts of water.

Knees are irregular conical structures that protrude around the tree above the water line or ground level. Small knees may be more like squat cones, while older knees may be strongly conical and irregular. Hence, trees that are basically submerged will produce more and larger knees; but as a landscape tree with water available only from normal rainfall, no knees develop.

Younger trees in a moist or wet area may exhibit knees of various heights from a few inches to many feet. Knees do not have the capability to sprout, whereas sprouting can occur from the stumps of cut trees. Another is that the high starch content of the knees provides a back-up food source for trees whose roots are exposed to water much of the time.

Bald cypress, when exposed to water for an extensive period of time, form broad conical buttresses root flares. The size of the buttress is directly related to both the time that it is exposed to water and the depth of the water.

In a swamp, or an area that is periodically flooded, the flared base of the tree is quite evident. Those that are planted close to or next to water will show a significant root flare at the base of the buttress similar to Metasequoia in both form and color.

However, landscape trees planted in an area without extra moisture exhibit buttresses similar to those of many other trees. Landscape trees will have more limbs, and hence more leaves, whereas those exposed to water will grow fewer limbs and leaves.

Bald cypress growing in wet conditions can become massive in time, but the growth rate of trees growing in a normal landscape will be greater.

Until recently, bald cypress did not have a great number of cultivars, but unique new ones have been identified and propagated in recent years. The following is a list of most cultivars currently in the trade. A longer list prepared by Laurence C. Hatch can be found at www. Note that different cultivars offer choices in height-width ratio narrow to broad , growth rate, and weeping and upright forms. An extra attraction is that it cones heavily every other year. It has never formed cones and propagation is via chip budding onto seedlings grown using a northern seed source to ensure maximum hardiness.

It can be high grafted or grafted low and trained high to obtain the weeping effect. But one tree had a cascading growth pattern that visitors to the garden remarked upon.

The Platts allowed it to grow at the edge of a pond for 15 years and then gave some scions to David and Noeline Sampson to graft. An eight year old tree reaches only one meter 3 ft. Currently, the 10 year size is generally listed as eight to 10 feet 2. Some specimens seem to be rather tall and narrow. She chose what she describes as a 'wettish' part of her property, but notes that in her Mediterranean climate the trees thrive on just twice-weekly drip irrigation.

For novelty value, she prunes the branches annually to between ", thereby creating what she calls a 'forest of green totem-poles. This treatment would allow even the smallest garden to include a bald cypress! It is an upright deciduous conifer with golden-yellow foliage in spring. During the summer, the color of the foliage is somewhat paler and finally it is light yellow to pale yellowish-green.

Also, its branch pattern is much more vertical. The two trees sometimes grow in the same area adjacent to one another, but the pond cypress will be on the higher ground. The fact that it grows along ponds, streams, and rivers indicates also that it does not receive the same nutrients from wet ground that bald cypress might.

While it will form knees, they are smaller and less frequent than those of bald cypress. The leaves of pond cypress are shorter and thinner than bald cypress. The ranking of the leaves is also different in that those of pond cypress are upright. The bark is deeply furrowed and brown. In time, pond cypress can reach a height of feet Hence, it is less hardy than bald cypress. Pond cypress is an extremely under-utilized conifer. It seems that it is just the right size for the home landscape, due to its columnar habit and small stature.

It is straight and has an upward branching pattern. This, together with the fact that it is easy to grow and care for, makes it truly an outstanding deciduous tree specimen in the landscape.

This would be the easiest way to tell the two species apart. Leaves of pond cypress. Photo by: Gitta Hasing. The leaves of bald cypress look more similar in appearance to that of a feather with leaflets branching off to the left and right of the petiole. Pond cypress are relatively maintenance free and require only occasional pruning to remove dead limbs.

They add interest in the fall, when the leaves turn from green to light yellow or copper colored before falling. For tight spaces, there's a cultivar called 'Prairie Sentinel' that's been bred to grow in a very upright, narrow form. In the wild, bald cypress Taxodium distichum can live up to years, and are usually found near streams and rivers, as well as swamps with slow moving water.

They grow throughout the Atlantic coastal region, as far west as southeastern Texas, and as far north as Delaware. The massive, buttressed trunks found on older bald cypress are thought to develop in response to growing in soft, wet soil.