Taxodium distichum seed

This is a beautiful tree, with soft green foliage. It is a pyramidal upright grower, and this is deciduous. They are famous for being able to grow with their roots completely submerged in water, but will grow just fine in normal garden soil as well. They are found very commonly in the southern US, but these seeds were collected in a zone 5 location from trees that, although weren’t native to that area are thriving and producing seed. These trees would make excellent additions to your rare plant collection, or just make a unique statement in your yard.

Bald Cypress is a fast growing long-lived, conifer tree. This is a large pyramidal tree that can grow 50 to 70 feet tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height of up to 10 feet or more. It is native to Southeastern swamps in the United States. In the South, it is a familiar sight that grows directly in swamp water, often in large stands, covered with Spanish moss. In the summer it looks like a needled evergreen but it is deciduous with the foliage turning an attractive orange cinnamon brown to red in the fall before dropping. (“bald” as the common name suggests). Though native to swamp areas, it grows very well in drier, upland soils. Trunks are buttressed at the base, and when growing in water, it will develop distinctive, knobby root growths (“knees”) which protrude above the water surface around the tree to 6 feet high. The bark is reddish gray or brown with long fibrous ridges that peel off in strips. The cones, mature in late summer, are round and about an inch in diameter.