Cypresses

[David L. White]

> If these "cypresses" are in fact the tree I know as the Red Cedar, they are
> indeed fast growing, as they are common "weeds" in old abandoned fields
> throughout the midwest.

> Linguistically, these names can be rather amusing: the Red Cedar > is
> actually a juniper!

        Yes, they are (as I have recently learned) fast-growing, no they are
not the same tree you know as "red cedar", nor are they junipers.  They are
members of the redwood family (not the cypress family), and are more
properly known as "bald cypress".  They are (with water tupelo) the standard
swamp tree of the American SE, growing easily in water.   (I once saw an
otter swimming merrily along through a cypress forest/lake (just barely) in
Texas.)   But I find it difficult to imagine that a circumference of 6
meters, diameter of about 2, does not require many years to reach.   Nor is
there anything inherently improbable in the idea that cypresses should have
spread up rivers into areas that would not otherwise support them.  I have
heard that the biggest tree in Texas is a cypress of more than 10 meters
circumference on the Frio west of San Antonio, which is not where one would
ordinarily expect to find such things.  But like just about everything else
associated with southern swamps (mocassins, alligators), they spread up the
rivers.  There were once alligators northwest of Waco, and to judge by
"Alligator Creek" between Austin and San Antonio, they once live there as
well.  They still show up as vagrants (so to speak) in Austin every once in
a while, and there are rumors of residents.  But I digress.

Dr. David L. White