Cypresses

[Stanley Friesen]

At 11:49 AM 5/1/01 -0500, David L. White wrote:
>         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".

Ah, I am not used to seeing them referred to by just the bare
"cypress".   I had forgotten that their range extended into Texas.  They
would indeed be characteristic of watercourses in southern Texas - and you
are right, they are not recent intrusions into the area.

I do not think they grow as fast as Red Cedar, though.

>   They are (with water tupelo) the standard
>swamp tree of the American SE, growing easily in water.

Strictly speaking they require temporarily emergent ground to *sprout*, but
once sprouted they can withstand almost permanent flooding - something very
few trees can do.

>(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.

Oh, assuredly.  I was just confused by the short version of the name.  The
last time I saw a Bald Cypress swamp was the last time I was in
Florida.  They are quite impressive.

>   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.

My range map shows the (bald) cypress extending well into the San Antonio
area, and it has no special notation on it concerning recent spread.  The
western edge of its range seems to about where the Frio is, or perhaps the
Nueces (hard to tell, as I am using two maps).  I suspect that the tree
would be normal anywhere in that area where there is slow moving
semi-permanent water that occasionally (during droughts) draws down enough
to allow sprouting.  I know that, at least further east, it is not only
found in swamps per se, but also along smaller slow moving streams.

How did this tree get to be called a cypress anyhow?  It is rather a unique
tree, not much like any other tree, not even the true cypresses.

--------------
May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at friesen.net