TAXODIUM ASCENDENS

'''Taxodium ascendens''', also known as 'Pond Cypress', is a species of ''Taxodium'' native to the southeastern United States, from coastal North Carolina to southeastern Louisiana. Many botanists treat it as a variety of Bald Cypress, ''Taxodium distichum'' (as ''T. distichum'' var. ''imbricarium'') rather than as a distinct species, but it differs in ecology, occurring mainly in still blackwater rivers, ponds and swamps without silt-rich flood deposits. Compared to ''T. distichum'', the leaves are shorter (3-10 mm long), slenderer and are on shoots that tend to be erect rather than spreading; the cones also tend to be smaller, not over 2.5 cm diameter. The bark is also a paler gray color. Like Bald Cypresses, Pond Cypresses growing in water have a peculiarity of growth called 'cypress knees'; these are woody projections sent above the water from the roots.

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References and external links

★ Flora of North America (as ''T. distichum'' var. ''imbricarium'')