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Taxodium distichum.
Taxodiums for Autumn Colour
by Mick Dewing
One of the most stunning trees in our part of the world in Autumn is the North American Swamp Cypress,
It is one of the few deciduous conifers and is grown for its beautiful foliage, bright green in summer and russet brown in autumn before leaf fall. Unusually for a conifer, the leaves are soft and feathery. It is a tree of the Florida Everglades and Louisiana swamps, where it grows very large, up to 30 metres , with fluted buttressed trunks, and "knees". The "knees" are protrusions of roots above ground or above water, thought to be structures to supply oxygen to the waterlogged roots.
A swamp is not obligatory to plant one and they are not too fussy as to soil, but they will do better on moister fertile sites. They will tolerate brackish water. For very dry sites choose the very similar Taxodium mucronatum, a native of Mexico. I have seen the occasional old specimen of Swamp Cypress growing in the Perth hills, where they tend to grow much less tall than in their natural habitat and have a broad rounded crown.
I was very excited to find knees growing on one of the specimens in my first garden, planted just twenty years ago.
The Taxodium family tend to great size and age – close relatives are the Sequoias of North America, Chinese Fir and Japanese Cedar. Australian members of the group include King Billy Pine.
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