Common Name: pond cypress
Type: Tree
Family: Cupressaceae
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 30.00 to 70.00 feet
Spread: 15.00 to 20.00 feet
Bloom Time: Non-flowering
Bloom Description: Non-flowering
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Rain Garden
Leaf: Good Fall
Tolerate: Deer, Clay Soil, Air Pollution
Culture
Best grown in average, medium to wet, moisture-retentive soils in full sun. Prefers moist, acidic, sandy soils, but actually tolerates a wide range of soil conditions ranging from average moisture soils to wet soils in some standing water.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Taxodium distichum var. imbricarium, commonly called pond cypress, is a deciduous conifer that is native to the coastal plain from Virginia to Florida to Louisiana. It is most often found on the peripheries of ponds and lakes, hence the common name. It is very similar in form and habit to the common bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). Moreover, the two trees share some of the same indigenous areas and reportedly will hybridize in the wild. Pond cypress is generally a smaller and narrower tree, typically rising to 30-70’ tall. Young trees have cylindrical crowns, but older trees develop more flattened irregular crowns. Bark is gray-brown to red-brown. Horizontal to ascending branching. Awl-like, appressed, deciduous leaves are spirally arranged. Foliage turns orange-brown in fall. In comparison to bald cypress, pond cypress trees (1) are somewhat smaller; (2) have appressed, spirally arranged leaves, (3) have root knees that are more rounded, and (4) usually grow on pond margins as opposed to in the water. Some experts consider pond cypress to be a different species, namely T. ascendens. Also commonly called dwarf cypress or hat-rack cypress. Variety name from Latin means overlapping in reference to the foliage.
Genus name comes from the Latin word Taxus meaning yew and the Greek word eidos meaning resemblance from a similarity of leaf shape.
Specific epithet means is two ranks for the needle arrangement.
'Nutans', sometimes commonly called weeping pond cypress or pendant pond cypress, is a narrow conical cultivar that typically grows to 30-70' tall over time and features very short, horizontal branching with drooping branchlets. Linear, needle-like, soft green leaves turn orange-brown in fall. Bark is gray-brown. Cultivar name from Latin means nodding or swaying in reference to the foliage. Synonymous with T. distichum var. nutans.
Problems
Healthy, well-maintained trees in the proper growing conditions usually have few problems.
Uses
Good specimen with weeping foliage for wet soils either in low spots or near water or in shallow standing water. Also effective in average garden soils.