Taxodium species
bald cypress, pond cypress

Native in Florida

There may or may not be two species of Taxodium cypress trees in Florida: botanists disagree. Some say that bald cypress and pond cypress are one and the same tree, their "differences" occuring because of local light, water and other conditions. Both trees are common in ponds, lakes and swamps in Florida.

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Taxodium distichum, bald cypress, grows to be a huge tree in Florida and the southeast. (Although it is reported as far north as New York (Kartesz, 1999).)
Bald cypress leaves are linear, and spread on the branchlets, with branchlets spreading.

Click here to see the herbarium specimen image of the UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA HERBARIUM DIGITAL IMAGING PROJECTS.

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Taxodium ascendens, pond cypress, doesn't grow as tall or as robustly; it is the cypress of the Everglades. It occurs only in the southeastern coastal states.
Pond cypress leaves are awl-shaped, and press against the branchlets (appressed), with branchlets generally ascending.

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Look closely at this picture. On this tree are found both forms of leaves: linear spreading leaves, and awl-shaped appressed leaves. This tree was found in Big Cypress Swamp in southwest Florida.

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