With its graceful form and delicate, lacy foliage, the bald cypress is truly one of the most beautiful trees in nature But beyond its ornamental qualities, this iconic swamp tree has many extremely useful properties that have served humans for centuries.
From providing durable lumber to treating illnesses, bald cypress is a jack-of-all-trades in the plant kingdom. Let’s explore the myriad ways this majestic tree has been utilized historically and in modern times.
Strong and Decay-Resistant Lumber
The robust trunks and fibrous wood of bald cypress trees produce incredibly strong, durable lumber. The heartwood is naturally resistant to rot, decay, and insects thanks to special oils in the tissue. This makes it ideal for heavy construction applications.
Bald cypress wood has been used to build:
- Docks, piers, and wharves able to withstand wet conditions
- Long-lasting exterior siding and decking
- Sturdy warehouse and industrial flooring
- Boats, ships, and other watercraft
- Bridges and timber pilings sunk into wetlands
Even today, cypress lumber is valued in construction, especially in its native wetland habitats. The bonus is its attractive warm reddish-brown color and fine, straight grain
Water Resistant Roof Shingles
In pioneer days, resourceful homesteaders hand-split bald cypress logs into durable roof shingles. The waxy oils repelled rain and moisture far better than common wood shingles.
Cypress shakes remained a roofing staple into the early 20th century. Though no longer hand-made, you can still purchase machine-cut cypress shake shingles for historical restoration projects.
Native American Uses
For southeastern Native American tribes like the Choctaw and Seminole, the abundant bald cypress was a blessing. They fashioned the stringy bark into twine and rope.
The rot-resistant wood made ideal canoes, homes, and ceremonial objects that lasted for generations. Medicinal tea brewed from the leaves reportedly treated malaria symptoms.
Unique Knees and Root Burl Crafts
Bald cypress trees produce knobby, swollen structures called knees that protrude from the root system. These make great carvings, sculptures, and rustic home decor.
The burls and gnarled roots washed up in swamps get crafted into one-of-a-kind vases, lamps, bowls, and more. Cypress knees seem made for decorating!
Valuable Essential Oil
Steam distilling bald cypress leaves produces a pleasantly aroma-therapeutic essential oil. The oil contains camphene, a compound studied for potential antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anxiety-reducing benefits.
The oil blends nicely with cedarwood, lavender, and citrus oils. Add a few drops to soaps, candles, aromatherapy diffusers, or massage oil recipes.
Nutritious Fall Food Source
While not edible for humans, bald cypress provides a feast for wildlife each fall when its seed cones ripen. Birds like wild turkeys gobble up the protein and fat-rich seeds.
Squirrels gnaw open the golf ball-sized cones to reach the nutrients inside. Even alligators lurking in swamp waters snack on fallen cones.
Beautiful Ornamental Landscaping
With its delicate foliage that turns vibrant copper-orange in fall, bald cypress makes a gorgeous ornamental specimen tree. It thrives in moist areas of landscapes and adapts well when planted in drier locations.
The recovery of once over-logged native stands means nurseries can ethically source bald cypress for sustainable landscaping.
Versatile Growing Conditions
Bald cypress tolerates an array of growing conditions, from standing water to relatively dry soil. This allows it to be planted in wetlands for conservation, used ornamentally in landscape designs, and grown in drier climates as a specimen tree.
Cultivars like the dwarf “Debbie’s Dwarf” work nicely in containers. The tree’s adaptability makes it accessible for many applications.
So much more than just a stereotypical swamp tree, the stately and versatile bald cypress has provided sustenance, medicine, and resources to humankind for millennia. Next time you see this beautiful conifer, remember just how useful and important its existence is to people and wildlife.
Bald cypress is used for heavy construction, including docks, warehouses, boats and bridges, and was heavily logged in much of Texas. The Choctaw Indians used the bark for string and rope. The Seminoles found bald cypress useful for making houses, canoes, and ceremonial objects.
Lessons learned: Bald cypress is a tree to know
Don’t you wish you knew then what you know now? Speaking from experience, when I first began studying plants, people would ask me lots of gardening or landscaping questions. Did I as a first-year student know the answer? No. Did I pretend to? Yes. It must be human nature as a young adult.
As a fresh-faced SIUC horticulture student, I was asked at a Christmas party by a family friend if I could pick out some plants for screening between two homes. I said yes, thinking surely, they wouldn’t call me up in the spring. They did. Have you ever worked on a project where everything went wrong? This was one, except one thing went right. And that was planting a bald cypress (Taxodium distichum).
As I fumbled around at the garden center trying to select plants that might work, I came upon a tree that I had heard about in a botany lecture. A needled conifer that wasn’t an evergreen, it was deciduous. I was struck by the fine textured, soft foliage. Even as a young sapling the woven stringy bark was an admirable feature. We needed something to anchor the end of this landscape screening bed near a pond. The label noted its tolerance to wet conditions. With more confidence than the other plants, I placed the bald cypress on the cart and headed to the site.
I didn’t know how to plant a tree. The ground was like rock and I had a tiny garden shovel that bent with every pull of soil. Lifting the rootball out of the pot I squeezed it into the tiny planting hole. Shaving off roots to make it fit. We put grass right up to the base of the trunk and walked away. Most trees would have died. This one did not.
It has been almost twenty years since I installed that landscape screen. Rest assured the other plants are long dead. However, the bald cypress struggled to establish at first, but now is a beautiful specimen of a tree.
At the base of the trunk, it developed the characteristic buttress as it widens dramatically at the soil line. The canopy has grown tall holding to a pyramidal shape as it lazily casts its lower branches to touch the water’s surface. As the tree matures (over hundreds of years) it will lose its pyramidal shape and the canopy will widen and flatten near the top.
Bald Cyprus Tree- Taxodium distichum – Growing Bald Cypress
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