Peculiarities of a Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)

Sometimes you look up and notice a really beautiful tree. Today we'll look at a series of pictures focusing on the trunk of this fine tree, followed by some other features of note.

This bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) grows on the north side of the arboretum, at the head of a drainage canal which empties catchment from a large section of campus. You can find more information about its history on a previous blog post, found here.

The tree partially shades the small parking lot near the Student Union Building and bandshell. Its elegant, drooping branches are beautiful, but they also require routine pruning to allow easy passage along the nearby sidewalk.

The trunk is more or less straight, although the tree itself is inclined.

Competition with an older, on-site native water oak has resulted in asymmetrical branching―the southeast face of the tree is nearly bare of branches. Most of the branches grow on the north and west sides of the trunk.

Despite the competition, the tree, about twenty-five years old, is in rude health.

With handsome bark and handsome root structure, few trees can top the bald cypress for looks.

The famous cypress "knees" can potentially be a problem. So far, this tree hasn't damaged anything we know about.

Conversely, its knees have taken hits from lawnmower blades over the years.

This time of year you'll find cypress fruits, green and sticky, growing in singles and clusters. These balls will separate into multiple scales, each of which is a seed. Apparently ducks enjoy them.

Looking closely at the feathery twigs, we noticed a strange growth. Can you spot the yellow formation?

Would you believe that the tiny white shapes in this photo (as well as the lumpy-looking mass in the previous photo) are fly galls? Yes, midge flies create these and use them to reproduce. How'd that evolve?

Tree of the Week: Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

This week across northwest Louisiana you might notice a color change in half of our eastern red cedars (Juniperus virginiana). The male trees of this species are producing multitudes of tiny yellow cones, resulting in an overall change of appearance. Our tree of the week is one such specimen. The individual pictured below is a young eastern red cedar, a little more than 15 years of age, growing in unmistakably man-made conditions. It is changing color, too.

Our tree of the week grows on an island in the Mickle Hall parking lot. Initially, the tree volunteered somewhere in the arboretum and was transplanted to a container. Sometime around 2006, Professor Ed Leuck planted the little eastern red cedar in this concrete culvert. It was planted with the hope of making the culvert more conspicuous, thereby reducing vehicular damage and damage to the culvert.

As evinced by the photographs, the tree does not have much room to grow. It is unknown how much soil and surface area the tree has access to below the concrete. We positively know that this little spot does not have its own irrigation unit, so once a month during the summer, a water hose must be brought out to this concrete box. The eastern red cedar was selected for this spot because of its drought tolerance, but we don't want to push our luck!

The knobbiness of the trunk shows that our eastern red cedar has endured much pruning over the years. Its drooping branches have been removed to make way for the vehicles.

This week, this eastern red cedar is of special interest for its golden hue. All of the branches are covered in yellow male cones, resulting in an overall change of color, from dark green to unpolished gold.

The small cones are numerous and appear in clusters. The cones develop from the tips of the branchlets.

Tree of the Week: Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)

We are nearing the winter solstice. Most of the deciduous trees in northwest Louisiana have dropped their leaves. Those few deciduous trees retaining their leaves stand-out in the otherwise grey-green landscape. Our tree of the week is one such specimen. We have a bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the arboretum that is showing off its red-orange leaves this week, and making a mess of the long white wooden bridge. All photos below are of a single specimen, purchased from Gorum's Nursery in 1985.

The bald cypress is tall and orange. It's planted in a low spot, surrounded by vegetation. In this photo, an old yaupon holly bush obscures the lower portion of the bald cypress.

From another angle, yellow-green fall foliage of the arrow wood viburnum obscures the trunk of the bald cypress.

The long white wooden bridge (pictured left) runs on the south-side of the bald cypress.

The bald cypress has dropped a lot of leaves!

On the bridge, the red-orange bald cypress leaves are mixed in with water oak leaves.

Standing on the bridge, we can get a clear look at the handsome, gently tapering trunk of the bald cypress.

The base of the trunk is buttressed with pronounced ridges.

Cypress knees protrude from the ground, seemingly at random, in the vicinity of the tree. Sometimes they appear solo.

Sometimes we find a collection of knees.

Sometimes the knees are extra knobby. Can we treat them as clouds and imagine if they resemble something?

Looking up, we see straight limbs jutting out from a straight trunk with an orange backdrop.

Zooming in we see an orange mat of color.

Cypress leaves are little needles attached to a twig. This twig measures more than 2.5 inches long, and it holds approximately 50 leaves.

Twig length varies. This twig measures more than 4 inches long.

Needle length varies, too.

Tree of the Week: Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) VOLUME II

2018 arrived in Caddo parish with an arctic chill. This past week we experienced temperatures in the teens, finally putting the mosquitoes to bed for the winter (*fingers crossed*). Thankfully the cold air wasn't accompanied by any precipitation, so the trees and woody vines were unfazed.

With most of the trees leaf-less, the evergreen species stand out. This week we are taking another look at the eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana). Last week we discussed two volunteers growing on the slope west of Hamilton Hall. The individual pictured below is also a volunteer, approximately 15 years of age. It germinated under the canopy of an old sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua). The sweet gum was removed more than a decade ago, allowing the eastern red cedar plenty of room to stretch its limbs.

Our tree of the week is pictured center. A few other evergreen species are also pictured. At the far left, we have the leaves of Magnolia grandiflora. Towering over the landscape, behind the eastern red cedar, is a very old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). Palmettos, the fetter-bush, and a red bay are the other spots of green.

This eastern red cedar has the characteristic Christmas-tree appearance. It germinated on the south side of a very large sweet gum tree, and had the sweet gum lived, the eastern red cedar would not have had the necessary room to develop its conical shape.

The pale blue cones indicate that this is a female eastern red cedar.

Zooming in on the female cones, we also see the scale-like leaves.

Among the leaves and cones, something else is hanging from the branches.

This irregularly shaped brown growth might be mistaken for tree reproduction. It's actually a gall produced by a fungus called Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae. This fungus is responsible for the plant disease 'cedar-apple rust'.

The eastern red cedar serves as a host for the fungus, which is detrimental to susceptible apple trees, hence the name 'cedar apple rust'. Pictured above: the gall was removed from the tree and broken into pieces revealing a hard greenish-white interior. If we had allowed it to continue its life-cycle, it would have continued to develop until the first several warm rainy days, at which time it would release spores into the environment.

This is a dead gall. It appears to have killed the twig.

Despite the fungal infection, this eastern red cedar is doing marvelously. Overall, eastern red cedars are not harmed by the cedar apple rust.

Typical reddish-brown shreddy bark of the eastern red cedar

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Tree of the Week: Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

Last week autumn concluded with a generous rain storm, punctuating a remarkably dry season. Winter has made quite an impact, despite being a new arrival. The weather has been cloudy and chilly, with temperatures dipping down into the 20s just before sunrise. The local meteorologists are forecasting an extremely cold New Year's Day: they say we might have temperatures in the teens! Brrrrrrr..... 

With winter officially here, most of the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves, opening up the vistas in the arboretum; there aren't as many leaves blocking the view of our undulating landscape. Now is a good time to appreciate the overall form of the tree as its bones are laid bare. Some trees have a uniform shape: an erect trunk, symmetrical branches, and a rounded top. Other trees have branches that go every-which-way, lacking apparent order. And with the leaves out of the way, now is also a good time to appreciate the great variety of tree bark: smooth, rough, spiked, checkered, shredded, and still others.

But there are also a number of evergreen species adding interest to the bare landscape. Our tree of the week is one of those beauties. The eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a handsome tree all-year-round, but in the wintry months it shines. These trees have a pleasant Christmas-tree-shape and can also be seen decorated with elegant blue 'berries' and tiny golden cones.

There are five eastern red cedars in the arboretum collection. All are volunteers, owing to the widespread and frequent occurrence of the species in our area. The photos below are of two older individuals aged about twenty years.

These two eastern red cedars are approximately 20 years of age. The male tree is pictured on the left; the female to the right. They are growing in the middle of the slope on the west side of Hamilton Hall. The red brick building barely visible in the photo is the Student Union Building.

Female Tree: This is the northern-most of the two trees. It has a characteristic straight trunk and a conical shape. Behind and to the left, a medium-sized hydrangea bush has few leaves remaining. Mickle Hall is pictured in the background.

Male Tree: the southern-most of the two trees blends in with its surroundings. The trunk isn't as straight, with a slight curve towards the middle, but it possesses the conical form.

The pale blue 'berries' add a subtle beauty. The berries are actually female cones. 

Eastern red cedars have very small  leaves.

Under magnification we can see the small, flat scalelike leaves. These are leaves from one of our 20-year-old individuals. Young eastern red cedars have pointy (surprisingly painful!) leaves rather than these smooth scalelike leaves.

Very small golden cones.

Zooming in on the young male cones

Looking up the trunk we see the reddish shreddy bark and numerous straight branches. 

Eastern red cedars have rough, shreddy bark, and typically the bark has a reddish hue.

You can find additional pictures of the arboretum's eastern red cedars here. The older photos were taken on a bright, sunny day.

Please consult the following sources for more information about this species:
NC State University
United States Department of Agriculture
Virginia Tech Dendrology