COMMON BALDCYPRESS
(Taxodium distichum)

The bald cypress, is a tree found in deep swamps which are usually flooded for long periods at a time, and on wet stream banks and bottomlands in the lower Atlantic Coastal Plain and westward. Its straight trunk with numerous ascending branches. and narrow conical outline makes the tree one of considerable

beauty. In old age, the tree generally has a broad fluted or buttressed base, a smooth slowly tapering trunk and a broad, open, flat top of a few heavy branches and numerous small branchlets. The original-growth timber attained heights of 80-130 feet and diameters of 5-10 feet.
The bark is silvery to cinnamon-red and finely divided by numerous longitudinal fissures. The leaves are about one-half to three-fourths of an inch in length, arranged in feather-like fashion along two sides of small branchlets, which fall in the autumn with the leaves still attached.
The fruit is a rounded cone, or 'ball' about one inch in diameter, consisting of thick irregular scales.
The wood is light, soft, easily worked. varies in color from a light sapwood to dark-brown heartwood, and is particularly durable in contact with the soil. Hence. it is in demand for exterior trim of buildings, greenhouse planking, boat and ship building, shingles, posts, poles and crossties.

POND CYPRESS
(Taxodium distichum nutans)

This species, often confused with bald cypress, is smaller than bald cypress. It exhibits a buttressed base and a cylindrical crown in young trees to an irregular flat crown in larger individuals. Its occurrence is usually on wet sites, primarily on sandy pond or lake margins, and thus its name. It also occurs on sandy floodplains, as does the common bald cypress. Accordingly, the two trees can not be distinquished merely by the site on which they are growing. The leaves are spine-shaped on woody twigs arranged in a spiral configuration.

Some authors use the leaf configuration and the difference in the cypress 'knees' which are rounded in pond cypress as opposed to the sharp knees of the bald cypress as the means of distinguishing between the subspecies.

The bark is grayish to reddish brown and is usually deeply furrowed. Reproduction is through cones which are about one-half to three-quarters an inch in diameter.

The wood of pond cypress shares the same characteristics as bald cypress and lumber from one tree is not distinguished from the other. The wood is highly valued for trim and other uses that will be subjected to weather. Cypress heartwood is very durable and is traditionally used for fences, pens, and other functions which require contact with the ground.

ATLANTIC WHITE CEDAR
(Southern White Cedar or Juniper)
(Chamaecyparis thyoides)

EXCLUSIVELY a tree of the Coastal Plain, it is found in year-round swamps from New England southward to Florida and Mississippi. It occurs with bald cypress and deep swamp hardwoods, but more often is found in pure stands called "glades," where the smooth, clean trunks are so closely set as to give the impression of "serried ranks." The branches are very short and horizontal, so that even when grown in the open the tree has a long, narrow, conical shape.

The leaves are minute, scale-like, overlapping, four-ranked, of a bluish green color, and entirely cover the ends of the slender, drooping twigs. The fruit is a rather inconspicuous, smooth cone, nearly round, about one-fourth inch in diameter, maturing in one year and containing from four to eight winged seeds.
The bark is quite thin, varies in color from ashy gray to light reddish brown, and readily separates into loose plate-like scales, which easily peel off in long fibrous strips. The wood is light, soft, close-grained, slightly fragrant, especially in contact with water. These qualities make it in demand for boat and canoe building, cooperage, shingles and fence posts. It is being substituted for chestnut for telephone poles, as the supply of the latter species becomes scarcer. Because of the limited supply available, its lumber is not well known in the general markets.

RED CEDAR
(Juniperus iucayana)

A TREE closely related and generally similar to the common northern red cedar, the Westindies Juniper is found over Florida except in the southern part of the peninsula, and most abundant in West Florida. Incidentally, this cedar is found in the Bahamas, Cuba, and other islands. There are two kinds of leaves, usually both kinds being found on the same tree. The commoner kind is

dark green, minute and scale-like, clasping the stem in four ranks, so that the stems appear square. The other kind, usually appearing young growth or vigorous shoots, is awl-shaped, quite sharp-pointed, spreading and whitened.
The two kinds of flowers are at the end of minute twigs on separate trees. Blooming in February or March, the male trees often assume a golden color from the small catkins, which, when shaken, shed clouds of yellow pollen. The fruit, which matures in one season, is pale blue, often with a white bloom, one sixth of an inch in diameter, berry-like, enclosing one or two seeds in the sweet flesh. It is a favorite winter food for birds.
The bark is very thin, reddish brown, peeling off in long shred-like strips. The tree is extremely irregular in its growth, so that the trunk is usually more or less grooved.
The heart wood is distinctly red, and the sapwood white, this color combination making very striking effects when finished as cedar chests, closets and interior woodwork. The wood is aromatic, soft, strong and of even texture, and these qualities make it most desirable for lead pencils. It is very durable in contact with the soil, and on that account is in great demand for posts, poles and rustic work.

SOUTHERN RED CEDAR
(Juniperus silicicola (Small) Bailey)

THIS species is included to emphasize the presence of two similar species. West Indies Juniper and Southern Red Cedar occupy the same range in Florida and are seldom differentiated.

The Southern Red Cedar is evergreen, aromatic in foliage and wood, dioecious, with dense, fine foliage.

Height is up to 50 ft., with crown spread often equal to height, and symmetrical. The bark is very thin, reddish brown to gray, peeling in slender shreds similar to cypress bark. Twigs are slender, green, and very flexible. Leaves are one thirty-second to three-sixteenths of an inch long, triangular; sessile, and sharp pointed. Juvenile leaves or twig tips are longest and usually not appressed. Staminate strobili, very small on twig tips in winter, cause a yellow cast to foliage when ripening. Female trees form subglobose, blue-colored drupes, maturing in winter.

Southern Red Cedar occurs throughout Florida as far south as Sarasota County. Most common an soil with lime- stone base, it is frequent in hammocks. It tolerates a wide range of soil moisture conditions and can be found on beaches, streams, old fields, fence rows, and open woods.

Its wood is aromatic and repellent to insects. Heartwood is reddish, while sapwood is whitish. The wood works well and has been widely used in chests, closet liners, and pencils. The tree has high value both as an ornamental or as a commercial species.

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