Description

See also Baldcypress description.  Key characteristics:

Leaves: Very similar to baldcypress; opposite arrangement on twig; deciduous.

Twigs/buds: Persistent twigs light reddish-brown, hold buds and deciduous twigs; deciduous twigs green, mostly horizontal, up to 3" in length, ribbed with often 50 to 60 leaves, lack buds.  Buds yellowish, non-resinous; opposite; egg-shaped to oval/elliptical, short (1/4"); scales reddish to yellowish-brown and keeled.

Flowers/fruit: Monoecious.  Fruit a round cone up to 1" in diameter; with 20 to 30 triangular scales.

Bark: Reddish-brown to gray; fissured, stringy, fibrous; base is tapered.

Wood: Unimportant; purplish, brittle, light; heartwood decay-resistant; little information available.

General: Native to China.  Prefers moist, well-drained soils that are slightly acid.  Intermediate shade tolerance. Deciduous conifer (loses its needles every year).

Landscape Use: Planted occasionally in Utah.  Intolerance of high pH soils is a problem.  Prefers full sun.  Strong pyramid-shaped canopy.  Likely not as tolerant of high soil pH and poor soil drainage as baldcypress.  Zones 4-8.

Cultivars: 'Bailey', 'Clark', 'Emerald Feathers', 'National', 'Nitschke Cream', 'Ogon', 'Prospect', 'Rowena', 'Sheridan Spire'.

Characteristics