BALD CYPRESS

Native to Georgia

Family: cupressaceae

Although many conifers are evergreen, bald cypress trees are deciduous conifers that shed their needlelike leaves in the fall. In fact, they get the name “bald” cypress because they drop their leaves so early in the season.

  • Impact of European Settlement: European settlers cleared vast tracts of forests for farming in the 1800s, replacing longleaf pine and hardwood forests with agricultural lands, which were often poorly managed, leading to severe soil erosion, particularly in the Piedmont region (which includes Senoia).

  • Land Reclamation & Conservation: After the collapse of the cotton industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s, vast areas of farmland were abandoned. Loblolly pine played a crucial role in reclaiming and restoring these lands, converting worn-out farmlands into productive forest lands, a major conservation success story.

  • Space Exploration: In a unique historical footnote, loblolly pine seeds were part of the Apollo 14 mission in 1971, orbiting the Moon before being planted back on Earth.

Needles are soft and feathery

Alternating needle arrangement with differentiate the Bald Cypress from the Dawn Redwood.

Bald cypress cones don’t actually look like cones at all. Their cone structure is round and about one inch in diameter. When cones appear in autumn, they are tough and green, but they become woody as the season progresses.

A large, deciduous tree with a tapering trunk, buttressed at its base usually surrounded with knees, structures arising from the roots as it ages.

bright green during the growing season, transforms into a vibrant rusty orange, brown, or copper color before shedding.