Chinese deciduous-cypress
Glyptostrobus pensilis
Cypress family (Cupressaceae)
Critically Endangered
Soft yet rot resistant
This tree is a relative of the more famous bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) from North America. The Chinese swamp cypress is seriously threatened. From its original distribution across China, Laos and Vietnam there are only 400 wild trees remaining and these occur in the latter two countries.
It is a deciduous and very elegant conifer. The trunk is less rigid than the bald cypress and the needles are borne in loose, green clusters at the end of the branches. Its bark peels off the trunk in grey strips. It grows mainly along rivers in marshy ground. Everywhere where it formerly grew as a native plant, the land has been cleared for rice plantations.
The soft, yellowish, yet still tough and rot resistant wood is used for furniture, bridges and for shipbuilding; hence the tree is now grown in South China.
Themes
Crown jewel in the Zuidas Botanic Garden.
The timber is highly valued, aromatic with fine texture, resistant to termites and insects, easy to work. Used for cabinet work, fine art articles, musical instruments, office furniture and for wood turning. The root is soft and spongy and can be used for making corks and life buoys
Details
| Description: | Conifer, 15(-25) m tall; trunk 1.2 m diameter with a thickened base (ca. 0.7 m). |
|---|---|
| Distributions: | China, laos, vietnam |
| Habitat: | River deltas, on flooded or waterlogged soil in full sun, up to 700 m in altitude. |
| Year cycle: | Perennial (polycarpic decidous) |
| Hardiness: | 14 - 23 f (hardy - average winter) |
| Flower color: | Not applicable |
| Notes on flowers: | Pollen cones terminal on short shoots; stalked, ovulate cones, which later break apart, are terminal on lateral shoots, pear-shaped or ovate and 12-18 mm long. |
| Fruit color: | Brown |
| Notes on fruits: | Seeds 5-6 mm long and terminated by a axe-shaped wing. |