Taxodium distichum
As autumn approaches watch for these stunning trees at Lake Te Ko Utu, best viewed from the Camellia Walk above the lake. They are also lovely in spring when their new ferny foliage is a pale green, for, like the larch and the dawn redwood, they are deciduous conifers. Native to North America, they are the tallest conifers of the eastern border, dominating the swamps of Florida where they become festooned with Spanish moss as they age, but they are able to grow also in the subarctic winters of Ottawa, Canada.
Their chief desire is for a warm summer. They are long-lived trees, the oldest existing one being almost 1700 years.
To appreciate their most peculiar feature you must be standing at the fluted and flaring base which gives the tree stability in wet ground, for here you can see the unique ‘knees’ that grow up from their roots when they are near water. Once thought to perhaps provide air to the roots when submerged in water, these knees actually appear to have no means of performing this function; they are ‘just there’ like a ‘village of ant-hills’ to quote Hugh Johnson.
The wood is used for making shingles and panelling, and is highly valued for its water-resistance. Like the kauri in New Zealand, prehistoric taxodium is ‘mined’ from swamps in the south-eastern USA. In 2012 divers discovered a submerged forest of the species off the coast of Alabama. Radiocarbon dating indicated that the trees were growing more than 50,000 years ago, probably in the early glacial period of the last Ice Age.
