Bald Cypress turned into Dawn Redwood. Traditional Cache

Montezuma Bald Cypress (Cultivar?) seems out of its range here. Impressive isn't it?

Bald Cypress

Taxodium is a genus of one to three species (depending on taxonomic opinion) of extremely flood-tolerant conifers in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. The generic name is derived from the Latin word taxus, meaning "yew", and the Greek word εἶδος (eidos), meaning "similar to.” Species of Taxodium occur in the southern part of the North American continent and are deciduous in the north and semi-evergreen to evergreen in the south.

Unlike most other species in the family Cupressaceae, it is deciduous, losing its leaves in the winter months, hence the name 'bald'.

It is monoecious (separate staminate and carpellate flowers are always found on the same plant), with male and female flowers forming on slender tassel-like structures near the edge of the branchlets

The male and female strobili are produced from buds formed in the late fall, with pollination in early winter, and mature in about 12 months.

The seed cones are green maturing gray-brown, globular, and 2-3.5 cm in diameter. They have from 20 to 30 spirally arranged, four-sided scales, each bearing one or two (rarely three) triangular seeds. The number of seeds per cone ranges from 20 to 40. The cones disintegrate when mature to release the large seeds. The seeds are 5–10 mm long, the largest of any species in the cypress family, and are produced every year, but with heavy crops every three to five years. The seedlings have three to 9 (most often six) cotyledons.

Species

The three extant taxa of Taxodium are treated here as distinct species, though some botanists treat them in just one or two species, with the others considered as varieties of the first described. The three are distinct in ecology, growing in different environments, but hybridize where they meet.

    •    Taxodium ascendens Brongn. – pond cypress

The pond cypress occurs within the range of bald cypress, but only on the southeastern coastal plain from North Carolina to Louisiana. It occurs in still blackwater rivers, ponds and swamps without silt-rich flood deposits.

    •    Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich. – bald cypress

The bald cypress is native to much of the southeastern United States, from Delaware to Texas, especially Louisiana and inland up the Mississippi River to southern Indiana. It occurs mainly along rivers with silt-rich flood deposits.

    •    Taxodium mucronatum Ten. – Montezuma cypress, ahuehuete, sabino

The Montezuma cypress occurs from the Lower Rio Grande Valley south to the highlands of Guatemala, and differs from the other two species in being substantially evergreen.

Taxodium mucronatum, also known as Montezuma bald cypress, Montezuma cypress, sabino, or ahuehuete is a species of Taxodium native to much of Mexico (south to the highlands of southern Mexico), and also the Rio Grande Valley in southernmost Texas, USA as well as Huehuetenango Department in Guatemala. Ahuehuete is derived from the Nahuatl name for the tree, āhuēhuētl, which means "upright drum in water” or "old man of the water.”

Description

It is a large evergreen or semi-evergreen tree growing to 40 m (130 ft) tall and with a trunk of 1–3 m (3.3–9.8 ft) diameter (occasionally much more; see below).

The leaves are spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) broad. The cones are ovoid, 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) long and 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) broad. Unlike bald cypress and pond cypress, Montezuma cypress rarely produces cypress knees from the roots. Trees from the Mexican highlands achieve a notable stoutness.

One specimen, the Árbol del Tule in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico, is the stoutest tree in the world with a diameter of 11.42 m (37.5 ft). Several other specimens from 3–6 m (9.8–19.7 ft) diameter are known. The second stoutest tree in the world is the Big Baobab, an African Baobab.

During the first decade of the millennium, we spent time in Oaxaca, several years in a row. We visited this tree more than once. One year the 10 year old boy, who was our guide to the tree, gave us the tour in English, even though he couldn't speak or really understand it. He had a mirror to catch the sun's reflection and point out different aspects of the tree's formation. One was "Monica Lewinski's butt".

Habitat

Montezuma cypress is primarily a riparian tree, growing along upland riversides, but can also be found next to springs and marshes. It occurs from 300 to 2,500 m (980 to 8,200 ft), in Mexico mainly in highlands at 1,600–2,300 m (5,200–7,500 ft) in altitude. T. mucronatum is very drought-tolerant and fast-growing and favors climates that are rainy throughout the year or at least with high summer rainfall.

Culture

"El Árbol del Tule", in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico

The sabino became the national tree of Mexico in 1910. The tree is sacred to the native peoples of Mexico, and is featured in the Zapotec creation myth. To the Aztecs, the combined shade of an āhuēhuētl and a pōchōtl (Ceiba pentandra) metaphorically represented a ruler's authority. According to legend, Hernán Cortés wept under an ahuehuete in Popotla after suffering defeat during the Battle of La Noche Triste.

Uses

Montezuma cypresses have been used as ornamental trees since Pre-Columbian times. The Aztecs planted āhuēhuētl along processional paths in the gardens of Chapultepec because of its association with government. Artificial islands called chinampas were formed in the shallow lakes of the Valley of Mexico by adding soil to rectangular areas enclosed by trees such as āhuēhuētl; they also lined the region's canals prior to Spanish conquest.

Ahuehuetes are frequently cultivated in Mexican parks and gardens. The wood is used to make house beams and furniture. The Aztecs used its resin to treat gout, ulcers, skin diseases, wounds, and toothaches. A decoction made from the bark was used as a diuretic and an emmenagogue. Pitch derived from the wood was used as a cure for bronchitis The leaves acted as a relaxant and could help reduce itching.

John Naka, a world-renowned bonsai master, donated his very first bonsai, a Montezuma Cypress, to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum of the United States.

The cache is a tied in, camoed, tall, "small" pill bottle with an ordinary srew cap. Please BYOP and make sure you see how the rubber band is making a neck on the plastic bag, so you can easily retrieve it. It's essential you repeat that for the next cacher to avoid the use of tweezers. They kill the plastic and everything would get soaked.

WARNING! There's some poison ivy and/or look alike on the tree. You don't need to go near it, or touch it, to reach the cache, but be aware.