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Bald Cypress

Taxodium distichum

Found in brownwater and blackwater swamps, usually in riverine situations, depressions in bottomland forests, lake margins, river banks, rarely in wooded seeps. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you

51
Strong

Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

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Height
50–70 feet
Spread
20–30 feet
Light
Full sun, Partial shade
Soil moisture
Usually moist

Space about 25 ft apart from its recorded spread. Enter your bed size for a count

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At a glance

Life cycle
Woody perennial
Leaves
Deciduous
Bloom
March to April
Fruiting season
October

Recorded in 39 Virginia counties and cities.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 5

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
Named place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond
Regional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal pond margins, Florida and Louisiana to North Carolina; state not identified, a neighboring state.Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Streams, rivers and their banks

Watauga Falls
Named place / source context. Shown: Watauga Falls, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Watauga Falls, Illustrator/engraver not confidently attributed; reproduced in Zeigler and Grosscup, The Heart of the Alleghanies (1883), 1883. Public domain. Source record.

Seeps and springs

Weymouth Woods Gum Swamp Trail seep
Groundwater seep. Shown: Gum Swamp Trail, Weymouth Woods, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Weymouth Woods Gum Swamp Trail seep, ncwetlands.org, undated. CC BY 2.0. Source record.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

All habitats

Also found with this plant

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food. 197 animals.

All wildlife of Virginia

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

17CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Taxodium

  • Chloropteryx tepperariaAngled-Winged Emerald
  • Coleotechnites apicitripunctellaGreen Hemlock Needleminer Moth
  • Cutina albopunctellaGray Cypress Looper
  • Cutina distinctaDistinguisged Cypress Owlet
  • Dasychira plagiataNorthern Conifer Tussock Moth
  • Datana ministraYellow-Necked Caterpillar Moth
  • Dioryctria pygmaeellaBald Cypress Coneworm
  • Eacles imperialisImperial Moth, Imperial Spiny Caterpillar
  • Hyalophora cecropiaCecropia Silkmoth, Cecropia Moth
  • Iridopsis pergracilisCypress Gray, Black-Shouldered Gray
Show all 17
  • Macaria aequiferariaWoody Angle
  • Orgyia detritaLive Oak Tussock Moth, Fir Tussock Moth
  • Palthis angulalisDark-Spotted Palthis
  • Perimede erransellaGray Perimede
  • Synchlora frondariaSouthern Emerald
  • Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformisEvergreen Bagworm Moth
  • Coleotechnites variiella
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
0BeesSoutheastern regional records
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Taxodium

  • Aix sponsaWood Duck
  • Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Cupressaceae
Hardiness
Zones 4a–9b
Soil pH
Acidic
Flower color
Purple
Growth rate
Rapid
Growth habit
Single stem
Foliage color
Green
Fruit begins
October
Fruit ends
October

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope

Conservation status

Virginia rankS5
Global rankG5
VA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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Sources