You should be able to find enough information plus photos of both and identity with what you remember and figure it out. I say this because I don't know what a Montezuma cypress looks like.

Good luck there.

Dax

Well, from what I understand, the main differences between Montezuma cypress and bald cypress is that they are more drought tolerant, have no knees, and are mostly evergreen. There's also supposed to be a slight difference in foliage but I can't see it. Oh, and they're also supposed to be faster growing than BC.

The thing is, the bald cypress populations that naturally occur in Central Texas (where you were) usually have no knees either so it would be hard to tell the difference now.

Also, you're absolutely right about the shape. They start out conical and eventually lose that shape when they get really mature. I would assume Montezuma cypress do the same thing.

Dax - thanks. I did a bunch of web searches, and the main differences - knees on t. distichum, non-conical shape and semi-evergreen needles on t. mucronatum - and the photos didn't quite make it clear to me. I wish, now, that I'd gotten some really good close ups of the foliage.

Texasflip - thank you. That was very helpful. I wonder why that population doesn't tend to develop knees. Here, t. distichum develops knees in wherever moisture is prevalent. My street tree bald cypress, for example, has no knees.

This afternoon, before I'd gotten your responses, I emailed the Texas Forestry Dept., with this query, from their online contact info. If I hear back from them, I'll post an update here.

The trees on the Edwards Plateau rivers are "supposed" to be T. distichum (as per e.g. Flora of North America), but do show (as you've found) a number of T. mucronatum characters and habitat preferences. I'm not aware that any genetic analysis has been done, but I suspect that's going to be the best way to find out.

Resin

Pineresin - when you say "a number of T. mucronatum characters..." do you mean that some T. mucronatum are found there, or that some T. distichum found in that area have the characteristics of T. mucronatum?

Just got this back from the Texas Forest Service, thank you everyone here, for playing "name that tree" with me!:

Definitely T. distichum. T. mucronatum grows much further south.

Montezuma baldcypress will grow in central Texas and are frequently
planted;
however, they would not be as large as described by Mrs. Borgenicht.

Baldcypress in central Texas tend not to have knees like those of the
southeast.

Baldcypress tend to flatten out with age, just like a pine tree.

Hi Carrieb - the latter, or more accurately, that all T. distichum found in that area show some characteristics resembling T. mucronatum

Resin

the trees in central Texas can and do grow knees. I think it has more to do with where exactly a tree is growing. You dont see them as often around trees near streams and rivers, more around standing water, like ponds.

That's true too, I have seen some growing by water with knees (in Austin), but they are always smaller than those in the east (even on very mature specimens). A genetic study would be very interesting.

A couple of picky points -- baldcypress also grows successfully in Syracuse, New York, which is quite a bit colder than Philly.I've seen it also in Baden Baden, Germany Germany. Can get cold there, especially if you lose on baccarat.
And, ALL conifers flatten their crowns eventually or they'd grow infinitely tall like Jack's beanstalk; except those that spike out with a dead trunk of course.

Thank you again, everyone. This has been a fun and learning experience for me. I appreciate your input and participation!

There's a mature MC in the middle of BC groves at Frito Lay headquarter in Plano (north of Dallas). I was told that it has done fine and outgrew other BCs. Another MC is grown at Stephen F Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas (NE Texas) and it survived 0*F weather with no damages in 1989 (I have over 20 seedlings from that MC). The neighborhood park across the street from me has 4 MC (south Texas source), 1 MC (New Mexico source) and 2 MC-BC hybrid called 'Nanjing Beauty'. They seem to do much better than BC (probably east Texas source which is acidic soil, my area is alkaline soil). Majority of BCs seemed to suffer toward the end of the summer while MCs kept on growing and growing like it was nothing. I'm sure Central Texas source BCs would do much better here than east Texas source but I don't think it's widely sold around here. Oh yeah, at Dallas Arboretum, I noticed a couple MCs so I emailed the director about it and he said that one of cypres is 'Nanjing Beauty' that's around 25ft (very fast grower! 5 years..) and that huge MC that looked to be 40ft(?) and the director said it was planted about 10 years ago.

MC and Nanjing Beauty is substantially more evergreen than BC. They stayed green into January before displaying "winter" color similiar to BCs. MCs start leafing out in mid Feburary while Nanjing Beauty is more like BCs, leafing out in early-mid March.

There is another very nice BC in my town that caught everybody's eyes... Initially, everybody thought it was MC but is probably central Texas Source BC. Very nice looking cypress that BCs can't even compare to...

This BC is in my town, a mile from where I live. {{gwi:421149}}From Cypress tree

This is Nanjing Beauty at Dallas Arboretum in December of 2007 (a lot bigger now).

{{gwi:484017}}

This is my Nanjing Beauty in my front yard displaying "winter" color (dated 2-5-2009). I planted one at my mom's in Houston and it appears to be completely evergreen during the winter.

{{gwi:85444}}

This MC is at the park across street from my house that I planted... The growth during 1st year was impressive!

{{gwi:695132}}

Does anyone know where to find photos of MC in the wild in TX?

Here is a cool photo of a wild one in MX:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fvaldes/76077865/

and one at UC Berkeley that I photographed:
http://picasaweb.google.com/larixmtn/Conifers#5326226233019493906

I have a couple I grew from seed here in FL. I would say they definitely tolerate drought well.

I googled for pictures but there doesn't seem to be very many of them in the wild.

One thing to keep in mind... Montezuma cypress is quite susceptible to ceroporis (sp?) - fungi leaf disease that can defoliate MC in very humid climate like southeast of USA so if anyone wants to try MC, Nanjing Beauty is your best bet because it appears to be immune to this problem. BC in the southeast is naturally immune to it.

Hmm. I haven't noticed any foliar diseases on the trees I have seen here. There are a couple of big ones and some smaller ones around. They do seem to get the leaf gall, but that affects BC too.

It's something that the cypress expert from Stephen F Austin university always tells me. He said that he would occasionally experience foliar diseases on MC over there but never on Bald cypress or hybrids. Probably genetics.. That nice BC in my town apparently got it in 2007 when it was raining all the time during the summer so perhaps it's the favorable condition that caused it.

I have Taxodium distichum and mucronatum here
in the uk.The leaves on my T mucroantum have
turned brown however the tree is putting out
new leaves.Salicaceae whats was the source of
your T mucronatum seed? all commercial seed of
T mucronatum comes from India.

Bald Cypress in the southeast US get as big around if not more so than the ones in central Texas, but they also get much taller. The ones in Texas have a much sqatter appearance as they get older. They often seem to stop at around 50' of height.
A botanist from San Antonio told me that most of the big Bald Cypress along the Riverwalk there were from Lousisana trees and that those trees have more of a proclivity to produce knees than the central Texas ones do. Now they are seeking Texas-sourced trees for any new plantings, but no one realized there were differences in the populations at the time.
I've potted a dozen north Louisiana Bald Cypress up a couple of years ago, and about half of them are suffering from iron chlorisis due to the alkalinity of the soil, the other half are growing wonderfully. Suppose that means that trees from outside this area may or may not have the genetics to do well here.

Click on the link...

There's pictures of bald cypress growing by the spring located about 30 miles northwest of Austin.

Here is a link that might be useful: Krause Springs