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World's largest Bald Cypress, Taxodium distichum

15 years ago

Just north of Orlando near Sanford is Big Tree Park. It is a wet hammock area. In it are 2 huge Taxodium distichum, Bald Cypress. One, named "The Senator", is supposedly the worlds largest and oldest Bald Cypress. According to the sign at the tree it is;

3500 years old

has a 17.5ft diameter

1125ft circumference

188 ft tall

next to it is another large specimen named "Lady Liberty";

2000 years old

10ft diameter

389 ft circumference

89 ft tall

Here is The Senator;

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Eric

Orlando,FL z9b/10a

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Comments (8)

eric_9b
Original Author
15 years ago
Here is "Lady Liberty"

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Eric
Orlando,FL z9b/10a
hanklin
15 years ago
SOME TREES !!
Just wondering, what is being measured when it is said "circumference"? Hank
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The largest cypress I've ever visited was the late, great Senator Cypress in Sanford, FL. It caught on fire and burned down some years ago. The story about how the fire started absolutely infuriates me and I won't go into it here. Volume should be the measuring stick for the conifers. In terms of volume, the Senator clearly exceeded the other well known bald cypresses in the South, including the Tennessee Titan. I have up close up photos of the Titan and have no doubt about this. The Titan was still a wonderful tree. The Cat Island, LA trees, which I have visited numerous times, are indeed huge at the base with a very quick taper. IMO, there are several cypress trees at Cat Island that are more impressive than the national champ, which I still suspect is two trees grown together, despite DNA evidence that apparently suggests otherwise. One of my favorite cypresses for form is the former Mississippi champion at Sky Lake WMA in west central Mississippi. The current Mississippi champion is located within 100 yards of the former champion. I have not visited the Arkansas champ yet, but from the photos I have it looks very impressive for form.
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The crown isn't large but the trunk is. It is about the thickest pond cypress I have seen around. Bald definitely get much larger. There are lots of big Pond Cypress along the lake in Crescent City, more Pond than Bald. The ones I always see are much thinner with more narrow crowns. I don't know if they took a core sample, it just said at the restaurant it was in the process of being certified as the OLDEST in Florida. But it isn't the Florida Champion.
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auhort- I had a similar experience last year after planting 6 bald cypresses between 5-9 feet tall. I watered them well but after a few weeks, the needles turned orange, red, then dropped off. I posted a frantic message on this forum. Based on advice from people who had experience growing this tree, I decided the problem was probably caused by transplant shock coupled with a long period of high temperatures and strong winds out of the south. I continued to water them deep to keep the roots healthy. After a few weeks, a few little green needles appeared along the trunks, but the branches remained bare. This spring, they all leafed out with no problem, although we are still in a drought and will always have long stretches of hot days and hot wind. My advice is to water them deep once a week. Since you are in zone 8, you may or may not see signs of life before they go dormant. I expect they will be fine next year.
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Nice... Like the ground being covered with red needles. Looks cool. I just have to wait for mine to get big to see that effect... during January/February being Montezuma cypress that tend to stay green around 6 weeks later than bald cypress. That would be unusual effect in the middle of dead boring winter... From 2009-2-5 Wow.. that is in early Feburary? Interesting.. That's 2 months away.
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pineresin
15 years ago
Some at least of those figures are out of date; it is currently 35m tall, with trunk diameter 344cm (Gymnosperm Database; link below). According to wikipedia it had its top blown off in a hurricane in 1925, presumably the greater height cited on the signboard dates from before that.

Resin

Here is a link that might be useful: Gymnosperm Database: Taxodium distichum
gary_ms
15 years ago
There was once two other very large cypress in that same park, but they are long gone.

The Senator is indeed the largest cypress I've ever laid eyes on....NOT in dbh, but certainly in overall volume. It is definitely the most impressive.

I think the ages credited to those trees are exaggerations.
kingn8
15 years ago
Thanks.

Nate
wadet
15 years ago
Nice pics.

>>has a 17.5ft diameter
1125ft circumferenceDoesn't look 17'+ @ DBH..

And, nearly 1/4 mile of circumference??? How is that possible? Total surface area perhaps?

Just wondering.:)
eric_9b
Original Author
15 years ago
Those are really the only bald cypress right around there. It is wet forest hammock, the other main trees are Sabal palmetto, Liquidamabar styraciflua, and Liriodendron tulipifera. The Liriodendron are about the southerly most specimens, they are what are referrred to as the east central FL ecotype.

Eric
Orlando,FL z9b/10a
pinetree30
15 years ago
According to the OLDLIST the oldest baldcypress was cross-dated at 1622 years in 1988. Gross exaggeration is common in aging trees too big for increment borers to penetrate to or close to the pith, leading to unrealistic extrapolations. Nice trees though.

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