Click the player below for the song "M-a facut muica oltean" or "I was born in Oltenia" by the
Allegretto children's chorus
Taxodium distichum
Click on the photos to see an enlarged version
This tree is an excellent specimen of Taxodium distichum (common name Bald Cypress, or in Romanian, Chiparos de Balta).
It is rare in Oltenia, but grows best near lakes and rivers. There a few of them at Bratovoiesti and in the Romanescu Park in Craiova.
This specimen is in the midle of Filiaşi, in the back yard of the Jiul restaurant.
The tree is about 15 m tall, and the trunk is about 1 metre in diameter.
The age is unknown, but people of 35 remember playing under it when they were children.
The Bald Cypress is the most familiar species in the genus, native to much of the southeastern United States, from Delaware to Texas and inland up the Mississippi River to southern Indiana. It occurs mainly along rivers with silt-rich flood deposits.
Text: Adrian Gheorghe, Wikipedia
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe
Taxodium is a genus of one to three species (depending on taxonomic opinion) of extremely flood-tolerant conifers in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. It is one of several genera in the family that are commonly known as "cypresses". Within the family, Taxodium is most closely related to Chinese Swamp Cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis) and Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica).
Text: Wikipedia
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe
Taxodium bark.
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. They are large trees, reaching 30-45 m tall and 2-3 m (exceptionally 11 m) trunk diameter.
Text: Wikipedia
Photo: Adrian Gheorghe
Taxodium cones and leaves.
The needle-like leaves, 0.5-2 cm long, are borne spirally on the shoots, twisted at the base so as to appear in two flat rows on either side of the shoot. The cones are globose, 2-3.5 cm diameter, with 10-25 scales, each scale with 1-2 seeds; they are mature in 7-9 months after pollination, when they disintegrate to release the seeds. The male (pollen) cones are produced in pendulous racemes, and shed their pollen in early spring.
Because Oltenia Museum has the ability to verify the scientific importance of this information and because the specialists of Oltenia Museum have made contributions to this site, the copyrights to it are part of Oltenia Museum property.
If you have any photographs or information which would be useful for this site please contact Don Hitchcock
This page last modified Sunday, 13th July, 2008 03:58pm
