THE bald cypress is a tree found exclusively in deep swamps and was
found in southern Illinois from the Mississippi bottoms to Shawneetown.
Its straight trunk with numerous ascending branches, and narrow conical
outline makes the tree one of considerable beauty. In old age, the tree
generally has a broad fluted or buttressed base, a smooth slowly
tapering trunk and a broad, open, flat top of a few heavy branches and
numerous small branchlets. The original-growth timber attained heights
of 80 to 130 feet and diameters of 5 to 10 feet.
The _bark_ is silvery to cinnamon-red and finely divided by numerous
longitudinal fissures. The _leaves_ are about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch in
length, arranged in feather-like fashion along two sides of small
branchlets, which fall in the autumn with the leaves still attached.
The _fruit_ is a rounded cone, or "ball", about one inch in diameter,
consisting of thick irregular scales.
The _wood_ is light, soft, easily worked, varies in color from light to
dark brown, and is particularly durable in contact with the soil. Hence
it is in demand for exterior trim of buildings, greenhouse planking,
boat and shipbuilding, shingles, posts, poles and crossties.
The tamarack, or American larch, _Larix laricina_ K. Koch, resembles
the bald cypress in growing in swamps and in shedding its leaves in
autumn. This tree is found in Illinois growing in bogs in Lake and
McHenry counties. The leaves are flat, soft, slender, about one inch
long and borne in clusters. The cones are only 1/2 to 3/4 inch long.
The European larch, _Larix decidua_ Mill., may be distinguished from
the native species by having slightly longer leaves and larger cones
that are more than an inch long.
+RED CEDAR+ _Juniperus virginiana_ L.
RED cedar, the most plentiful coniferous tree in the State, is very
valuable, growing on a great variety of soils, seeming to thrive on
hills where few other trees are found. It is more common in the southern
counties.
[Illustration: RED CEDAR