Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Taxodium mucronatum
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| Montezuma bald cypress bole. Creative Commons image by Elizabeth Moss, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org. |
Introductory
SPECIES: Taxodium mucronatum
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION:
Sullivan, Janet. 1994. Taxodium mucronatum. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/taxmuc/all.html [].
Update: On 6 February 2018, the common name of this species was changed in FEIS
from: Montezuma baldcypress to: Montezuma bald cypress. The image and map were also added.
ABBREVIATION:
TAXMUC
SYNONYMS:
Taxodium montezumae Decaisne [12]
T. mexicanum Carr. [12]
SCS PLANT CODE:
TAMU
COMMON NAMES:
Montezuma bald cypress
ahuehuete
pentamon
cipres
sabino
yucu-ndatura
TAXONOMY:
The currently accepted scientific name for Montezuma bald cypress is
Taxodium mucronatum Ten. (family Taxodiaceae) [10,12]. There are no
accepted infrataxa. Montezuma bald cypress differs from its congener
bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) primarily by the presence of a
needlelike point (a mucro) on the megasporophylls (female cone scales) [4].
LIFE FORM:
Tree
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS:
No special status
OTHER STATUS:
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Taxodium mucronatum
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:
In the United States, Montezuma bald cypress is known only from the Rio
Grande Valley in Cameron and Hidalgo counties of extreme southern Texas.
It is common and widespread in Mexico [10,12].
 |
| Distribution of Montezuma bald cypress. 1971 USDA, Forest Service map digitized by Thompson and others [21]. |
ECOSYSTEMS:
FRES32 Texas savanna
STATES:
TX MEXICO
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:
14 Great Plains
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:
None
SAF COVER TYPES:
235 Cottonwood-willow
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:
Montezuma bald cypress occurs in the riparian zone of a desert shrub
community along the Rio Grande. The riparian zone includes black willow
(Salix nigra), Texas ebony (Pithecellobium flexicaule), and mesquite
(Prosopis glandulosa). The upland area includes sotol (Dasylirion
texanum), catclaw mimosa (Mimosa aculeaticarpa var. biuncifera), and
blackbrush acacia (Acacia rigidula) [20].
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Taxodium mucronatum
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE:
The wood of Montezuma bald cypress is reported by Standley [12] as soft
and weak. According to Elias [5], however, it is hard and durable.
Montezuma bald cypress wood is used in Mexico for fine furniture and
general construction [12]. The wood of its congener, bald cypress, is
widely recognized for its durability [18].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE:
Specific information on the value of Montezuma bald cypress for wildlife
is lacking in the English language literature. Bald cypress and
pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens) form characteristic groves
in swampy areas that support complex and variable ecosystems, and are
used by many wildlife species [3].
PALATABILITY:
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE:
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE:
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES:
Montezuma bald cypress is being planted along the banks of the Rio Grande
in an effort to restore natural ecosystems on sites that were cleared
for agriculture [2,16].
OTHER USES AND VALUES:
Montezuma bald cypress is planted as an ornamental [4,12]. It is an
important medicinal plant and may have been considered sacred by some
Mexican civilizations. A gummy resin produced after the tree is wounded
was used to cure skin diseases, wounds, ulcers, gout, and toothaches by
the Aztecs; some of these uses continue in popular practice. Pitch
produced by burning woodchips in a reducing atmosphere was used as a
cure for bronchitis. The leaves were used as a relaxant and a cure for
itching. The bark was used as a diuretic and an emmanagogue (an agent
promoting menstruation) [4,12].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
Montezuma bald cypress occurs on the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife
Refuge. Many seedlings are being planted there as part of an ecosystem
restoration project [2,16].
Montezuma bald cypress was heavily utilized for timber for the
construction of both Tenochtitlan and for Mexico City. Continuing
demands for timber and charcoal have decimated natural groves [4].
Seedlings are subject to herbivory by rodents; greenhouses have to be
rodent-proofed. Rabbits will gnaw the bark of outplanted seedlings and
saplings [2].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Taxodium mucronatum
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
Montezuma bald cypress is a large, native, semideciduous to evergreen
tree [2,4,12]. Mature height usually ranges from 60 to 100 feet (18-30
m), but the oldest trees can be much taller: a record height of 170 feet
(51.8 m) has been reported for the Tree of Montezuma (Chapultepec Park,
Mexico City) which was estimated as 700 years old [12]. The Montezuma
bald cypress is better known for its massive, convoluted trunk than for
its height. El Arbor del Tule (Oaxaca, Mexico), an individual at least
1,000 years old and possibly much older, is more than 50 feet (15 m) in
diameter and has a circumference of 117.6 feet (35.84 m). Perimeter
measures that include the bays and promontories of the buttressed trunk
exceed 150 feet (45 m) [8].
Montezuma bald cypress has a broad, spreading crown with strong,
horizontal branches and delicate, weeping branchlets. The leaves are
0.24 to 0.48 inch (6-12 mm) long. The staminate strobili are borne in
long, slender spikes. The ovulate cones are subglobose and 0.59 to 0.98
inch (1.5-2.5 cm) in diameter. The bark is shreddy. The roots of trees
growing in standing water often send up conical projections ("knees")
[12]. Trees that experience periodic drying out, such as those growing
along stream courses, apparently do not form knees [2].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM:
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES:
Montezuma bald cypress reproduces primarily by seed. Seeds are released
upon cone ripening, and germinate as soon as moisture conditions permit.
The seeds are only viable for a short period of time. No special
treatment is needed for greenhouse germination [2]. No vegetative
reproduction has been reported for Montezuma bald cypress, although
bald cypress will produce stump sprouts.
SITE CHARACTERISTICS:
Montezuma bald cypress usually occurs on moist soils along streams, or on
low, poorly drained sites [2,5]. It is drought tolerant when
established; colonies of Montezuma bald cypress grow along seasonally dry
stream courses in the lower Sonoran Desert in Mexico [4].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:
NO-ENTRY
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:
The staminate and pistillate cones of Montezuma bald cypress open in
February [15]. The cones of bald cypress ripen in October after
flowering in March or April; it is likely that Montezuma bald cypress
follows a similar pattern [18]. Montezuma bald cypress is often
described as evergreen even though it normally sheds all of its leaves
when new growth emerges in the spring. Leaflessness in the Texas
populations is more often associated with drought and/or low
temperatures rather than with season [2]. Other populations of
Montezuma bald cypress may shed some or all of their leaves in the fall
and remain leafless through the winter [4].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Taxodium mucronatum
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS:
Montezuma bald cypress usually occurs along stream courses, in habitats
that are moist or at least seasonally flooded. Fires burning in
adjacent savanna and scrublands may encroach on Montezuma bald cypress
stands depending on moisture conditions. Bald cypress is easily injured
by fire, particularly peat fires which can damage the roots [17]; it is
likely that Montezuma bald cypress is similarly vulnerable to fire.
FIRE REGIMES:
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY:
Secondary colonizer - off-site seed
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Taxodium mucronatum
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT:
NO-ENTRY
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT:
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE:
Bald cypress and pond cypress sprout from the stump when top-killed
by fire [19]. It is likely that Montezuma bald cypress does the same.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE:
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS:
NO-ENTRY
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Taxodium mucronatum
REFERENCES:
1. Bernard, Stephen R.; Brown, Kenneth F. 1977. Distribution of mammals,
reptiles, and amphibians by BLM physiographic regions and A.W. Kuchler's
associations for the eleven western states. Tech. Note 301. Denver, CO:
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 169 p.
[434]
2. Best, C. 1994 [pers. comm]
3. Brown, Clair A. 1984. Morphology and biology of cypress trees. In: Ewel,
Katherine Carter; Odum, Howard T., eds. Cypress swamps. Gainesville, FL:
University of Florida Press: 16-24. [14780]
4. Deardorff, David. 1976. Plant portraits: Montezuma cypress. Lasca
Leaves. 26(3): 79-81. [22220]
5. Elias, Thomas S. 1980. The complete trees of North America: field guide
and natural history. New York: Times Mirror Magazines, Inc. 948 p.
[21987]
6. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and
Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
7. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others].
1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range
ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
8. Hall, Gustav W.; Diggs, George M., Jr.; Soltis, Douglas E.; Soltis,
Pamela S. 1990. Genetic uniformity of El Arbol del Tule (the Tule Tree).
Madrono. 37(1): 1-5. [22221]
9. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation
of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York:
American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
10. Little, Elbert L., Jr. 1975. Rare and local conifers in the United
States. Conservation Research Rep. No. 19. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 25 p. [15691]
11. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant
geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
12. Standley, P. C. 1924. Trees and shrubs of Mexico. Contrib. U.S. Nat.
Herb. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press; 23: 849-1312. [20916]
13. Stickney, Peter F. 1989. Seral origin of species originating in northern
Rocky Mountain forests. Unpublished draft on file at: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Fire
Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT; RWU 4403 files. 7 p. [20090]
14. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982.
National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names.
SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p. [11573]
15. Vines, Robert A. 1960. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of the Southwest.
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. 1104 p. [7707]
16. Vora, Robin S. 1992. Restoration of native vegetation in the lower Rio
Grande Valley, 1984-87. Restoration & Management Notes. 10(2): 150-157.
[20086]
17. Cypert, Eugene. 1961. The effects of fires in the Okefenokee Swamp in
1954 and 1955. American Midland Naturalist. 66(2): 485-503. [11018]
18. Wilhite, L. P.; Toliver, J. R. 1990. Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.
baldcypress. In: Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H., technical
coordinators. Silvics of North America. Volume 1. Conifers. Agric.
Handb. 654. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service: 563-572. [13416]
19. Wade, Dale; Ewel, John; Hofstetter, Ronald. 1980. Fire in south Florida
ecosystems. Gen. Tech. Rep. SE-17. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. 125
p. [10363]
20. Jahrsdoerfer, Sonja E.; Leslie, D. M., Jr. 1988. Tamaulipan brushland of
the lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas: description, human impacts,
and management options. Biological Report 88(36). Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. 63 p. [22423]
21. Thompson, Robert S.; Anderson, Katherine H.; Bartlein, Patrick J. 1999.
Digital representations of tree species range maps from "Atlas of United
States trees" by Elbert L. Little, Jr. (and other publications). In: Atlas
of relations between climatic parameters and distributions of important
trees and shrubs in North America. Denver, CO: U.S. Geological Survey,
Information Services (Producer). On file at: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory,
Missoula, MT; FEIS files. [92575]
FEIS Home Page
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/taxmuc/all.html
