Trees with Knees

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Do I Kneed One?

 Trees with knees include, Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus), bald cypress (Taxodium Distichum), pond cypress (Taxodium ascendens), Ahuehuete (Taxodium mucronatum), and dawn redwood  (Metasequoia glyptostroboides).

A silhouette of cypress knees at the edge of a pond.

           

Taxodium distichum (bald cypress), native distribution, USDA, USGS.

The cypress have knees for  adaptation to their native locations in aqueous regions, as shown by the map. There are several hypothesis about the function of the knees but, to date, there is no definitive answer yet as to why they have evolved on the tree. 

Do I need one? If you are thinking of putting it in your yard, and planning on growing a beautiful sod under the canopy of the tree, these kneed trees are not ideal.

                                                                                                                

Grassroots Horticulture

2019

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