Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a wide range of soil types, whether wet, salty, dry, or swampy.

This species is monoecious, with male and female cones on a single plant forming on slender, tassel-like structures near the edge of branchlets.

[15] The male and female strobili are produced from buds formed in late autumn, with pollination in early winter, and mature in about 12 months.

It differs in shorter leaves borne on erect shoots, and in ecology, being largely confined to low-nutrient blackwater habitats.

The original range had been thought to only reach as far north as Delaware, but researchers have now found a natural forest on the Cape May Peninsula in southern New Jersey.

[15] The largest remaining old-growth stands are at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, near Naples, Florida, and in the Three Sisters tract along eastern North Carolina's Black River.

In 1985, the Black River trees were cored by a dendrochronologist from the University of Arkansas, who found that some began growing as early as 364 AD.

Although it grows best in warm climates, the natural northern limit of the species is not due to a lack of cold tolerance, but to specific reproductive requirements: further north, regeneration is prevented by ice damage to seedlings.

[citation needed] In 2012 scuba divers discovered an underwater cypress forest several miles off the coast of Mobile, Alabama, in 60 feet of water.

The forest contains trees that could not be dated with radiocarbon methods, indicating that they are more than 50,000 years old and thus most likely lived in the early glacial interval of the last ice age.

One possibility is that Hurricane Katrina exposed the grove of bald cypress, which had been protected under ocean floor sediments.

The male catkins are about 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter and are borne in slender, purplish, drooping clusters 7 to 13 cm (2+3⁄4 to 5 in) long that are conspicuous during the winter on this deciduous conifer.

Each scale can bear two (rarely three) irregular, triangular seeds with thick, horny, warty coats and projecting flanges.

[32][33][34] Bald cypress seedlings can endure partial shading, but require overhead light for good growth.

[28] In nurseries, Taxodium seeds show an apparent internal dormancy that can be overcome by various treatments, usually including cold stratification or submerging in water for 60 days.

Five years after planting on a harrowed and bedded, poorly drained site in Florida, survival was high, but heights had increased only 30 cm (12 in), probably because of heavy herbaceous competition.

Seedlings grown in a crawfish pond in Louisiana, where weed control and soil moisture were excellent through June, averaged 2.9 m (9.5 ft) and 3.5 cm (1.4 in) diameter at breast height after five years.

However, a replicate of the same sources planted in an old soybean field, where weed control and soil moisture were poor, resulted in the same diameter, but a smaller average seedling height of 2.1 m (6.9 ft).

Determination of the age of an old tree may be difficult because of frequent missing or false rings of stemwood caused by variable and stressful growing environments.

However, evidence for this is scant; in fact, roots of swamp-dwelling specimens whose knees are removed do not decrease in oxygen content and the trees continue to thrive.

The main damaging (in some cases lethal) agent is the fungus Lauriliella taxodii[38], which causes a brown pocket rot known as "pecky cypress."

Nutrias also clip and unroot young bald cypress seedlings, sometimes killing a whole plantation in a short amount of time.

[13] The species is a popular ornamental tree that is cultivated for its light, feathery foliage and orangey brown to dull red autumnal color.

In cultivation it thrives on a wide range of soils, including well-drained sites where it would not grow naturally because juvenile seedlings cannot compete with other vegetation.

Additionally it is sometimes planted in gardens and parks Eastern Australia with most specimens being found in Temperate to warm temperate areas although two trees are thriving in an open location along a drain on the side of the highway north of Port Douglas Queensland (the tree itself is at a latitude and longitude of-16.4853970, 145.4134609), so it would seem the species can grow well in tropical conditions.

When planted in locales with the cool summers of oceanic climates, growth is healthy but very slow; some specimens in northeastern England have only grown to 4–5 m tall in 50 years[39] and do not produce cones.

An alley of Louisiana cypress trees was planted in the 18th century in the park of the Château de Rambouillet, southwest of Paris.

The fungus Lauriliella taxodii[38] causes a specific form of the wood called "pecky cypress", which is used for decorative wall paneling.

"[41][42][43][44] The lumber is valuable for timber framing, building materials, fence posts, planking in boats, river pilings, doors, blinds, flooring, shingles, garden boxes, caskets, interior trim and cabinetry.

Bald cypress most often sees use in outdoor structures such as timber frame pavilions, mid-size farmers markets, porches, exterior awnings and decorative trusses where the species’ weather resistance helps ensure long life.