22. Veitch’s Swamp Cypress
The most arresting arboreal sight in the pretty Dorset town of Sherborne is surely Veitch’s Swamp Cypress
Near Sherborne’s railway station lies Pageant Gardens, a small public park laid out using money raised by the ‘Mother of all Pageants’ enacted here by a cast of 900 in 1905 to celebrate the town’s 1200th anniversary. Noted nursery, Veitch and Sons of Exeter were commissioned to develop the gardens, and were responsible for planting many fine trees, including the huge feathery swamp cypress to the west of the bandstand.
Species details
Swamp cypress
Taxodium distichum
Where to find it
Pageant Gardens, Station Road, Sherborne DT9 3NQ
///keys.aliens.rushed | 50.944278, -2.514138
Swamp cypress notes
Swamp cypress trees belong to a select group of deciduous conifers. They are the least frequent of this confounding bunch which includes the larch family and the dawn redwood. Those who encounter a swamp cypress may mistake it for a dawn redwood, a tree that appears to have very similar needles and cones, and a comparable auburn autumnal hue. The often quoted differentiating feature is how the needles are held – those of a swamp cypress grow opposite one another on the stem, while dawn redwood’s are alternate. That may be a bit technical, and those needles are prone to have a rather lax attitude to how they are supposed to appear, so how else might one identify a swamp cypress? Swamp cypresses originate from North America and have been in Britain since the mid eighteenth century, while Chinese dawn redwoods have only been here since the mid twentieth century. So, if your tree appears to be an old specimen, then the chances are it’s a swamp cypress. The other distinguishing feature is the overall character of the tree, dawn redwoods tend to be quite conical, while swamp cypresses have a softer, shaggier quality. Then there are the ‘knees’, but that is for another time…
Urban Tree Festival
Welcome to those who have signed up for Daily Urban Tree posts during the Urban Tree Festival between 13-21 May. Before the festival, and after, I will be posting regular accounts of great British and Irish urban trees, just not one everyday!