The baldcypress was adopted as Louisiana’s state tree on May 26, 1963. It is sometimes called the “cypress,” though it not related to true cypresses. Bald cypress is most commonly written as two words, but the legislation apparently designated it as baldcypress; at least that’s how it’s spelled on most Louisiana government websites.
Scientists consider the bald cypress a living fossil. It seems part hardwood, or deciduous tree, and part conifer, or evergreen, in its form and habits.
In 1699, the Frenchman Pierre LeMoyne found vast forests of bald cypress in what is now Louisiana. Today, very little virgin, or uncut, bald cypress forest remains. The Nature Conservancy purchased a ten-acre tract of reportedly virgin trees in Bienville Parish, in northwest Louisiana. (A parish is the equivalent of a county in other states.)
The bald cypress grows in swamps, but the state tree has its roots in Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital. It was promoted by Mrs. Juanita Sommers and her fourth grade class at Jefferson Terrace School. The class planted a bald cypress on the school grounds.
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