Taxodium distichum is a large, slow-growing, and long-lived tree. It typically grows to heights of 30–35 m (100–120 ft) and to a trunk diameter of 1–2 m (3–6 ft). The main trunks are surrounded by cypress knees. The bark is grayish brown to reddish brown, thin, and fibrous with a stringy texture; it has a vertically interwoven pattern of shallow ridges and narrow furrows. Taxodium distichum (bald cypress,[2] cypress, southern-cypress, white-cypress, tidewater red-cypress, Gulf-cypress, red-cypress, or swamp cypress) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae that grows on saturated and seasonally inundated soils in the lowlands of the Southeastern and Gulf Coastal Plains of the United States.