Yes, it does occasionally, according to Farjon's Monograph of Cupressaceae. They are 'rare' on Taxodium mucronatum (same ref.).

Resin

Taxodium mucronatum for some reason is semi evergreen
I have some plants here and they have lost most of their
foliage but last winter they kept most of their foliage and
that was a cold winter.There is an old tree at Kew.

I found one very big/huge T mucronatum here in town (Las Cruces). It is about 2m or so in diameter, I think it was planted long time ago, when this region was part of Mexico. I will try to take some pics and post them. By the way, no knees..

osprey

What is its hardiness ratings: I`m always looking for another deciduous conifer?

I believe there is a nursery that states their trees come from Las Cruces, and they believe these trees are hardier. The lowest recorded here is -10F (1962). I will say z8 maybe z7

osprey

There are apparently some very large old trees of T. mucronatum in some other remote parts of New Mexico which have survived temperatures in the -20°F range. They also look to have either been relict populations or planted in Spanish colonial times. So, there appear to be at least some ecotypes of T. mucornatum which look to be hardy to zone 6 or so. Most all others from Mexican provenance look to be hardy to zone 8 or so.

Given that some trees of T. distichum from Florida are hardy to zone 4 (posted on this forum several times!), it's not too implausible that the northernmost native T. mucronatum in Mexico should also be rather hardier than expected when planted by the Spaniards in NM.

I suspect that the genus' water-borne seed dispersal, combined with the lack of northward-flowing rivers in North America, has been an important factor in preventing the genus from colonising northward after the colder periods of the ice ages. It must be an awfully difficult task floating up either the Mississippi or the Rio Grande against the current!

Resin

Taxodium mucronatum has a much larger range than
T distichum.It sounds like T distichum was pushed
down from Canada by the glaciations and found a
niche in Florida.Was Taxodium ever in China?

So T. distichum was native to Canada?
That's all I need to know!

Nate

"So T. distichum was native to Canada?
That's all I need to know!"

It isn't now, but was in the past. "In the Cretaceous, Taxodium-like trees still occurred well within the Arctic Circle in North America" (Arnold & Lowther 1955, cited in Farjon's Cupressaceae monograph).

Resin

Dear osprey,

Where is that tree in Las Cruces? I'd like to go see it.

Dear kman04,

Where are these trees in New Mexico? Do you have a reference I could consult?

Dear All,

Some plantspeople in New Mexico (they run or ran a native plant nursery just opposite the Tome pilgrimage site outside Albuquerque) found a solitary cypress of some sort in the Gila National forest. It lives along a dry creek bed or arroyo that does receive seasonal water flow, I believe.

They won't say precisely where they found it. They are hoping that it will prove to be a distinct species. I was told that they were having it tested at Cornell University.

Have you ever heard about this?

arauquoia,
That topic deserves its own thread. I'm dying to know more!

Nate