Wood: Wood
is hard, heavy, straight-grained and easy to work. It is called "everlasting"
wood as it is extremely durable when exposed to the elements. It is considered
to be a shrink-resistant and pest-resistant wood, and is used for greenhouse
benches, posts, beams, dock and bridge timbers, tanks, vats and shingles.
Fatty foods stored in baldcypress containers will not be flavored by the
wood. Resin from the cones was once used as a healing balm.
Wildlife: Baldcypress trees are not extremely important to wildlife. Florida cranes eat the seeds and leaves; ducks eat the seeds; and swamp rabbits eat the young saplings. Bald cypress swamp habitats are rich feeding grounds for waterfowl-providing an abundance of insect life, aquatic and shoreline vegetation, and crustaceans.
Horticulture: Baldcypress trees are widely planted as ornamentals in the northern states, southern Canada and Europe. They are good for large parks and estates, highways and groves around lakes. Young trees need to be protected from frost for the first couple of years. 'Shawnee Brave' is a narrow, pyramidal tree good for street planting. The pond cypress (T. distichum var. imbricarium) has leaves that are 5- to 8-ranked and overlap one another. The Montezuma cypress (T. mucronatum or T. distichum var. mexicanum) has persistent leaves and is native from Guatemala and Mexico to southeast Texas.
