Taxodium mucronatum

Taxodium mucronatum, commonly known as Montezuma bald cypress,<ref>Template:PLANTS</ref> Montezuma cypress,<ref name=GRIN>Template:GRIN</ref> or ahuehuete,<ref name="GRIN" /> is a species of Taxodium that is primarily native to Mexico and Guatemala, with a few populations in the southwestern United States.<ref name="Veblen">Template:Cite journal</ref> Ahuehuete is derived from the Nahuatl name for the tree, āhuēhuētl, which means "upright drum in water"<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> or "old man of the water."<ref name="GymnoDat"/>

Description

It is a large evergreen or semi-evergreen tree growing to Template:Convert tall and with a trunk of Template:Convert diameter (occasionally much more; see below). The leaves are spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, Template:Convert long and Template:Convert broad. The cones are ovoid, Template:Convert long and Template:Convert broad. Unlike bald cypress and pond cypress, Montezuma cypress rarely produces cypress knees from the roots.<ref name="GymnoDat"/> Trees from the Mexican highlands achieve a notable stoutness.

One specimen, the Árbol del Tule in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico, is the stoutest tree in the world with a diameter of Template:Convert. Several other specimens from Template:Convert diameter are known. The second stoutest tree in the world is the Big Baobab, an African baobab.

Distribution and habitat

File:Montezuma Bald Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum), Rio Pilón near Villagrán, Municipality of Villagrán, Tamaulipas, Mexico (9 August 2005).jpg

Montezuma bald cypress (Taxodium mucronatum), growing on the Rio Pilón near Villagrán, Municipality of Villagrán, Tamaulipas, Mexico (9 August 2005)

Montezuma cypress is primarily a riparian tree, growing along upland riversides, but can also be found next to springs and marshes. It occurs from Template:Convert, in Mexico mainly in highlands at Template:Convert in altitude. T. mucronatum is very drought-tolerant and fast-growing<ref name="Creech">Template:Cite journal</ref> and favors climates that are rainy throughout the year or at least with high summer rainfall.

Taxodium mucronatum is native to much of Mexico as far south as the highlands of southern Mexico.<ref name="GymnoDat"/> Two disjunct populations exist in the United States. One is in the Rio Grande Valley of southernmost Texas, while the other is in southern New Mexico, near Las Cruces.<ref name="PLANTAnswers">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Within Guatemala, the tree is restricted to Huehuetenango Department.<ref name="Veblen"/>

Culture

File:Árbol-del-Tule-Oaxaca-Mexico.jpg

"Árbol del Tule", in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico

The sabino became the national tree of Mexico in 1910.<ref name="Tule">Template:Cite journal</ref> The tree is sacred to the native peoples of Mexico, and is featured in the Zapotec creation myth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> To the Aztecs, the combined shade of an āhuēhuētl and a pōchōtl (Ceiba pentandra) metaphorically represented a ruler's authority.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to legend,<ref name="Tree of Sorrows">Template:Cite web</ref> Hernán Cortés wept under an ahuehuete in Popotla<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> after suffering defeat during the Battle of La Noche Triste.<ref name="FelgerJohnsonWilson">Template:Cite book</ref>

This plant is mentioned in the 2015 short story "Rivers" by John Keene, which reimagines the story of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Uses

File:Ahuehuetes en Chapultepec.jpg

An 1875 painting, Ahuehuetes en Chapultepec, by José María Velasco Gómez depicting the cypress by the lake in Chapultepec.

Montezuma cypresses have been used as ornamental trees since Pre-Columbian times. The Aztecs planted āhuēhuētl along processional paths in the gardens of Chapultepec because of its association with government.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Artificial islands called chinampas were formed in the shallow lakes of the Valley of Mexico by adding soil to rectangular areas enclosed by trees such as āhuēhuētl;<ref name="GymnoDat"/> they also lined the region's canals prior to Spanish conquest.<ref name="Tule"/>

Ahuehuetes are frequently cultivated in Mexican parks and gardens. The wood is used to make house beams and furniture,.<ref name="FelgerJohnsonWilson"/> The Aztecs used its resin to treat gout, ulcers, skin diseases, wounds, and toothaches. A decoction made from the bark was used as a diuretic and an emmenagogue. Pitch derived from the wood was used as a cure for bronchitis The leaves acted as a relaxant and could help reduce itching.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In some parts of Mexico the foliage is used to decorate church altars during religious ceremonies.<ref name="iucn">Template:Cite web</ref>

John Naka, a bonsai master, donated his very first bonsai, a Montezuma cypress, to the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum of the United States. Template:Citation needed

A linear grove is located in the main courtyard of the Getty Center Art Museum, thriving since 1995.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Hybrids

• Taxodium × 'LaNana' (T. distichum × T. mucronatum)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Taxodium 'Zhongshansa' (T. distichum × T. mucronatum)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

General references

• Eguiluz T. 1982. Clima y Distribución del género pinus en México. Distrito Federal. Mexico.
• Rzedowski J. 1983. Vegetación de México. Distrito Federal, Mexico.
• Martínez, Maximinio. 1978. Catálogo de nombres vulgares y científicos de plantas mexicanas.

External links

• Template:Cite web