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Scientific: Taxodium huegelii (formerly Taxodium mucronatum)
Common: Montezuma cypress
Family: Taxodiaceae
Origin: Altiplano region of Mexico

Pronounciation: Tax-O-dee-um hue-GELL-ee-i

Hardiness zones
Sunset
5, 6, 8-10, 12-14
USDA 8-11

Landscape Use: For use around water or to suggest the nearby presence of water, oasis effect, large landscape spaces, greenspaces and mesic parks.

Form & Character: Upright and pendulous, graceful and sturdy with a broad full canopy.

Growth Habit: Evergreen (sometimes partially deciduous), woody, perennial narrowleaf tree, fast growing when young slowing with age to 60- or more feet tall, potentially reaching 75-feet tall in climates cooler than Phoenix, trunk with shedding phellum (what lay people call "bark").

Foliage/Texture: Evergreen to partially deciduous (depending on the extent of the Phoenix winter cold), narrow nearly appressed leaves are flattened, spreading, two ranked, to 1/2- to 3/4-inch long; medium fine texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Strobuli (gymnosperm flowers) are small and clustered, inconspicuous; cones are 1 to 2 inches in diameter and in clusters.

Seasonal Color: None, except some subtle bronzing or golden yellowing of foliage during the colder Phoenix winters.

Temperature: Tolerant of desert heat around water and other mesic landscape elements. Avoid reflective heat of asphalt, concrete, buildings as this will stress Montezuma cypress.

Light: Full sun

Soil: Tolerant of a wide range of soil moisture contents. In Phoenix, prefers moist soil.

Watering: Regular applications of irrigation water needed in Phoenix, especially during summer.

Pruning: Elevate canopy base by raising the crown as necessary.

Propagation: Seed

Disease and Pests: None

Additional comments: This is a very graceful, large, under appreciated, tree that is prone to heat stress if grown around built surfaces of asphalt and concrete. It is a great mesic park or green space tree! In my opinion, it's too bad that in these 'PC' days of 'landscape sustainability' and 'water conservation' that excellent, really cool trees such as Montezuma cypress get left behind.

Arborist note: The 'Tree of Tule' is the stoutest tree in the world. It is an old (est. 2,000 years) Montezuma cypress specimen located on the grounds of a church in Santa Maria del Tule in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.