35.000 Taxodium Rich.

Trees, up to 40 m, deciduous or semi-evergreen. Leaves spirally arranged, needle-like. Male cones numerous, in drooping terminal panicles; female cones on branches of the previous year, long-persistent, sub-globose, scales irregularly quadrangular above, each with 2 ovules.

Derivation of name: from the similarity of the leaves to those of the genus Taxus.

Worldwide: 1-3 species, native to North America where they are semi-evergreen in the south and deciduous in the north.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.