Cypress knees

Thursday
After several days of freezing rain, snow and fairly high winds, today was calm, dry and sunny - still below freezing, but hey we'll take what we can get! It was a cold start to the day, however, so I left my walk until the afternoon. It had been a while since I'd been to Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, so I went there. It's a wonderful place to walk at any time of year, both for the wonderful trees and the artistic sculptures. It's also a good place to go birding, and the birds were much in evidence and quite vocal today. Also, some of the statues and monuments are more easily seen at this time of year, with no leaves on the trees. There are several lakes around the cemetery, but one of the most scenic is this one , ringed by Cypress knees. The function of Cypress knees is unknown. One early assumption was that they provided oxygen to the roots that grow in the low dissolved oxygen waters typical of a swamp, much like mangroves, which have similar adaptations. However, there is little actual evidence for this. In fact, swamp-dwelling specimens whose knees are removed continue to thrive, and laboratory tests demonstrate that they are not effective at depleting oxygen in a sealed chamber. Another more likely function is that of structural support and stabilization. Lowland or swamp-grown cypresses found in flooded or flood-prone areas tend to be buttressed and "kneed," as opposed to cypresses grown on higher ground which may grow with very little taper. For much of my walk, I virtually had the place to myself, but as I neared the end, I encountered a couple of groups of runners.

You can see more pictures from my walk here.