The bald cypress, with its massive trunk and bottle shape, is one of the most impressive of all America trees. It's a well known resident of southern swamps.  Perhaps the most striking feature of the bald cypress is its ability to send up "knees" from roots. The knees are knobby growths that stand up around the parent tree.  The wood of the bald cypress is extremely tough and resistant to water and insects. Many of the largest and oldest bald cypress forests in Louisiana and elsewhere have lost their greatest trees to loggers.  Bald cypress are conifers, but they are also deciduous.  The bald cypress sheds its soft needles {leaves} each fall.