Thursday, January 6, 2011

Tombigbee River Slough - Peaceful Valley

This was a perfect winter day to snap photographs of the cypress swamp in the Tombigbee River bottom. No snakes to worry about, although maybe an alligator or two could have been hanging around. It has been dry the past few days, and without standing water, the swamp was fairly accessible with boots. I'm hoping that one or two pictures will be suitable for enlarging and framing.  

The trees are either bald cypress or pond cypress, or a mixture of both; they are easily confused.  Based upon the small dead leaves I saw on the ground, these trees could very well be pond cypress.  Several of the trees had small, reddish brown, olive-shaped fruit, which Mike's Uncle Earnest Johnson recognized as belonging to the Black Tupelo Gum tree.   Both the black tupelo gum and the cypress trees grow in swamps, and both have bases that are swollen or flared.

Click on an image to see a larger picture.  Hope you enjoy them as much I do.





5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great photos, Mona....BobbyGene

Kirk said...

Like Bobby Gene mentioned, great pictures.

Anonymous said...

I love your photos. I would really like to take a tour. I have never seen some of these places during my visits.

Vivian

Janice said...

Amazing photographs, Mona!

Mona Robinson Mills said...

Thanks, everyone. It is really a beautiful place.