Pond cypress is a natural buffer between the bald cypress forest
and the wet prairie/pine flatwood. 
It serves as an ecotone 
(an area where two different habitats meet), 
creating an environment where wildlife from both the wet prairie 
and the bald cypress forest mingle.

Pond cypress are smaller than bald cypress,
more commonly found deeper in the swamp. 
Both species can grow to over fifty feet.

Scientists are not in total agreement whether pond cypress and bald cypress 
are two distinct species. 
DNA testing suggests they are, but they are known to hybridize. 

Superficially, the pond cypress have a slightly different appearance -- 
the bark is more deeply ridged, the needles spiral around their stems, 
and they grow in much closer proximity to each other.

Understory plants include sawgrass, ferns, air plants, wax myrtle, strangler fig, 
and a variety of flowering plants ranging from water lilies and pickerel weed 
to wild iris and the bladderworts.