Geobopological Survey . T he baldcypress was adopted as Louisiana's state on May 26, 1963.
Scientists consider the baldcypress a living fossil.
It seems part hardwood, or deciduous tree, and part conifer, or evergreen, in its form and habits. In 1699, the Frenchman Pierre LeMoyne found vast forests of baldcypress in what is now Louisiana. Today, very little virgin, or uncut, baldcypress forest remains. The Nature Conservancy purchased a ten-acre tract of reportedly virgin trees in Bienville Parish, in northwest Louisiana. The baldcypress grows in swamps, but the state tree has its roots in Baton Rouge, Louisiana's capital.