About Cypress
Cypress was the wood used by the ancients to build their boats, temples, and carved images of their gods. 4,500 year-old native American canoes were recently discovered in Florida. They were hewed from cypress logs. The oldest existing structures in the United States, in St. Augustine, Florida, were built with cypress materials. The peoples who built these structures and items recognized the resistance of cypress to rot, decay, and deterioration.

Today, we know that cypress contains a natural oil called cypresseine that preserves the wood. However, cypresseine has another quality very important to modern construction. It is toxic to wood digesting insects. In the southeastern United States, where termites are prodigious, cypress is the building material of choice.

There are only two species of cypress indigenous to the southern United States—pond cypress and bald cypress (the state tree of Louisiana). Pond cypress grows in, along, or very close to waterways. Bald cypress will grow in the uplands, away from water. Pond cypress produces more of a fluted foot than does bald cypress. Both pond and bald cypress produce white, yellow, and red cypress. When sawn, only the expert eye can distinguish the specie, and both are equal in quality.

Various cypress producers and manufacturers ascribe certain brand names to their product. You may hear of such brand names as "Black Swamp Cypress", "Blue Cypress", and "Red Cypress". These are merely brand names, and do not describe the specie or the origin of the cypress provided. More than likely their product will include white, yellow, and red cypress from both pond and bald cypress trees.

This is true of the cypress provided by K-N Cypress Log Homes.

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