BC with knee

[rockm]

A friend sent me a link to this Bald Cypress on eBay. It is only the second or third bonsai BC I've seen with natural knees. Like the others I've seen, the knees are out of scale with the tree, but are interesting nevertheless. Pricey though.

 

[jason biggs]

what do u mean with knees?? those pieces of deadwood at the base??that is a mother of a price,surely too expensive

 

[rockm]

That's not deadwood. Bald cypress make "knees" when they live in certain situations in swamps. These upward-growing knobs of wood grow all around the bases of some BC. Some reach three or four feet in height. The wood is not dead. It is living tissue. It's exact function is not really known. Some say they help stabilize the tree in swampy conditions, other say they perform air exchange...

They don't grow in bonsaied BC, but can be collected along with BC specimens. They can be collected with BC specimens, however.