7. Cypress Trees & Knees

Forested wetlands of the South Carolina Lowcountry can seem plucked straight from the pages of a childhood fairly tale. Trees that drip with Spanish Moss, animal calls that bounce around in all directions and mysterious woody projections erupting from the ground add to the mystery. Those projections around you are called “knees”, belong to Bald Cypress trees, and are indeed quite mysterious.

Cypress knees will never grow to be trees themselves, but they do sometimes grow to great heights. They will in fact grow as tall as needed to reach above the surrounding water level. This helps to explain the different sizes of knees in different areas and is a clue about their purpose. Some evidence exists to suggest that knees help Cypress trees “breathe”, or facilitate gas exchange. They would need to be above the water level to do this. Another theory is that the tree uses these knees as a support. Our coast is known for hurricanes and violent thunderstorms, and a cypress tree would certainly weather many storms given its potential to live 1,000 years or more. The knees you see before you could be a large interwoven support system to keep these Cypress trees upright in heavy winds and soggy soil. And still, these Cypress knees may serve other purposes that remain a mystery to us.

As you stop to look and listen at this spot on the edge of the Goose Creek reservoir, take a moment to reflect on how our long human history of studying and altering wetlands still has not given us all the answers.