Trees to ca. 30 m; trunk to 2 m diam. Bark brown to light gray, typically somewhat thicker and more deeply furrowed than that of other varieties. Branchlets with leaves not in 2 ranks, mostly ascending vertically. Leaves ca. 3--10 mm, appressed and overlapping, mostly narrowly lanceolate, free portion not contracted or twisted basally. 2 n = 22.

Blackwater rivers, lake margins, swamps, Carolina Bay lakes, pocosins, and wet, poorly drained, pine flatwoods; 0--100 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C.

The name Taxodium distichum (Linnaeus) Richard var. nutans (Aiton) Sweet has been misapplied to this taxon; the type of this name belongs to var. distichum (F. D. Watson 1985).