People rowing among colourful bald cypress, Xuancheng, Anhui, China (© Jackal Pan/Getty Images)

People paddle through a glowing maze of bald cypress in Xuancheng, Anhui, where autumn transforms flooded woodlands into a tapestry of amber, copper and deep rust. Known scientifically as 'Taxodium distichum', bald cypress is unusual among conifers because it sheds its soft, feathery needles each fall, turning reddish-brown before they drop.