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Saturday 9 December 2017

Sequoia tree

Sequoia is a genus of redwood trees in the Cupressaceae family. It includes the largest trees in the world.

The Redwood Highway, at Jedediah Smith State Park nr Crescent City, Calif. By Acroterion

The generic name commemorates the great Cherokee Indian Sequoyah (or Sequoya) (1760 – 1843), who gave his people an 'alphabet' for their language.

The only living species of the genus is the Sequoia sempervirens. They comprise the Dawn Redwood, Coast Redwood, and Giant Sequoia.

Fossil remains of extinct species Sequoia as old as the Jurassic Period are widely dispersed in the Northern Hemisphere. These include Sequoia affinis, Sequoia chinensis in China, Sequoia langsdorfii, Sequoia dakotensis of South Dakota, and Sequoia magnifica.

The dawn redwood is native to Lichuan county in Hubei province, China. Although the least tall of the redwoods, it grows to at least 200 feet (60 meters) in height.

The coast redwood occupy a narrow strip of land approximately 750 km (470 mi) in length and 5–47 mi (8.0–75.6 km) in width along the Pacific coast of North America in northern California and southern Oregon.

The coast redwood can reach 115 m (377 ft) tall with a trunk diameter of 9 m (30 ft). making it the tallest tree on Earth.

Coast Redwoods in Redwood National and State Parks

The current tallest of 3 trillion trees on Earth is the Hyperion, measuring 379.3 ft (115.61), almost twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. The tree was discovered in Redwood National Park on August 25, 2006 by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor, and is thought to be the world's tallest living organism.

The giant sequoia is the largest of living trees, having enormous bulk, up to some 30 metres/ 100 feet at the base, as well as being almost as tall as the redwood.

Most giant sequoias grow in 77 scattered groves on the westerly slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains from Placer to Tulare counties in California. These groups were formed as a protection from logging.

European-Americans first stumbled upon giant sequoias in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in 1853. It was brought into cultivation in Britain the same year by the horticulturist Patrick Matthew of Perthshire from seeds sent by his botanist son John in California.

Giant sequoia has been grown as an ornamental tree elsewhere in the US, as well as western and southern Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

A giant sequoia avenue at Benmore Botanic Garden, Scotland. Dougie Macdonald

The most famous area with giant sequoia trees is Sequoia National Park, in California which contains five out of the ten largest trees in the world. The park was made as the second national park, after the Yellowstone in 1980.

Several trees in Sequoia National Park have been named, for example General Grant, the Grizzly Giant or General Sherman.

General Sherman is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth boasting a mass of 52,500 cubic feet.

General Sherman Tree, in Sequoia National Park

The giant sequoia is, except for the bristlecone pine, the oldest of living trees, some specimens having been known to have lived more than 3000 years. The oldest living sequoia, The President, located in California's Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, is estimated to be about 3200 years old.

California's giant sequoias were considered to be fire-resistant for centuries, but with hotter and bigger wildfires becoming more common, 2021 saw the loss of 14% of the trees.  

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