Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood)

Until 1945 the dawn redwood was known only in the form of fossils collected by paleobotanists and was thought to have
been extinct for perhaps a million years. After it was discovered alive and well in the remote village of Motao-chi in the
Chinese province of Szechwan, the Arnold Arboretum of Boston sent a special expedition to the area. The seeds collected
were shared with other botanical gardens around the world, and this deciduous conifer is now widely available from
nurserymen. Mature trees in China are broadly conical and grow about 100 feet tall from thick buttressed roots.
Presumably they will eventually attain a similar size in this country--young plants grow 3 feet or more a year--making them
too tall for the average garden. On a large lawn, however, they can attract attention not only for their history but for their
foliage. Soft, bright green needles, about 3/4 inch long, appear in early spring, then turn pinkish brown before falling in the
autumn. Brown cones 3/4 inch long ripen each year.

How To Grow Dawn Redwood

Dawn redwood is hardy to Zone 5. It thrives in full sun in almost any moist soil. Because it tends to continue growing until late in the summer, it should
be planted in a location not subject to early frosts-- thus plant on a hillside rather than in a valley. Growth is symmetrical and pruning is not necessary.

http://www.jra.org/craftart/moulthro.htm

Rare Dawn Redwood Plate
1991, Rare dawn redwood, 3 1/4" x 19 1/2", photo: Breger &
Associates, Inc.
This piece flows in a natural rhythm because Ed has worked with
the wood and its markings, never superimposing himself on the
wood. Note how the perimeter mirrors the rings and sapspot.

http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/www/reports/orep9907.html

'A Celebration of Trees': Where to Go to See a 'Living Fossil'

You might be familiar with the dawn redwood tree. It's a fast-growing, pyramidal conifer that drops its needle-like leaves in fall.
But what you might not know is that until 1941, the dawn redwood was known only from fossils; no one had ever seen one
before. In that year, a Chinese forester discovered a lone dawn redwood in a remote mountain village in China. In 1948, a
Harvard scientist distributed seeds from this tree to botanical gardens in Europe and North America. One of these gardens was
OARDC's Secrest Arboretum, where more than 30 dawn redwoods are still growing today. The dawn redwood has quite a
history -- it was common 100 million years ago! -- and you can learn more about it at the Wooster Garden Festival, July 16-17.
Guided van tours will take you to dawn redwoods in the arboretum, on the College of Wooster campus and elsewhere in
Wooster. The theme: "A Celebration of Trees!"

http://www.dutchmasternurseries.com/evergreen.html

Dawn Redwood

DAWN REDWOOD
Metasequoia glyptostroboides grows in Zones 5-9 up to 1.5m high.
A dediduous conifer with a dense pyramidal habit. The fresh-looking green foliage assumes an apricot-gold tone in autumn.
Available in sizes 150cm, 175cm, 200cm, 225cm, 250cm, 300cm

http://www.dinosauria.com/jdp/misc/conifer.htm

Dawn redwoods were found only so recently (1945) and then only from a small stand of trees which averaged about 60' and they were not
densely packed together in a forest setting. The stand was isolated and on a mountain which could further explain the apparent slow-growth of
the trees and the dwarfed stature of them. Soil was also poor and dry. This combination of factors may have caused their reason for survival,
stunting growth and retarding aging. Today's oldest dawn redwoods grown from that stand are cultivated as specimens isolated from each other
and thus we aren't able to judge how they would act in the wild (largest one I know of is now 160'). We would need a trial stand grown as a
laboratory forest in order to determine how they would act in the wild left to their own devices. That might not be too much help either given
that we do not know what kind of element they would have prospered in except that we do know they favor wet, loamy soils with a fairly
shallow water table (6'-12'). Would there have been other plants growing nearby that formed a symbiotic relationship necessary for mutual
survival? Certain organisms, insects, something we don't know? It's hard to say.

http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/facts/1998/garden/dawnredwood_19.html

Dawn Redwood

Imagine someone turning up with a living Tyrannosaurus Rex. Peter Valder discussed how this has happened more than once
during the last century. The Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) was known through its fossils to have existed up
to 225 million years ago but was thought to be extinct. In 1942 some people stumbled upon a grove of plants growing on the
banks of a river in Western China. Within several years of discovery, seeds were collected and distributed to botanic gardens
throughout the world. Because the plant came from before the dawn of history (like Australia's Wollemi Pine Wollemi nobilis)
it was called Dawn Redwood.

The Dawn Redwood is a conifer, but, unlike most conifers is deciduous and in autumn the little branchlets turn a soft orange
brown and fall off. It remains leafless throughout the winter until the spring when it grows a new crop of leaves. It is actually a
most attractive tree and if you feel like growing something prehistoric in your garden this would be a good thing to try.

Plant Details

Common Name: Dawn Redwood

Botanical name : Metasequoia glyptostroboides.

Best Climate: Will grow as far north as Brisbane but prefers cooler southern parts and mountain climates of Australia.

Good Points:

fast growing, reaching 20-40m (70 - 130') in height and 5m (15') or more in width
deciduous
pyramidal form ideally suited as a specimen tree
fine ferny green foliage in summer
tawny pink and old gold leaves in autumn before falling

Downside:

looks dead in winter

Uses:

beautiful specimen tree for large gardens, parks and golf courses in cooler climates

Likes:

rich, deep moisture-holding soils
plenty of water in summer

Availability

Dawn Redwood is available from nurseries in its best climate area except in WA. Prices start at $12.50 for a 12cm (5") pot to
$90 for a 35 litre bag. It is also available through mail order from Woodbank Nursery, 2040 Huon Road Longley, TAS, 7150.
Phone/fax: (03) 6239 6452.

Habitat

native to China
first described from fossil records in
1941
live plants were then discovered in the
same year
seeds were collected in the mid 1940's
by the Arnold Arboretum and brought
back to the United States
zone 4

Habit and Form

a deciduous, coniferous , large tree
uniform conical habit
horizontal branching
typically reaches 75' to 100' tall
growth rate is fast
texture is fine and airy in leaf

Summer Foliage

leaves are deciduous
opposite arrangement on branchlets
0.5" long, linear, flat leaves
stems are either persistent or deciduous
deciduous stems are green and are held
on brown, persistent stems
deciduous stems, have needles, but do
not have buds
persistent stems hold deciduous stems,
some needles and oppositely-arranged
buds
deciduous stems drop in the fall with the
needles
foliage is medium to bright green

Autumn Foliage

turns a unique pinkish tan to reddish
bronze before dropping in the fall

Flowers

monoecious with male and female
flowers
male flowers in clusters
female flowers solitary
not ornamentally important

Fruit

elongated or rounded cones
0.5" to 1" long
brown or dark brown

Bark

shredded reddish brown bark
attractive
develops an interesting buttressed trunk
trunk base is tapered and exhibits a
braided, fluted structure

Culture

very rapid grower
best on moist, well-drained, slightly
acidic soils
full sun is needed
easily transplanted
avoid locating the plant in frost pockets
since late growth is injured by early fall
frosts

Landscape Use

as a specimen
as a lawn tree to provide shade
for golf courses
campuses
needs space to develop
uniform conical habit can be useful
where regularity is needed in landscape
designs
for screening

Liabilities

susceptible to early fall frosts because it
tends to grow late into the season
does poorly on dry or high pH soils
spider mites on dry soils
Japanese beetles will eat the foliage
large size must be accommodated
somewhat rare and hard to locate

ID Features

conical, uniform habit
deciduous needles and stems
opposite buds on persistent stems
separate it from Taxodium distichum
(Common Baldcypress)
buttresses trunk with braided character
and shredded red-brown bark

Propagation

by seed following stratification
by cuttings; softwood or hardwood

Cultivars/Varieties

'National' - a narrow pyramidal form selected
by the United States National Arboretum. Very
uniform growth.

'Sheridan Spire' - selected by Sheridan
Nurseries. Another upright, almost columnar
cultivar. Probably narrower than 'National'.

LONG KNOWN FROM FOSSIL MATERIAL, the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia
glyptostroboides)—the tree at the right in the first photo below, not the evergreen—was
discovered to be a living species in Szechuan, China, in 1945.

Though a close relative of our native redwood, this species is deciduous rather than
evergreen, losing its needles and smaller twigs in the autumn. In its natural range, the
Dawn Redwood may exceed 100 feet in height, with trunk diameters of more than 10
feet.

Different species of Sequoias grow at various places in the park; you might like to
compare Post 40 and Post 42.

DAWN REDWOOD: Metasequoia glyptostroboides First called a "fossil tree"
because it was believed extinct, this fast growing tree is now a favorite
ornamental. A deciduous conifer, it has a full pyramidal shape, grows to 120'
high and turns a bright copper color in the fall. Will grow throughout the U.S.
with adequate water.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bonsai/msg0514272616471.html

This is an outdoor tree and shouldn't be kept inside. If you're keeping it indoors, that is probably the foundation of your
problems. Indoors is much to hot and dry for a temperate climate tree like Dawn Redwood.

Bonsai, unless a tropical plant is being used, aren't delicate, hothouse plants. Depending on the species used they are
extremely tough. Dawn redwood is a very hardy tree native to temperate regions of China and is used to freezes and heat.
Keeping such a plant indoors will kill it as low humidity, heat, lack of air circulation, chemical fumes and the like, take their
toll. THis plant also requires a dormant period in the winter, just like other deciduous trees. It drops its leaves in the fall,
being part of the family of deciduous conifers--bald cypress is a close relative--that refoliate themselves in the spring every
year, spending the winter without foliage.

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/200-299/nb247.htm

Forest Preserve District of Cook County (Illinois)

Nature Bulletin No. 247-A December 3, 1966
Forest Preserve District of Cook
Seymour Simon, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:THE GINKGO AND THE DAWN REDWOOD

For a mile or more along each side of Harlem Avenue, one of the main
thoroughfares on the west side of Chicago, there is a row of small
graceful trees which were planted there as seedlings about twenty years
ago. At this season their leaves have fallen and they appear much the
same as other trees in winter. But looks are deceiving because this is the
Ginkgo, or Maidenhair Tree, and one of the strangest trees in the world
-- a living fossil.

Until their seeds were brought to Europe and this country, this tree had
been known only in the sacred groves around temples in China and
Japan. All of its wild ancestors seem to have disappeared. We know
that back in the age of dinosaurs there were many kinds of maidenhair
trees because, throughout the northern hemisphere, we find their
curious fan-shaped leaves in the same layers of rock as the fossils of
those reptiles. Of all that large group, the ginkgo remains as the only
tree of its sort living in the world today, and the fossil record shows that
it has survived, unchanged, for at least a hundred million years.

The ginkgo is not a fern, nor a pine, nor a hardwood tree, but a
combination of the features of all three. Its small yellowish plum-like
fruit has a foul-smelling pulp enclosing a silvery nut with a sweetish
resinous edible kernel. The fruit and the pollen-bearing catkins are
borne on separate trees. The ginkgo has smooth light-gray bark and
attains a height of 60 to 80 feet. Because it is hardy and remarkably free
from pests, it has become increasingly popular for shade-tree planting
on city streets and in parks.

Only a few years ago, another "living fossil" was discovered in a remote
bandit-infested mountain valley of Central China. It has been named the
Metasequoia, or Dawn Redwood, because it appears to be the ancestor
of the Redwood and the Big Tree, or Giant Sequoia, of California. It
was supposed to have become extinct many millions of years ago, but,
from fossil remains of its leaves, twigs and cones found in rocks often
100 million years old, it was known to have been widespread over the
temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.

The discovery, in 1944, of a living dawn redwood -- 64 inches in
diameter and 98 feet tall -- towering above a small temple in the midst
of rice paddies more than 100 miles northeast of Chungking in
Szechwan Province, reads like a fiction thriller. Many people if
different races and classes played a part in this most outstanding
botanical discovery of the century. In March, 1948, Dr. Ralph W.
Chaney, a specialist on fossil plants at the University of California, flew
with a companion to Chungking. From there they traveled by boat down
the Yangtse River, and then inland over rocky trails under the
protection of armed guards to see this tree. Later, they found small
groves of dawn redwoods growing in sheltered mountain ravines in
company with birches, chestnuts, sweet gums, beeches and oaks -- the
same hardwoods we have here in our country.

The most surprising feature of the dawn redwood is that, unlike the
evergreen sequoias, it sheds its leaves in autumn. Further, its cones are
borne on long naked stems and the leaves are arranged in opposite pairs
on the twigs instead of alternately. Their branches slant upward instead
of growing horizontally and turning down at the tips, as do those of the
sequoias. Its seeds are small wafer-like discs similar to a flake of rolled
oats. Some of these seeds were brought back, have been planted, and
young dawn redwoods are growing in several places in the United
States, including Cook County.

Dawn Redwood - The dawn redwood has been found in fossilized form in Asia, Greenland and north America since the middle of the 19th
century, but was initially assumed to be of the same genus as bald cypress. In 1941, Japenese paleobotanist Shigeru Miki came across a dawn
redwood fossil near Kobe, Japan and observed that it was different from known types. He assigned it a new genus, Metasequoia, which means
the newest Sequoia. In 1944, a forester named Tsang Wang found a large unfamiliar tree near the village of Mo-tao-chi in the province of
Szechuan, in central China. This tree was later identified as the long-lost Metasequoia by H.H. Hu. Specimens of the newly discovered tree were
sent to two American experts. One of these experts was palentologist Ralph W. Chaney of the University of California. Chaney had previously
discovered Metasequoia fossils near the John Day river in Oregon. In 1948 Chaney and science editor Milton Silverman of the San Francisco
Chronicle departed for China. They returned with cuttings, and possibly seed (one account says it was the wrong time of the year to collect seed).
Some of the collected material was distributed worldwide to arboretums, nurseries and universities. Within a few years, this easily propogated tree
could be found in numerous commercial nurseries. Currently there are numerous 100 ft. tall specimens growing in cities throughout the U.S..

Metasequoia glyptostroboides

Genus : Metasequoia
Species : glyptostroboides
Cultivar :
Common Name : dawn redwood

Hardiness Zone(s) Preferred: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Plant Origin : Not native to North America
Plant Group(s): Tree
Planting Use(s) Recommended: Specimen Plant, Screen

Light Exposure(s) Preferred: Full Sun
Soil Type(s) Preferred: Sandy, Clay, Well-Drained
Salt Tolerance: Unknown

Height : 75 Feet & up
Spread : 25 - 35 Feet
Shape(s): Pyramidal
Growth Rate(s): Fast

Flower Color(s):
Flower Characteristics:
Fruit Color(s): Brown
Fruit Characteristics: Insignificant fruit

Leaf Characteristics: Deciduous
Leaf Texture: Fine
Leaf Color(s): Green
Outstanding Fall Color:

Bark/Limb Characteristics: Has no thorns, Showy bark
Winter Interest : Yes

Metasequoia glyptostroboides Taxodiaceae

Dawn Redwood met-a-se-KWOY-a glip-to-stro-BOY-dez

Deciduous conifer, 70-100 ft (21-30 m), excurrent, pyramidal, flat topped when mature. Needles opposite, 15 mm long, straight or slightly
curved, bright green above, light green below. Female cone solitary, ca. 2.5 cm diam. Bark reddish brown when young, darker, fissuring,
and exfoliating in strips when mature.
Sun. Easy to transplant, performs best in moist, well-drained, slightly acid soils.
Hardy to USDA Zone 4 Native to Szechuan, China. Only introduced in 1948.
OSU campus: two trees, young and older, northeast of Benton Hall.

The Story of the Dawn Redwood
An excellent description of the discovery of Metasequoia glyptostroboide by scientists in the 1940s is in, A Reunion of Trees, by Stephen
A. Spongberg, Harvard Univ. Press, 1990.
Briefly, in 1941 Shigeru Miki, a Japanese paleobotanist, established a new genus, Metasequoia, to accommodate Pliocene fossils from
deposits about five million years old. The fossils had previously been confused with Taxodium (bald cypress) and Sequoia (redwoods). Also in
1941, a Chinese forester chanced upon a strange deciduous, coniferous tree near a remote village in eastern Szechwan Province. In 1944 a few
leafy branches from the trees and some cones picked from the ground were passed on to a botanist, W. C. Cheng, at the National Central
University. He thought the plant samples might be from the Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus lineatus), but was frustrated by the
incomplete specimens. In the winter and spring of 1946 more complete specimens were collected and it was determined that the trees were not the
Chinese swamp cypress.
Cheng thought the tree represented an undescribed species and a new genus and in the fall of 1946 sent herbarium material to Dr. H. H. Hu,
director of the Fan Memorial Institute in Peking (Beijing). Hu was aware of Miki's article and noted the similarity of the Miki's fossils and the
specimens he received. Herbarium specimens were also sent to Professor Elmer D. Merrill of Harvard's Arnold Arboretum, who immediately
corresponded with Professors Cheng and Hu, requesting seed and providing funding to them for a special seed-collecting expedition. The
expedition was undertaken and seed arrived at Arnold Arboretum in early January and in March 1948, and was immediately shared with
institutions and individuals around the world.
In the same year Professors Hu and Cheng described the new conifer in the Bulletin of the Fan Memorial Institute of Biology. The tree
was given the name Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu & Cheng. The generic name, first used by Miki, was derived from the Greek meta,
meaning alike or akin, and Sequoia, the generic name of the coast redwood, to which the tree resembles. The specific epithet, glyptostroboides, is
a reference to the genus Glyptostobus, the Chinese swamp cypress with which the tree was initially confused. The popular common name of Dawn
Redwood, was a suggestion of Ralph W. Chaney, a professor of paleobotany at the University of California, Berkeley. The use of "dawn" in the
name was an attempt to emphasize the tree's early fossil record.

1944 Chinese botanists reported the discovery of the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides.) The tree hitherto had been known
only from fossil material that was at least 20 million years old. (Rupp, 1990)

METASEQUOIA GLYPTOSTROBOIDES (DAWN REDWOOD)
100' Zone 4. Ancient deciduous conifer from China that looks somewhat like our own Coast Redwood but with much
smaller cones, soft bright green leaves. Light bronze fall color. Very fast grwoing when young. Known as the
"Dinosaur Tree" because the species was around over 20 million years ago and was considered extinct until a
few trees were found in China in the 1940's.
GRADE/AGE SIZE AVAILABLE BUNDLE BDL+ 100+ 500+ 2500+
Seedling (2-0) 3-6" call 50 $2.00 $1.50 $1.00 $.90
Seedling (2-0) 6-9" call 50 $2.30 $1.75 $1.15 $1.05
Seedling (2-0) 9-12" call 25 $2.70 $2.05 $1.35 $1.20
Seedling (2-0) 12-15" call 10 $3.00 $2.25 $1.50 $1.35
Seedling (2-0) 15-18" call 10 $3.20 $2.40 $1.60 $1.45
Seedling (2-0) 18-24" call 10 $3.50 $2.65 $1.75 $1.60
Seedling (2-0) 2-3' call 5 $4.10 $3.10 $2.05 $1.85
Seedling (2-0) 3-4' call 5 $4.80 $3.60 $2.40 $2.15
Seedling (2-0) CON CON9"+ call 25 $2.00 $1.50 $1.00 $.90
Transplant (2-1TR) 9-12" call 10 $3.55 $2.95 $2.35 $2.10
Transplant (2-1TR) 12-15" call 10 $3.90 $3.25 $2.60 $2.35
Transplant (2-1TR) 15-18" call 5 $4.20 $3.50 $2.80 $2.50
Transplant (2-1TR) 18-24" call 5 $4.60 $3.80 $3.05 $2.75
Transplant (2-1TR) 2-3' call 5 $5.40 $4.50 $3.60 $3.25
Transplant (2-1TR) 3-4' call 5 $6.40 $5.30 $4.25 $3.85
Transplant (2-1TR) CON TRCON9"+ call 10 $3.00 $2.50 $2.00 $1.80

Metasequoia Presentation given at the American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta Annual Meeting, June 19, 1998, in Philadelphia
by Donald R. Hendricks, Director, The Dawes Arboretum, Newark, Ohio, USA

The theme of this session is "Collaborative Research to Study and Conserve Genetic Variation in Conservation Collections."

The Dawes Arboretum works collaboratively with numerous agencies, the biggest being Ohio Department of Natural Resources Tree Improvement
Program with growing superior selections of black walnut and white pine. But this is a story about a project that has far more global impact than
those, a project done in collaboration with Rutgers University on Metasequoia.

I first heard about the dawn-redwood tree, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, about thirty years ago, through a romanticized story about a
thought-to-be-extinct tree found growing in a monastery in China. The story went on, that in the 1940s, only one tree was found and it had been
saved from the brink of extinction by plant explorers, from the United States naturally, who, recognizing the value of their find, smuggled seed back
to the States in an effort to preserve this species from extinction. Still another story talked of a downed American pilot who discovered this tree
when he was kept safe in a Chinese monastery. Little did I know that years later, I would hear the "rest of story" and that it would be quite different
from that romanticized version.
In 1990 a letter came from a Dr. John Kuser, Associate Professor of Forestry with Rutgers University asking if The Dawes Arboretum could help
fund seed collection of Metasequoia glyptostroboides in China. Along with his letter came copies of a research paper he had published in 1983
saying that an inbreeding depression had been noticed in isolated trees of Metasequoia growing in the United States. Well, that made sense, if the
fable I had heard of the "single tree" theory was correct, but also included with his letter were copies of letters he had received from Li Minghe,
Associate Professor at Huazhong Agricultural University in Hubei that said,

"...There were about 6,000 big trees growing in a valley area of Hubei Province (in 1940). In 1985 (by my memory), big trees of the species were also
found in Hunan Province. I believe the (genetic variation) is much larger than it is in the U.S. Seed collection is possible if you can provide some
financial support...."

"...Two weeks ago, I met the man at a national meeting who first discovered Metasequoia in 1943. He told me that the U.S. introduced the seed in 1948
and 1949. The seeds were collected from the big Type I tree that was an isolated tree in a village. In 1986, 8 Americans came to China to see
Metasequoia trees and I was invited to go with them, It was raining hard. We saw this tree only. Now I know big trees were found in three provinces,
Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan. They are in remote mountain areas...."

So much for the myth about celibate monks, monasteries in mysterious mountains and smuggled seeds. This letter implied that there were other
mature trees, possibly with genetics other than the original tree brought into the U.S. And, if they existed, a breeding program could broaden the
genetic base of the species, thus adding new diversity.

The other trees did exist. Seeds were successfully collected by Professor Li in China, sent to the U.S. where they were germinated and grown by
Dr. Kuser at Rutgers.
The Dawes Arboretum became a cooperator for the provenance testing that would be necessary after the trees were started and agreed to set up
an area large enough to grow the trees to maturity so they could interbreed and create new genetic combinations.
We had one of the original trees from the 1948 collection, planted in 1950 on our grounds when it was 3' tall and it was already 76' tall and over 3'
in diameter [dbh].
To make a long story short, in 1993, we planted 344 Metasequoia glyptostroboides in an 8-acre field. These trees represent seeds collected
from 52 specimens in China (48 of which provided viable seed). We watch and wait for them to reach maturity so they can hopefully produce seed
with new genetic diversity.

But what about the romantic story that sounded like the Franklinia story? Here is a brief outline of the real history, as gleaned from numerous
sources:

Early 1940s A Japanese paleobotanist, Shigeru Miki, searching for fossil plants in Japan's Cenozoic clay found female cones similar to redwood,
Sequoia spp., and vegetative shoots that resembled bald-cypress, Taxodium spp., but plant parts are opposite. Complete fossil found in Hondo.

1941 Professor Miki described & named it Metasequoia by combining Greek meta, meaning "akin to," and Sequoia.

The same year, a Chinese forester Gan was traveling in eastern Sichuan province, near the town of Modaoqi, and noticed three intriguing trees,
with a small shrine by one.

1942 He asked district school principal Yan to collect some samples and send them to him -- they were collected and sent, but were never
identified.

1944 School principal Yan asked Mr. Wang of China's Forest Research Center to investigate. Wang gathered cones and branchlets thinking that it
was Chinese swamp cypress, Glyptostrobus lineatus. The specimen was sent to Professor Cheng at the Department of Forestry at the National
Central University but the herbarium materials and samples were incomplete.

1946 Dr. Cheng sent graduate student Xue on a collecting trip. The trees were dormant, but had fruit, which Xue collected branches & fruit. But
since the specimen had no leaves, he had to return a second time Each trip Xue travelled two days by steamboat then had to walk 72 miles through
bandit territory to get to the trees.

The first complete specimen was sent to Professor Cheng, and he knew immediately it was a new genus. He sent the herbarium specimen to Dr.
Hu, director of Fan Memorial Institute in Beijing. Dr. Hu had read Miki's article on Metasequoia and put fossil and living tree together, and
published a paper on the new genus.
Dr. Cheng, a former Harvard graduate, sent herbarium samples to Dr. Elmer Merrill at Arnold Arboretum. Merrill arranged for the arboretum to
fund a seed-collecting expedition for late summer and fall 1947.

1947 Dr. Cheng sent Hua to check area. He reported more than 1,000 trees in a 25-mile long valley of the Yangtze river, but only two pounds of
seeds were collected.

1948 1,500 trees were grown from the seed in U.S., Copenhagen Botanical Garden, The Arboretum at Hørsholm and its satellite The Forest
Botanical Garden in Charlottenlund, Denmark.

Hu & Cheng fully described the plant and gave it the specific epithet "glyptostroboides" in honor of its resemblance to Chinese swamp cypress --
Glyptostrobus.
When paleontologist Ralph Chaney of University of California - Berkeley read the paper, he re-examined fossil evidence and found that the
dominant conifer of arctic forests of the Tertiary period was not the evergreen Sequoia that everyone thought, but instead it was Metasequoia.
Chaney, with funds from Save-the-Redwood League visited the trees in March and coined the common name dawn redwood. (Actually used
Chinese redwood but newspapers liked dawn redwood better.)

1949 One more expedition into China - J. Linsley Gressitt of California. Noted that the valley where Metasequoia grew had beech, willow,
poplar, oak, maple, and chestnuts!

Bamboo Curtain comes down - no foreigners allowed in China until 1980.

1980 Sino-American Botanical Expedition to western Hupei, five Americans go. One Metasequoia still existed in Modaoqi. Estimated age - 450
years.
Many trees had been planted (from cuttings), but no natural seedlings were found in the valley. All that remained were more than 200 stumps of
tree trunks, some over 6.5' diameter, cut to make flooring.
Notes say that Metasequoia valley is 12.5 miles long and enclosed on all four sides (making it a box canyon). Trees found in valley bottom mostly
occupied by rice paddies. Tallest tree is 160' tall.

1981 In United States:
Problem noticed in isolated trees - cones being produced, but little or no seed production.
Dr. John E. Kuser, Rutgers University, did inbreeding depression study - verifies problem with self-fertilization, same as found in Sequoia and
Pseudotsuga menziesii, Douglas-fir.

Cultural Notes:

Trees first attain female maturity at 30' - 50' tall.

Trees firs attain male maturity at 60' - 90' tall.

Pollination ineffective over 100 meters distance (almost same as black walnut).

Trees are best produced from cuttings.

1983 Kuser publishes further work on Metasequoia, listing size and location of many of the original Arnold trees. Other notes: "Trees growing in
the U.S. appear to have originated from seed received in January 1948 by Dr. Merrill of Arnold from Professor Cheng from Hubei. There is no
record of introductions from outside Hubei."

1990 May 1990,
Professor Li of Huazhong Agricultural University wrote to John Kuser.

"...There were about 6,000 big trees growing in a valley area of Hubei Province (in 1940). In 1985 (by my memory), big trees of the species were also
found in Hunan Province. I believe the (genetic variation) is much larger than it is in the U.S. Seed collection is possible if you can provide some
financial support...."

"...Two weeks ago, I met the man at a national meeting who first discovered Metasequoia in 1943. He told me that the U.S. introduced the seed in 1948
and 1949. The seeds were collected from the big Type I tree that was an isolated tree in a village. In 1986, 8 Americans came to China to see
Metasequoia trees and I was invited to go with them, It was raining hard. We saw this tree only. Now I know big trees were found in three provinces,
Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan. They are in remote mountain areas...."

1991 April 1991
53 seed packets of Metasequoia seed received by Kruser at Rutgers

1992 Feb 1992
Li to Kuser - "Tree #1 (packet 1) is Type 1, it is at least 20 miles away from other flowering trees. Americans collected seeds from this tree in
1948 and 1949."

April 1992
Kruser to all cooperators

"Most of the Metasequoias in the United states share a narrow genetic base, derived from the 1948 Arnold Arboretum seedlot which may have
originated from only a single tree.

DNA TESTING HAS PROVEN THIS NOT TO BE TRUE.

Seed from a rangewide collection of 52 individual trees has been sent by Professor Li from China in April 1991 (1990 Seed crop). Parent-tree data was
also collected."

Seeds were germinated by Dr. Kuser, etal., potted into 2 gallon pots for first year.

1993 April 1993
Seedlings shipped airmail bare-root to The Dawes Arboretum. Planted same day.
344 planted randomly on 25' centers on 8 acres.
Representatives of 48 of the 52 parent trees that produced seed in China.
The only complete collection of all seedlots (outside China), besides the one at Rutgers.

Other cooperators received seedlings also -
Callaway Gardens - 25; Princeton University - 10; Holden Arboretum - 100; Arnold Arboretum; Save-the-Redwood League; Univ. of California;
etc.

1994 April 1994
Of the original 344 - 5 have died, but we have duplicate trees from those seedlots.
Planting bareroot was 99% successful.
All 48 seedlots are still represented.
Rest seem to be growing fine. After-25 degree F winter, time will tell.

1995 337 individuals remain alive (7 have died, but representatives of all 48 collection trees remain. Some trees actually doubled in height over the
last year. Data will be sent to Dr. Kuser for compilation with Rutgers to give better statistics.

1996 10 cuttings from each of the 337 trees were taken in February and sent to Poul Søndergaard at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural
University Arboretum in Hørsholm, Denmark. After two years, 33 of the family lines are still alive and growing well.

1998 Each year the trees are measured and statistics are combined with those trees at Rutgers to form a better statistical base for comparisons of
families.

1999 As trees mature, they will be allowed to breed at random - the resulting offspring will contain genetics not naturally occurring in China
because of the distance between the 50 seedbearing trees. New seed will be sent to various arboreta throughout the world and back to China to
provide them with the new genetic diversity our collection will provide.

Bibliography

Bartholomew, B. 1981. "Plant Collecting in China;" University of California Berkeley Botanical Garden Quarterly.

Gittlem, William. 1998. Discovered Alive, The Story of the Chinese Redwood. Pierside Publications, Berkeley California

Hendricks, Donald R. 1990-present. personal correspondence w/ John E. Kuser.

Hendricks, Donald R. 1993. "Dawn-redwood research;" The Dawes Arboretum Newsletter; 28(10); October.

Hendricks, Donald R. 1995. "Metasequoia Depression, Sex, and Other Useful Information;" Landscape Plant News, v6, #2; University of
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

Hendricks, Donald R. & Søndergaard, Poul. 1998. "Metasequoia glyptostroboides 50 years out of China. Observations from the United States
and Denmark;" Bind XVI; Dansk Dendrologisk Årsskrift.

Hsueh, Chi-ju 1985. "Reminiscences of Collecting the Type Specimens of Metasequoia glyptostroboides;" Arnoldia; 45(4).

Kuser, John E. 1990. "China's Living Fossil;" The World & I; Jan/Feb.

Kuser, John E. 1983. "Inbreeding Depression in Metasequoia;" Journal of the ArnoldArboretum; 64; July.

Kuser, John E. 1982. "Metasequoia Keeps on Growing;" Arnoldia 42(3).

Kuser, John E. 1990-present. personal correspondence w/ Li Minghe.

Kuser, J.E., Sheely, D.L., & Hendricks, D.R. 1997. "Genetic Variation in Two ex situ Collections of the Rare Metasequoia glyptostroboides
(Cupressaceae) Silvae Genetica; 46(1997).

Li, Minghe 1990-present. personal correspondence w/John E. Kuser.

Limstrom, G.A. 1950. personal correspondence w/H.W. Jones, The Dawes Arboretum; June.

Mahoney, D.H. 1950, personal correspondence w/G.A. Linstrom, U.S. Dept of Forestry; June.

Merrill, E.D. 1948. "Metasequoia, Another 'Living Fossil;'" Arnoldia; 8(1).

Sand, Susan 1992. "The Dawn Redwood"; American Horticulturist; October.

http://www.batnet.com/askmar/Redwoods/Redwood_Botany.html

Redwood Botany

by Dr. Herbert G. Baker, 1965

It's always the fate of a lecturer in a series like this to look at the audience and see a real expert on
the subject in the audience, and I see Bill Libby sitting there. And when I will have to leave to catch
my plane I'll hand the fielding of the questions over to him and you'll see he'll do a much better job
than I shall. Well, this talk, indeed, this series of talks is going to deal with the redwoods of
California. And the first talk is intended to put these redwoods in their context, the historical context,
as well as the botanical context.

Nowadays we recognize the existence of three separate genera of redwood. We think of them as
three separate genera because we have reason to believe that they represent the end points of three
long lines of separate evolution. Most of the species in those lines are now extinct. The three which
remain are the ones we know as Metasequoia, Sequoia and Sequoiaderdron. Each of these genera
nowadays consists only of one single species. In the genus Metasequoia, it is Metasequoia
(glyptostroboides). In the genus Sequoia, Sequoia sempervirens. And in the genus Sequoiadendron,
Sequoiadendron gigantea. And these three species are respectively the dawn redwood,
Metasequoia (glyptostroboides), the coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, and the Sierra
redwood, or big tree, Sequoiadendron gigantea.

Metasequoia, of course, is the most recently recognized of this group. And does have, indeed, a
very strange history, having first been recognized as a fossil by a Japanese botanist in 1941. And,
subsequently being found, also while World War II was in progress, as a wild tree in a single valley
in central China. Metasequoia (glyptostroboides), the dawn redwood, which is the only one of the
redwoods now not found living as a wild plant in California. Well, it's easy to distinguish the dawn
redwood, Metasequoia, from the other two because the dawn redwood is deciduous. You've
probably noticed all these short twigs bearing leaves have been dropping off whilst I've been holding
this up. Metasequoia (glyptostroboides) is a deciduous tree. The other two are evergreen.
Furthermore, Metasequoia has its leaves arranged along the twigs in opposite pairs, whereas in
Sequoia, along the twig. Metasequoia is a native of China, the other two are natives of California.
Metasequoia is also a considerably smaller tree than the others, seldom apparently reaching above
about 100 feet in height. Whereas, both of the other trees are capable of topping 300 feet.

Well it's pretty clear why Metasequoia is in another genus than the others. But it's not clear to the
outsider why these two trees Sequoiatendron and Sequoia should be separated generically. And,
indeed for most of the 100 years that they have been known to science, they were not separated
generically. They were kept together in the genus Sequoia.

But as more and more careful studies have been made of these trees and particularly as botanists
have used their microscope to peer into the developing seed, they have seen significant differences
between these two kinds of trees so significant that there should be two different genera recognized.

For us, however, the most important thing is not whether they are placed in two separate genera, but
whether we can tell them apart. And on most occasions when we meet a redwood tree in the wild,
there is not much difficulty in telling them apart. When we see them in a state of nature, we do not
have too much difficulty because the coast redwood we find only in areas in a narrow strip running
parallel with the Pacific Coast generally within the range of the summer fogs. The Sierra redwoods
on the other hand is confined to the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and as a consequence, one
wouldn't have much difficulty because of ones geographical position in telling which kind of redwood
tree one was looking at.

Nevertheless the rangers of the State Division of Beaches and Parks every now and again have
reports made to them by hikers or hunters or others who prowl around the wild places of California,
that there are Sierra redwoods growing amongst the coast redwood trees. Part of the trouble in this
case seem to come from the appearance of one of the trees. The Sierra redwood has adpressed
leaves, little scale leaves which are adpressed along the branches. The coast redwood has leaves
which stand out from the branches in two rows, so-called distichous arrangement. This is clear
enough in the way of a difference. But at the bases of each one of these branches and in the
branches which are borne high up on the trees or on young trees, there is often is a tendency for the
coast redwood leaves to be arranged along the stem in a manner very much reminiscent of the
arrangement in the Sierra redwood. And it's probably this which occasionally gives rise to stories of
Sierra redwoods growing in coastal regions.

But there is a very definite separation of the distribution ranges of these two species. The coast
redwood running along near the coast form southern Oregon down to the Golden Gate, appearing
again in the San Francisco Peninsula and the Santa Cruz Mountains and appearing once again south
of Monterey Bay for a distance down into the Santa Lucia Mountains. The coast redwood also
occurs in eastern Sonoma County and western Napa County and is native in the Oakland Hills. In
the Santa Lucia Mountain area the distribution of coast redwood is a series of valleys at right angles
to the coast line. This gives you the general idea of the distribution of the two trees.

The Sierra redwood has adpressed scale-like leaves. Whereas in the coast redwood there are scale
leaves adpressed at the base of the branches but then there is an alternate arrangement of leaves
which stand out from the twigs.

There are other differences between the species. The cones of the Sierra redwood are considerably
larger, being two to three inches long compared with a single inch or even slightly less in the case of
the coast redwood. The cone scales of the Sierra redwood are more numerous - about 35 to 40 in
each cone compared with 25 or so in the coast redwood, and each cone scale in the cones of the
Sierra redwood bears as many as nine seeds upon it, whereas the less numerous cone scales. In the
coast redwood bear smaller numbers of seeds each, only two to five. Add to this the fact that the
sierra redwood seems to be more regular in producing seeds -- it has a better crop every year than
does the coast redwood. Altogether, there appears to be a considerably greater seed output per
tree of the Sierra redwood than of the coast redwood.

But the coast redwood has its compensation for this. The coast redwood trees are able to sprout
from a cut stump or from the roots of the tree and achieve a measure of vegetative reproduction in
this way which is not shown by the Sierra redwood which relies for reproduction to a much greater
extent upon the establishment of seedlings. An interesting difference between the trees of the coast
redwood and the Sierra redwood species is that the seeds ripen and shed in the same year that
pollination takes place in the coast redwood, whereas, in the Sierra redwood the ripening does not
take place until the season ; after pollination. And in the Sierra redwood cones may hang on the
trees for many years with seeds still inside them.

I've mentioned that all three of the redwoods -- Metasequoia, Sequoia and Sequoiadendron -- have
long fossil histories in which they showed, once, much more extensive distributions than is the case at
the present day. The genus Metasequoia, the dawn redwoods nowadays in restricted to a single
valley in central China. It has a history which goes back to the Upper Cretaceous Period, a matter
of 110 million years ago. And its history from that time until the present has been one of continual
contraction in its natural range. From a maximum distribution in the Northern Hemisphere during the
beginning of the Tertiary Period, about 65 million years ago, it has shrunk down to this single valley
in central China. You can see that the dawn redwood was once quite commonly found in western
North America as well as in eastern Asia. And there are records of the dawn redwood from
Greenland and from Spitsbergen. This is indicative of the fact that the climate in Greenland and
Spitsbergen war distinctly more clement at a time in the past actually at the beginning of the Tertiary
Period when the Metasequoias lived up there. It seems that the dawn redwood was never native in
Europe.

For the coast redwood, the Sequoia, the picture is almost as traumatic. It too shows a history that
reaches back to the Cretaceous Period. And the genus Sequoia was widespread through the
Northern Hemisphere during the early part of the Tertiary Period, 60 million years ago. But with the
cooling and the drying of the climates of the . Northern Hemisphere which took place during the
Tertiary Period, the genus Sequoia became progressively restricted to western North America,
western Europe, the Himalayas, and Japan. And then it seems to have been eliminated entirely,
everywhere except western North America, by the onset of the Pleistocene Period, one to two
million years ago, with the glacial advances. In western North America we know that at the
beginning of the Tertiary Period the coast redwood was found in the region of Alaska and British
Columbia.

This was the beginning of the Tertiary Period where a subtropical or even tropical climate was to be
found in California, the present home of the Coast redwood. At that time it existed considerably
farther north and also existed considerably farther inland. But during the cooling and the drying of the
climate during the Tertiary Period, it gradually became eliminated from its inland stations. It gradually
moved farther south from its Alaskan and British Columbian stations down into California.

And its journey southward seems to have reached the maximum during the Pleistocene glacial
advances. At that time the coast redwood seems to have reached some 200 miles farther south than
its present distribution and has been recorded from Carpenteria in Santa Barbara County as a fossil.

With the partial recovery of warmth after the Pleistocene glacial episodes, the coast redwood seems
to have retreated northward a little to its present day distributions where it is located just about on
the overlap between subtropical and warm temperate on the Pacific coast of North America. Its
present range is from the Santa Lucia Mountains in Monterey County along parallel with the coast to
Curry County; the southernmost county of Oregon.

In addition to the latitudinal shifts in the genus Sequoia, it also was eliminated from its inland localities
and persisted as a relic only in the coastal regions. This seems to have been due to increasing
dryness especially in the summer months from the middle of the Tertiary Period onwards. So it
became extinct in such states as Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada. It finally was restricted to the
foggy coastal hills of central California. And during this contraction in region several species of
Sequoia appear to have become extinct leaving us with just the single surviving species, Sequoia
Sempervirens, the coast redwood.

At present it seems that the coast redwood is prevented from expanding its range by a different kind
of limiting factor according to whether you go to the northern limits, the southern limits, the western
or the eastern limits. According to Forrest Shreve, a famous botanist - the southern limit of the coast
redwoods in the Santa Lucia Mountains is determined by the severity of the period which is to be
experienced between the cessation of the winter rains and the onset of the summer fogs. There is a
dry period at the beginning of the summer and this gets longer and longer the farther south you go, In
the Santa Lucia Mountains there comes a time when this becomes too severe for the coast
redwood, a tree which likes good moisture supply. If you have this long dry period between the end
of the winter rains and the beginning of the summer fogs, it is unable finally to grow. It is noticeable
as one goes down Highway 1 south of Big Sur that the redwood trees become restricted to the
bottoms of these valleys or at least to the valleys themselves which run at right angles from the coast
inland. In these valleys the trees get extra drainage water. They get shelter from the winds which
blow over the area and a higher humidity as a result. But even that does not suffice to save the
redwoods beyond a certain point and so we have the southern limit to its distribution.

As far as the eastern limits of the narrow coastal strip of coast redwood distribution are concerned it
seems very likely that it is the low rainfall and particularly the hot winds which sometimes blow off
the lands, especially in the fall which determine the inner limits of this distribution. The Western limits
are pretty obviously imposed by the Pacific Ocean. But even so, the redwoods do not usually reach
right down to the Pacific Ocean. Usually they are separated from the ocean by a little stretch. And it
is to be suggested that the rainfall on the immediate coast is probably insufficient for them. It is only
when the rain bearing winds are forced up over the mountains that sufficient rain falls. In addition, the
fog cap tends to be on the mountains rather than on the immediate coast. And, in addition, in all
probability the redwood is susceptible to damage from salt spray.

And then the northern limits of the coast redwoods may very well be set by severe winter
conditions. In Humboldt County the trees on the outsides of the forests, the edges of the forest, may
be damaged by the winter frosts. But the forest as a whole is protected by the very nature of being a
forest. But further north over the Oregon County line, it has been suggested, that frost damage
becomes more severe and particularly frost damage to young trees imposes a limit on the northern
distribution of the coast redwood. Certainly, one would imagine, it reduces the competitive power of
the coast redwood so that it is unable to compete with such trees as the Douglas fir which takes its
place farther north and incidentally which also takes its place at greater elevations farther south.

So we have the probable limits on the distribution of the coastal redwood. It has been suggested that
a rainfall of some 40 inches per year is minimal for this tree. But in many of the areas where the
coast, redwood grows, the rainfall is considerably less than this. So deficient rainfall can be
compensated for in two ways. Firstly, by increasing the amount of water supply to the roots. And a
tree which grows along the margins of a river may be able to grow in an area where the rainfall itself
is inadequate for the support of the tree. On the other hand, you can compensate for deficient rainfall
by summer fog. But up on the outer coast range, not only is there a greater rainfall, but there is also
the summer fog. And through the fog drift, the condensation of fog on the leave, and then dripping
onto the ground or running down the trunk, to the ground, we do have a supplementation of the
natural rainfall. In addition to this, which Oberdoffer, a worker from San Francisco State College
working on the San Francisco Peninsula has concluded may add as much as the equivalent of 50
inches of rain around the base of a tree,

The fog also cuts down evaporation and transpiration and cuts down the heating effect of the sun
during the summer months. So this fog is not only a potent source of water for the trees, but also
comes just at the time of the year when it is most needed, in the dry summer months.

Now the Stanford campus area is inadequately supplied with rain for the growth of redwoods. But,
of course, there is the Palo Alto tree growing by San Francisquito Creek in the Stanford area well
away from the outer coast range. But it is by the side of the creek. And in the days when San
Francisquito Creek carried more water than it does now, that might have been a significant aid to
those trees in their growth.

This then is the fortunate concatenation of climatic circumstances which has given us the redwood
forests and the associated redwood flora, the sword ferns under these trees, and the oxalis and
other ferns which abundantly carpet the soil under these great trees in Humboldt County.

Actually, however, despite this long history, it wasn't until the Spanish explorers came to California
that a European or person of European descent had ever seen a redwood tree. It had to wait until
the 18th century for its discovery even though its history is so tremendously long. But Englishmen,
Sir Francis Drake, did have the opportunity of being the discoverer of the coast redwood in 1579.
Had he not been so obviously a sailor, rather than an explorer of the land, he might have taken the
opportunity whilst the Golden Hind was being careened in the vicinity of Point Reyes of penetrating
just 10 or 20 miles inland, where he would have seen the coast redwoods in the area which we now
think of as Samuel P. Taylor State Park. But Sir Francis Drake was deterred by the fog and the
cold from making such a journey and it seems certain that it was through Spanish eyes that the Palo
Colorado or redwood was first seen by Europeans. Father Juan Crespe, the Franciscan missionary
who was the diarist of the Portola expedition, the first expedition by land up the Pacific Coast, in
1769, recorded the existence of coast redwood trees when he was in the vicinity of the Pahara
River in Monterey County. And he used the following words, in translation, of course: "The area is
well forested with very high trees of a red color, not known to us. They have a very different leaf
from cedars and, although the wood resembles cedar somewhat in color, it is very different and has
not the same odor. However, the wood of the trees that we have found is very brittle. In this region
there in a great abundance of these trees and because none of the expedition recognizes them they
are named redwood for their color." Palo Colorado, of course, in the original Spanish. You
remember it was the Portola expedition which also discovered the Palo Alto tree when they reached
San Francisco Bay.

But the first collection of the coast redwood seems to have been made by Thadeys Haenke, botanist
of the Malaspena expedition in 1791. And it appears there is at least one tree derived from the seed
which he went home still growing in Spain. The Malaspena expedition was a Spanish financed
expedition but Malaspena, its captain was an Italian, and Haenke, its botanist was a German. The
redwood trees from which they collected seed, in all probability, grew near Santa Cruz. And indeed
most of the early collection of seed which were sent back to Europe and have given rise to
cultivated trees there, were collected in the Santa Cruz area. Nevertheless, it was a Scot, Archibald
Menzies, who played the role of botanical discoverer, because it was his specimen sent back to
Britain which formed the basis of the botanical description of the coast redwood tree. In 1794,
Menzies collected a herbarium specimen and for a long time it was unknown just where the
collection was made. The specimen, however, still exists in the British Museum in London and the
story is that one day Professor Willis Jepson of the University of California here was looking at that
herbarium specimen in the British Museum and he happened to turn the herbarium sheet over and on
the back side of the sheet, it said Santa Cruz, Menzie. It seems that through all the years they'd had
the sheet, nobody had thought of turning it over. Well, this specimen was carried to Britain in 1795,
but a description of it with a botanical name was not given until 1823 when the name was published
by a botanist named Lambert. And because the material looked to Lambert like the already known
genus taxodium, he called the redwood taxodium sempervirens. It's sometimes thought that the name
sempervirens refers to the long life of the tree, which indeed may be upward of 2,000 years. But this
is not the case. Lambert, after all, was describing a specimen from a hyberium sheet and he knew
nothing of the longevity of the tree. And he was merely concerned to record that the tree was
evergreen. Sempervirens meant evergreen in distinction to those taxodium speciea like the bald
cypress, taxodium discusum, which are deciduous. The generic name became changed subsequently
because a German botanist, Steven Endlicher, recognized that indeed it was not a species of
taxodium. And in 1847, he called the coast redwood Sequoia sempervirens, the name which it still
hold today.

Well, generally speaking, early visitors to California knew relatively little about the coast redwood.
And some of them seem only to have seen the trees from a distance. And I think that at least a part
of the reason for this is the nature of the terrain upon which the coast redwood trees grow. They do
not grow on the south side of the Golden Gate where the Presidio and the Mission Dolores stand.
And as a consequence, persons who landed there in early times did not come into contact with the
redwood trees. Neither do they occur in the vicinity of Monterey, the other, even more frequent,
point of call for these visitors that came from the sea. And when these visitors journeyed from Yerba
Buena, the old San Francisco, to San Jose or to Monterey or to Salinas, it was much easier to make
the journey by the Santa Clara valley route which lay through the oak savannah and the grassland
rather than to go through the mountainous areas where the redwoods grow beneath their fog cap.
Thus, when Captain Beechey of His Majesty's Ship 'Blossom' visited California in 1826, he rode
overland from San Francisco to Monterey. And he was not at all overawed by the redwoods. He
merely noted them in the distance and gave them half a sentence of mention. By contrast he
described poison oak with great forcefulness. And it is quite clear that this made much more
impression on him, as did the fleas which existed in everyone of the settlements. The little things
impressed him much more than the big ones.

On the other hand, the Sierra redwoods, the only big trees according to some people, have never
failed to impress visitors who see them for the first time. And in part, I think, the greater
impressiveness of the Sierra redwoods may be traced to the fact that in their case it is the enormous
girth of the trunks readily appreciated against the scale of a human being which marked them out as
utterly different from the other coniferous trees which grow with them. The girth in the important
thing to notice.

The fossil history of Sequoiadendron, the Sierra redwood genus, has not been worked out with the
same completeness as has the fossil history of the genus Sequoia. But we know it in sufficient detail
to understand the general picture. Once again it appears to have been a progressive contraction in
range for the genus which had its origin in the Cretaceous Period, but gradually diminished in area;
during the climatic changes of the Tertiary Period. And before the end of the Tertiary Period, about
two million years ago, Sequoiadendron, which had occurred in Europe as well as in Greenland and
in North America, had become extinguished everywhere except in North America.

At the present time, Sequoiadendron gigantea is found in a series of groves in a narrow belt running
some 260 miles in length on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The elevation of these groves
ranges from about 4,500 feet at the northern limit to about 7,500 feet at the southern limit. The
northernmost grove consisting of about six trees grows on the middle fork of the American River in
to Placer County. And the most southerly grove, a larger one containing about 100 trees, grows
along Deer Creek in Tulare County.

The climate in these areas is both drier and cooler than that in which the coast redwood grows. The
rainfall is 18 to 60 inches a year, which incidentally mostly comes in the form of snow. And in these
groves Sequoiadendron grows mixed with other trees. Growing along the side is a much more
slender Douglas fir.

Dr. Dan Axelrod of the University of California at Los Angeles, famous paleobotanist, has shown
from the study of fossils that during the Tertiary Period there were forests of the Sierra redwood in
the State of Nevada. But as the rainfall decreased at the end of the Tertiary Period, the Sierra
redwood migrated westward to the western lopes of the Sierra Nevada. Not only was it becoming
too dry for the Sierra redwood in Nevada, but the winters were also becoming too cold for this tree.
For all that it grows in the mountains of California, it is known to be damaged seriously by prolonged
spells of temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit. The accelerated uplift of the Sierra Nevada
which took place during the end of the Tertiary and the Pleistocene Periods created still more of a
rain shadow on the Nevada side and produced conditions which were completely unsuitable for the
growth of Sequoiadendron. Consequently, when the Pleistocene Epoch came with its four major ice
ages, just over a million years ago, the Sierra redwood was already restricted to the western side of
the mountain.

So why does it grow on groves on the western side of the mountain, rather than in continuous
forests? It seems to have been the great naturalist John Muir who put forward the explanation for
this a way back in 1875. Muir noticed that the groves are usually on unglaciated slopes separated by
valleys which were heavily glaciated during the periods of ice expansion, of glacier formation, in the
Sierra Nevada, during the Pleistocene Epoch. And he postulated that the Sierra redwood trees were
wiped out in these valleys by the ice age that time and have never been able to get back in again.
And we generally accept this view nowadays. We believe that the Sequoiadendron has not spread
back into the valleys in post-glacial times because the valleys are still too cold in the winter for the
trees. Thus we have the Sierra redwood growing magnificently, to over 300 feet in height, and to an
enormous age, certainly to an excess of 3,000 years in its groves but not apparently being able to
spread out from its groves except where man has planted the trees in other parts of the world,
particularly as a decorative tree in the eastern United States and in Europe. But it's interesting that
this tree is not completely lacking in genetical variation. A large number of horticultural forms have
been selected from it in cultivation including what I think is the ultimate, I almost said ultimate insult
to the big tree, a dwarf form of the big tree suitable for growing in rockeries.

With regard to the discovery of the Sierra redwood in the 19th century we needn't bother to argue
too much by whom these trees were first seen. Was it Joseph Walker in 1833 or John Bidwell or
any one of several other hunters who was the first non-Indian person to see them. The important fact
is that the scientific discovery of the Sierra redwood or big tree dates from 1852 when once again
seeds were collected and sent back to England by a collector named William Lobb. William Lobb
had been sent out to California by the nursery firm of James Vetch to collect seeds of California
plants suitable to grow as decorative plants in the British Isles. Lobb's seed and his specimens
formed the basis of the first botanical description of the tree by the great botanist John Lindley.
Lindley named the tree Wellingtonea gigantea, in honor of the Duke of Wellington, the Iron Duke,
the hero who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. The reason was that Wellington had died the year
before and a suitable memorial was needed. And being the giant amongst trees, it was inevitable that
it should be claimed for a domestic hero. Interestingly enough, that has been its fate subsequently
too. After Endlicher established the genus Sequoia in 1847 he added the Sierra redwood to the
coast redwood in the genus Sequoia and this made the Sierra redwood become called Sequoia
gigantea. But the hero worshippers were not to be outdone and some years later Sudworth, who felt
that American tree. ought to be named after an American hero, proposed that the name be changed
to Sequoia Washingtoniana. And even this was not enough for one patriotic New Yorker who
wanted to be quite politically and patriotically straightforward about the thing and call it Americus
gigantea. But, alas, all these names are invalid for one reason or another and we have it now
Sequoiadendron gigantea.

But I don't think there's any reason to be sad about this. After, all Sequoia and Sequoiadendron are
both names which commemorate a very great man, a Cherokee Indian named Sequoia who lived at
the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century admittedly not in California but in
the territory which is now Oklahoma. In 1821, this self-educated man completed an alphabet of 86
characters by which the Cherokee language could be written and printed As a result they were able
to have a written law. They were able to have written newspapers and so on. He was far ahead of
his time in helping his people, and I personally think that it's just as good that his name should be
commemorated in these trees as that of any military hero.

I think these are noble trees and are very well worthy of discussion in this series of lectures. But
whilst we are thinking about the nobility of the tree, we might make a resolution never to allow this
sort of thing to be done again to them. Nor indeed to allow the sort of situation on the next slide
come about if we can possibly avoid it. If we possibly can, let's have the situation which in pictured
on, the last of these slides. Thank you very much.

Questions and Answers

QUESTION: I would like to ask, Professor Baker, if it's possible to pinpoint the southernmost
station on the coast of Monterey where the redwood is growing natively.

ANSWER: Unfortunately, I could go there, but I couldn't describe it very accurately. Dr. Libby, can
you pinpoint this?

Dr. Libby: I think it's Salmon Creek, isn't it?

ANSWER: Yes, I think that is the name. Go down Highway 1 anyway and you'll see it gradually
getting harder to spot in the valleys until ultimately it disappears.

QUESTION: To ask a collateral question to that and that is whether the former growth that you can
see is rather different down there. is that a climatic adaptation?

ANSWER: Well, again this really is Dr. Libby's question because the is studying variation in the
redwood tree. But I think, in all probability, it's true to say that the redwood is potentially a very
variable tree. If you see any collection of trees and you look at them carefully, you can see
considerable differences from tree to tree. And superimposed upon this can of course be the very
profound effects of wind trimming and so on. So I imagine the lower stature of some of these trees is
due to direct environmental effects. However, it's quite striking that in the coast redwood, the
biggest trees are not found in the center of the distribution range gradually tailing away as you go
north and south, but some of the biggest trees are near the northern limits in Del Norte County and
Humboldt County and then down in the southern area, in the Santa Cruz area. Bill. would you like to
add something to that?

Dr. Libby: Nothing beyond the fact that we'll have the answer in 80 or 90 years.

QUESTION: Some of the redwoods that you find on the campus have a very red bark, whereas if
you go up in Humboldt County, they'll be very gray in bark. Why?

ANSWER: Well, I think to some extent this may be due to lichen growth on the bark. But there is
again variation in the amount of the red pigmentation. I think climatic conditions, greater moisture
availability permitting lichen growth is one explanation at any rate.

QUESTION: You've described the growth patterns of the redwoods. Now, are they still
contracting and dwindling or are they replenishing themselves?

ANSWER: Well, there are ecological questions which I think Dr. Stone in going to answer in the
next lecture. But my impression is that the range is not decreasing noticeably at the present time.
Seedlings of redwoods only become established in rather special conditions, but they are being
established in sufficient numbers in, I think, up to the limits of the present distribution.

QUESTION: Concerning the rates of possible growth of some of these trees, you mentioned that
the California redwoods are sometimes used as ornamentals in other parts of the world and in the
eastern United states. I was wondering first of all, how well they do there.

ANSWER: Well, I can speak primarily for the British Isles. And in Britain the Sierra redwood does
extremely well. It is especially planted as a park tree. That is to say on the big estates. Amongst the
grassland there will be scattered trees of the Sierra redwoods. They have kept their conical shape
very well in the 100 years or so that they've been growing in the British Isles and they're quite a
familiar item on the landscape. Now they do very well. They seem to be climatically quite well
suited. But I've never heard of any seedlings actually making their appearance there. On the other
hand, the coast redwood has not been very successful when introduced into the British Isles. It
seems unable to make a go of it as isolated trees. They're too subject to damage by the winds and
storms. They really need to be grown in groves. There's been some success with them in groves and
also occasionally as lines of trees. There's an especially famous line of coast redwood trees at Ascot
near London. But because they don't grow well as tall trees, but they do sprout so easily from the
base, there are a number of redwood hedges in Britain. It has begun to be used as a hedge plant.
Again I think this is rather an insult to such a noble tree. But it lends itself to hedging rather well.
There are, of course, specimen trees growing in the botanical gardens. And the most interesting
situation at the famous Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew is that they have wasp-waisted redwood
trees. If you see any one of the redwood trees there, you will see the base of the tree, if this is the
lower part of the trunk, is something like this. And the explanation for this in that on everyone of
these trees there is a little descriptive plaque which says: "The bark of the redwood tree is extremely
soft and may be pushed in with the thumb. The result is that five feet above the ground all the way
around they've been pushed right in.

QUESTION: is the Metasequoia a drought-resistant tree or does it need a water?

ANSWER: Oh, yes, I forgot to say something about Metasequoia then. So, I don't think it's
especially drought-resistant. And indeed the ones we grow up at the garden, we have near a fork of
Strawberry Creek, that they get a good deal of moisture. No, I think their general requirement for
growth in a garden or in on estate are rather similar to those of the coast redwood. However,
Metasequoia is being tried out on an increasing scale as a decorative tree. The seeds have been
obtained from China. There were two lots of collection of the seeds from China, one by Elmer
Merrill of Harvard University, who made a collection of seeds there and distributed them to gardens
all around the world, and the other by Professor Balph Chaney of this University, who went on an
expedition to China, soon after the rediscovery of the Metasequoia, an expedition which was
financed by the San Francisco Chronicle. And he brought back some actual trees, I think two living
trees, small trees. And we have them at the botanical garden now. They're growing. We also have
some trees from Merrill's seed. And we can't see any difference between the way they're going. But
the interesting thing is that they have now grown up to the stage were they are producing
seed-bearing cones. Alas, these cones probably have no good seed in them, because there ar

Dawn Redwood

Really the most exciting of the redwoods is the Dawn Redwood, a native of Manchuria China. Thought to be
extinct, but rediscovered in the 1940's.

Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), is a true Redwood, but different. This tree is a member of the
redwood family, a Taxodiaceae (Taxodium) specifically. This is a living fossil, thought to be extinct, but
rediscovered again in a valley in northern China. Like our redwoods, they are an isolated "relic" species from a
long ago time when there were vast forests of them. A few trees were found near the village of Mo-tao-chi in the
eastern Szechuan Province, and the main native groves were found in the Shui-hsa-pa Valley, in the northwest
corner of Hupeh Province.

Seeds were introduced into the U.S. in 1948, and has been increasingly popular as an ornamental plant. It can be
a timber tree, if grown for pulp. The paper-making properties are similar to the southern pines (where we get a
large volume of our paper), but the fibers are stronger. The wood itself is weak and brittle, and burns very quickly
producing little heat.

But as a different tree for the yard, the Dawn can be planted as a specimen or in lines. The needles are similar to
the coast redwood, short linear pointed lighter green "sprays" arranged on the twigs. What is very different for a
conifer is that the Dawn Redwood is deciduous. In the fall, the light green sprays turn yellow, then bronze, and
fall off. Only the Larches do that!

The bark is that good red shreddy fiberous type as the redwood, but the height and size are smaller. Actually, no
one really knows how big they get, because there had been so few of them, and only planted for 50 years. We've
seen specimens that are over 70 feet tall and three feet in diameter, so it quite likely they can surpass the 100 foot
mark in our lifetime.

Dawns are quite hardy, planted in Massachusetts with temperatures down to -30 degrees, and into California
where the thermometer tops 100 degrees. They are rated as a Zone 4. They prefer full sun, but will tolerate at least
half shade, and the grow rate is fairly quick, one to three feet a year if given plenty of water.

This is the part of species preservation we like to see. Here a very rare plant was brought into cultivation and now
is spread nationwide for the enjoyment of everyone. This species is safe and sound, and is a very attractive tree.

The Dawn makes a great specimen, or in clumps, and also as a border or fence line tree. The Dawn Redwood is a
redwood, but the foliage is more lacey looking than the other two redwoods, and in the fall, the Dawn Redwood
will turn yellow like a maple, aspen, or birch tree, but the Dawn is a deciduous conifer tree!

The Dawn Redwood is a really pretty tree which will tolerate more cold temperatures than the other two redwood
trees, from zones 3 to 8, so the beauty of the Redwoods can be enjoyed nearly nationwide!

Dawn Redwood - Very hardy, up to 100+ feet, Zone 3, prefers full sun, fast growing, red fiberous
bark, loses needles like a hardwood, specimen tree.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides - Dawn Redwood

Family - Taxodiaceae

Size - Deciduous conifer, 80 to 100 feet in height with a 25 to 30 foot base spread. Pyramidal in habit. Fast rate of growth, about 3 feet per year
can be expected on established trees.

Foliage - Similiar in appearance to Bald Cypress. Bald Cypress foliage is spirally arranged on the stem whereas Dawn Redwood are opposite in
arrangement and slightly shorter in length. Fall color is a reddish-brown.

Flower/Fruit/Seed - Cone

Bark - Reddish-brown, especially when young. Darker, grayish and fissured when older and exfoliating in long papery narrow strips. Becomes
heavily buttressed as the tree matures.

Pests and Diseases - Have noticed some dieback on limbs of trees, possibly due to a canker. There will be sections in which entire limbs or the
top will die. The tree recovers only to repeat it again the following year. Other trees are never bothered.

Landscape Use - This tree will get big, period. It is only recommended for large open areas. There is one Dawn Redwood in town which is more
than 80 feet tall and it literally swallows the small back yard of a one story home. Could make a great obstacle blocking the 18th green. Potential
street tree use where it's growth may be tempered. Is supposedly used for such in Maplewood, New Jersey. Performs best in well drained, slightly
acid soils.

Performance - 8 Has been around for 50 million years so it has some durability and knows how to survive. Was originally thought to be extinct
and was found growing in Eastern Szechuan and Western Hupeh, China in 1941. The Arnold Arboretum sponsored a expedition to the area in
1944, collected seed, and these were shared with other arboreta and botanical gardens throughout the world.