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''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607
is the sole living
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of the
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
'' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in
Taxodiaceae Taxodiaceae is a formerly recognized coniferous plant family comprising the following ten genera: *''Athrotaxis'' *''Cryptomeria'' *''Cunninghamia'' *†'' Cunninghamites'' *''Glyptostrobus'' *''Metasequoia'' *'' Sciadopitys'' *'' Sequoia'' *''S ...
). Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood, and California redwood. It is an
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...
, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–2,200 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to in height (without the
root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
s) and up to in
diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast ...
. These trees are also among the oldest living things on Earth. Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated along much of coastal California (excluding southern California where rainfall is not sufficient) and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States. The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily
Sequoioideae Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...
, which includes ''S. sempervirens'' along with ''
Sequoiadendron ''Sequoiadendron'' is a genus of evergreen trees, with two species, only one of which survives to the present: * ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'', extant, commonly known as wellingtonia, giant redwood and giant sequoia, growing naturally in the Sierr ...
'' (giant sequoia) and ''
Metasequoia ''Metasequoia'', or dawn redwoods, is a genus of fast-growing deciduous trees, one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. The living species '' Metasequoia glyptostroboides'' is native to Lichuan county in Hubei province, China. Althou ...
'' (dawn redwood). Here, the term redwood on its own refers to the species covered in this article but not to the other two species.


Description

The coast redwood is known to have reached 115.5 m or 380.1 ft tall, with a trunk diameter of . It has a conical
crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
, with horizontal to slightly drooping branches. The trunk is remarkably straight. The bark can be very thick, up to , and quite soft and fibrous, with a bright red-brown color when freshly exposed (hence the name redwood), weathering darker. The
root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
system is composed of shallow, wide-spreading lateral roots. The leaves are variable, being long and flat on young trees and shaded lower branches in older trees. The leaves are scalelike, long on shoots in full sun in the upper crown of older trees, with a full range of transition between the two extremes. They are dark green above and have two blue-white stomatal bands below. Leaf arrangement is spiral, but the larger shade leaves are twisted at the base to lie in a flat plane for maximum light capture. The species is monoecious, with pollen and seed cones on the same plant. The
seed cones A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers an ...
are ovoid, long, with 15–25 spirally arranged scales;
pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...
is in late winter with maturation about 8–9 months after. Each cone scale bears three to seven
seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
s, each seed long and broad, with two wings wide. The seeds are released when the cone scales dry out and open at maturity. The pollen cones are ovular and long. Its genetic makeup is unusual among conifers, being a
hexaploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei ( eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contain ...
(6n) and possibly allopolyploid (AAAABB). Both the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the redwood are paternally inherited.


Taxonomy

Scottish botanist
David Don David Don (21 December 1799 – 15 December 1841) was a Scottish botanist. Biography David Don was born on 21 December 1799 at Doo Hillock, Forfar, Angus, Scotland to Caroline Clementina Stuart, and her husband George Don of Forfar. His olde ...
described the redwood as the evergreen taxodium (''Taxodium sempervirens'') in his colleague Aylmer Bourke Lambert's 1824 work ''A description of the genus Pinus''. Austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher erected the genus '' Sequoia'' in his 1847 work ''Synopsis coniferarum'', giving the redwood its current binomial name of ''Sequoia sempervirens''. Endlicher probably derived the name Sequoia from the
Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
name of George Gist, usually spelled Sequoyah, who developed the still-used
Cherokee syllabary The Cherokee syllabary is a syllabary invented by Sequoyah in the late 1810s and early 1820s to write the Cherokee language. His creation of the syllabary is particularly noteworthy as he was illiterate until the creation of his syllabary. He ...
. The redwood is one of three living species, each in its own genus, in the subfamily
Sequoioideae Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...
. Molecular studies have shown that the three are each other's closest relatives, generally with the redwood and giant sequoia (''
Sequoiadendron giganteum ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus '' Sequoiad ...
'') as each other's closest relatives. However, Yang and colleagues in 2010 queried the polyploid state of the redwood and speculate that it may have arisen as an ancient
hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
between ancestors of the giant sequoia and dawn redwood (''
Metasequoia ''Metasequoia'', or dawn redwoods, is a genus of fast-growing deciduous trees, one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. The living species '' Metasequoia glyptostroboides'' is native to Lichuan county in Hubei province, China. Althou ...
''). Using two different single copy nuclear genes, LFY and NLY, to generate phylogenetic trees, they found that ''Sequoia'' was clustered with ''Metasequoia'' in the tree generated using the LFY gene, but with ''Sequoiadendron ''in the tree generated with the NLY gene. Further analysis strongly supported the hypothesis that ''Sequoia'' was the result of a hybridization event involving ''Metasequoia'' and ''Sequoiadendron''. Thus, Yang and colleagues hypothesize that the inconsistent relationships among ''Metasequoia'', ''Sequoia,'' and ''Sequoiadendron'' could be a sign of
reticulate evolution Reticulate evolution, or network evolution is the origination of a lineage through the partial merging of two ancestor lineages, leading to relationships better described by a phylogenetic network than a bifurcating tree. Reticulate patterns ca ...
(in which two species hybridize and give rise to a third) among the three genera. However, the long evolutionary history of the three genera (the earliest fossil remains being from the
Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
) make resolving the specifics of when and how ''Sequoia'' originated once and for all a difficult matter—especially since it in part depends on an incomplete
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
record.


Distribution and habitat

Coast redwoods occupy a narrow strip of land approximately in length and in width along the Pacific coast of North America; the most southerly grove is in
Monterey County, California Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Monte ...
, and the most northerly groves are in extreme southwestern Oregon. The prevailing elevation range is above sea level, occasionally down to 0 and up to about . They usually grow in the mountains where precipitation from the incoming moisture off the ocean is greater. The tallest and oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies, where year-round streams can flow, and fog drip is regular. The
terrain Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin wo ...
also made it harder for loggers to get to the trees and to get them out after
felling Felling is the process of cutting down trees,"Feller" def. 2. and "Felling", def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009 an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the trees ...
. The trees above the fog layer, above about , are shorter and smaller due to the drier, windier, and colder conditions. In addition,
Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
,
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...
, and
tanoak ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is native to the far western United States, particularly Oregon ...
often crowd out redwoods at these elevations. Few redwoods grow close to the ocean, due to intense salt spray, sand, and wind.
Coalescence Coalescence may refer to: * Coalescence (chemistry), the process by which two or more separate masses of miscible substances seem to "pull" each other together should they make the slightest contact * Coalescence (computer science), the merging of ...
of coastal fog accounts for a considerable part of the trees' water needs. Fog in the 21st century is, however, reduced from what it was in the prior century, which is a problem that may be compounded by
climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
. The northern boundary of its range is marked by two groves on mountain slopes along the north side of the
Chetco River The Chetco River is a stream located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains approximately of Curry County. Flowing through a rugged and isolated coastal region, it descends rapidly from about to sea level at the P ...
, which is on the western fringe of the
Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast ...
, near the California-Oregon border. The northernmost grove is located within Alfred A. Loeb State Park and
Siskiyou National Forest Siskiyou may refer to: *Siskiyou Mountains, a mountain range in northern California and southern Oregon * Siskiyou National Forest, in Oregon and California *Siskiyou County, California *Siskiyou Trail, an old Native American and pioneer trail conne ...
at the approximate coordinates 42°07'36"N 124°12'17"W. The southern boundary of its range is the
Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Mo ...
's
Silver Peak Wilderness The Silver Peak Wilderness is located in the southwestern corner of Monterey County in the Santa Lucia Mountains along the Central Coast of California. It southern boundary largely follows the Monterey County/San Luis Obispo County line. Its eas ...
in the Santa Lucia Mountains of the Big Sur area of Monterey County, California. The southernmost grove is in the
Southern Redwood Botanical Area The Southern Redwood Botanical Area (also known as Southern Redwood Special Interest Area) is a ecological preserve in the southern region of Big Sur in Monterey County, California, just north of the national forest's Salmon Creek trailhead. Es ...
, just north of the national forest's Salmon Creek trailhead and near the
San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Miss ...
line. The largest and tallest populations are in California's
Redwood National and State Parks The Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) are a complex of one national park and three state parks, cooperatively managed, located in the United States along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park (established 1968 ...
( Del Norte and Humboldt counties) and Humboldt Redwoods State Park, with the overall majority located in the large Humboldt County. The prehistoric
fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
range of the genus is considerably greater, with a subcosmopolitan distribution including Europe and Asia until about 5 million years ago. During the last ice age, perhaps as recently as 10,000 years ago, redwood trees grew as far south as the Los Angeles area (coast redwood bark found in subway excavations and at La Brea Tar Pits).


Ecology

This native area provides a unique environment with heavy seasonal rains up to annually. Cool coastal air and
fog drip Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily in ...
keep this forest consistently damp year round. Several factors, including the heavy rainfall, create a soil with fewer nutrients than the trees need, causing them to depend heavily on the entire biotic community of the forest, and making efficient recycling of dead trees especially important. This forest community includes
coast Douglas-fir ''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' var. ''menziesii'', commonly known as Coast Douglas-fir, Pacific Douglas-fir, Oregon pine, or Douglas spruce, is an evergreen conifer native to western North America from west-central British Columbia, Canada southward t ...
,
Pacific madrone ''Arbutus menziesii'' or Pacific madrone (commonly madrone or madrona in the United States and arbutus in Canada), is a species of broadleaf evergreen tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the western coastal areas of North America, from Br ...
,
tanoak ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is native to the far western United States, particularly Oregon ...
,
western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...
, and other trees, along with a wide variety of
fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...
s, mosses,
mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...
, and
redwood sorrel ''Oxalis oregana'' , known as redwood sorrel or Oregon oxalis, is a species of the wood sorrel family, Oxalidaceae, in the genus ''Oxalis'' native to moist Douglas-fir and coast redwood forests of western North America from southwestern British ...
. Redwood forests provide habitat for a variety of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles.
Old-growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...
redwood stands provide habitat for the federally threatened
spotted owl The spotted owl (''Strix occidentalis'') is a species of true owl. It is a resident species of old-growth forests in western North America, where it nests in tree hollows, old bird of prey nests, or rock crevices. Nests can be between high a ...
and the California-endangered marbled murrelet. Coast redwoods are resistant to insect attack, fungal infection, and rot. These properties are conferred by concentrations of
terpenoid The terpenoids, also known as isoprenoids, are a class of naturally occurring organic chemicals derived from the 5-carbon compound isoprene and its derivatives called terpenes, diterpenes, etc. While sometimes used interchangeably with "terpenes" ...
s and
tannic acid Tannic acid is a specific form of tannin, a type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity ( pKa around 6) is due to the numerous phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for commercial tannic acid is often given as C76H52O46, which corresp ...
in redwood leaves, roots, bark, and wood. Despite these chemical defenses, redwoods are still subject to insect infestations; none, however, are capable of killing a healthy tree. Redwoods also face herbivory from mammals: black bears are reported to consume the inner bark of small redwoods, and
black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...
are known to eat redwood sprouts. The oldest known coast redwood is about 2,200 years old; many others in the wild exceed 600 years. The numerous claims of older redwoods are incorrect. Because of their seemingly timeless lifespans, coast redwoods were deemed the "everlasting redwood" at the turn of the century; in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, ''sempervirens'' means "ever green" or "everlasting". Redwoods must endure various environmental disturbances to attain such great ages. In response to forest fires, the trees have developed various adaptations. The thick, fibrous bark of coast redwoods is extremely fire-resistant; it grows to at least a foot thick and protects mature trees from fire damage.Shirely, James Clifford. 1940.
The Redwoods of Coast and Sierra
'' University of California Press.
In addition, the redwoods contain little flammable pitch or resin. If damaged by fire, a redwood readily sprouts new branches or even an entirely new crown, and if the parent tree is killed, new buds sprout from its base. Fires, moreover, appear to actually benefit redwoods by causing substantial mortality in competing species while having only minor effects on redwood. Burned areas are favorable to the successful germination of redwood seeds. A study published in 2010, the first to compare post-wildfire survival and regeneration of redwood and associated species, concluded fires of all severity increase the relative abundance of redwood and higher-severity fires provide the greatest benefit. Redwoods often grow in flood-prone areas. Sediment deposits can form impermeable barriers that suffocate tree roots, and unstable soil in flooded areas often causes trees to lean to one side, increasing the risk of the wind toppling them. Immediately after a flood, redwoods grow their existing roots upwards into recently deposited sediment layers. A second root system then develops from adventitious buds on the newly buried trunk and the old root system dies. To counter lean, redwoods increase wood production on the vulnerable side, creating a supporting buttress. These adaptations create forests of almost exclusively redwood trees in flood-prone regions. The height of ''S. sempervirens'' is closely tied to fog availability; taller trees become less frequent as fog becomes less frequent. As ''S. sempervirens''' height increases, transporting water via water potential to the leaves becomes increasingly difficult due to gravity. Despite the high rainfall that the region receives (up to 100 cm), the leaves in the upper canopy are perpetually stressed for water. This
water stress Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is where ...
is exacerbated by long droughts in the summer. Water stress is believed to cause the morphological changes in the leaves, stimulating reduced leaf length and increased leaf succulence. To supplement their water needs, redwoods utilize frequent summer fog events. Fog water is absorbed through multiple pathways. Leaves directly take in fog from the surrounding air through the epidermal tissue, bypassing the
xylem Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants, the other being phloem. The basic function of xylem is to transport water from roots to stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. The word ''xylem'' is derived from ...
. Coast redwoods also absorb water directly through their bark. The uptake of water through leaves and bark repairs and reduces the severity of xylem embolisms, which occur when cavitations form in the xylem preventing the transport of water and nutrients. Fog may also collect on redwood leaves, drip to the forest floor, and be absorbed by the tree's roots. This fog drip may form 30% of the total water used by a tree in a year.


Reproduction

Coast redwood reproduces both sexually by seed and asexually by sprouting of buds, layering, or
lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...
s. Seed production begins at 10–15 years of age. Cones develop in the winter and mature by fall. In the early stages, the cones look like
flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s, and are commonly called "flowers" by professional foresters, although this is not strictly correct. Coast redwoods produce many cones, with redwoods in new forests producing thousands per year. The cones themselves hold 90–150 seeds, but viability of seed is low, typically well below 15% with one estimate of average rates being 3 to 10 percent. The low viability may discourage seed predators, which do not want to waste time sorting chaff (empty seeds) from edible seeds. Successful germination often requires a fire or flood, reducing competition for seedlings. The winged seeds are small and light, weighing 3.3–5.0 mg (200–300 seeds/g; 5,600–8,500/ounce). The wings are not effective for wide dispersal, and seeds are dispersed by wind an average of only from the parent tree. Seedlings are susceptible to fungal infection and predation by
banana slug Banana slugs are North American terrestrial slugs comprising the genus ''Ariolimax''. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Ariolimax Mörch, 1859. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p= ...
s, brush rabbits, and nematodes. Most seedlings do not survive their first three years. However, those that become established grow rapidly, with young trees known to reach tall in 20 years. Coast redwoods can also reproduce asexually by layering or sprouting from the root crown, stump, or even fallen branches; if a tree falls over, it generates a row of new trees along the trunk, so many trees naturally grow in a straight line. Sprouts originate from dormant or adventitious buds at or under the surface of the bark. The dormant sprouts are stimulated when the main adult stem gets damaged or starts to die. Many sprouts spontaneously erupt and develop around the circumference of the tree trunk. Within a short period after sprouting, each sprout develops its own root system, with the dominant sprouts forming a ring of trees around the parent root crown or stump. This ring of trees is called a "fairy ring". Sprouts can achieve heights of in a single growing season. Redwoods may also reproduce using
burl A burl (American English) or burr (British English) is a tree growth in which the grain has grown in a deformed manner. It is commonly found in the form of a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk or branch that is filled with small knots from dor ...
s. A burl is a woody
lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...
that commonly appears on a redwood tree below the soil line, though usually within in depth from the soil surface. Coast redwoods develop burls as seedlings from the axils of their
cotyledon A cotyledon (; ; ; , gen. (), ) is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant, and is defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." The num ...
, a trait that is extremely rare in conifers. When provoked by damage, dormant buds in the burls sprout new shoots and roots. Burls are also capable of sprouting into new trees when detached from the parent tree, though exactly how this happens is yet to be studied. Shoot clones commonly sprout from burls and are often turned into decorative hedges when found in suburbia.


Cultivation and uses

Coast redwood is one of the most valuable timber species in the lumbering industry. In California, of redwood forest are logged, virtually all of it second growth. Though many entities have existed in the cutting and management of redwoods, perhaps none has had a more storied role than the
Pacific Lumber Company The Pacific Lumber Company, officially abbreviated PALCO, and also commonly known as PL, was one of California's major logging and sawmill operations, located 28 miles (45 km) south of Eureka and 244 miles (393 km) north of San Francisc ...
(1863–2008) of Humboldt County, California, where it owned and managed over of forests, primarily redwood. Coast redwood lumber is highly valued for its beauty, light weight, and resistance to decay. Its lack of resin makes it absorb water and resist fire. P.H. Shaughnessy, Chief Engineer of the San Francisco Fire Department wrote:
In the recent great fire of San Francisco, that began April 18th, 1906, we succeeded in finally stopping it in nearly all directions where the unburned buildings were almost entirely of frame construction, and if the exterior finish of these buildings had not been of redwood lumber, I am satisfied that the area of the burned district would have been greatly extended.
Because of its impressive resistance to decay, redwood was extensively used for
railroad ties A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper (Australian English, Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the Track (rail transport), rails in railroad tracks. Generally la ...
and
trestles ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Labora ...
throughout California. Many of the old ties have been recycled for use in gardens as borders, steps, house beams, etc. Redwood burls are used in the production of table tops, veneers, and turned goods. The
Yurok The Yurok (Karuk language: Yurúkvaarar / Yuru Kyara - "downriver Indian; i.e. Yurok Indian") are an Indigenous people from along the Klamath River and Pacific coast, whose homelands are located in present-day California stretching from Trinidad ...
people, who occupied the region before European settlement, regularly burned off ground cover in redwood forests to bolster
tanoak ''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is native to the far western United States, particularly Oregon ...
populations from which they harvested acorns, to maintain forest openings, and to boost populations of useful plant species such as those for medicine or basketmaking. Extensive logging of redwoods began in the early nineteenth century. The trees were felled by ax and saw onto beds of tree limbs and shrubs to cushion their fall. Stripped of their bark, the logs were transported to mills or waterways by oxen or horse. Loggers then burned the accumulated tree limbs, shrubs, and bark. The repeated fires favored secondary forests of primarily redwoods as redwood seedlings sprout readily in burned areas.Lowell, Phillip G. (1990).
A Review of Redwood Harvesting: Another Look — 1990
'' California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The introduction of steam engines let crews drag logs through long skid trails to nearby railroads, furthering the reach of loggers beyond the land nearby rivers previously used to transport trees. This method of harvesting, however, disturbed large amounts of soil, producing secondary-growth forests of species other than redwood such as Douglas-fir,
grand fir ''Abies grandis'' (grand fir, giant fir, lowland white fir, great silver fir, western white fir, Vancouver fir, or Oregon fir) is a fir native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern California of North America, occurring at altitudes of sea leve ...
, and western hemlock. After World War II, trucks and tractors gradually replaced steam engines, giving rise to two harvesting approaches: clearcutting and selection harvesting. Clearcutting involved felling all the trees in a particular area. It was encouraged by tax laws that exempted all standing timber from taxation if 70% of trees in the area were harvested. Selection logging, by contrast, called for the removal 25% to 50% of mature trees in the hopes that the remaining trees would allow for future growth and reseeding. This method, however, encouraged growth of other tree species, converting redwood forests into mixed forests of redwood, grand fir, Sitka spruce, and western hemlock. Moreover, the trees left standing were often felled by
windthrow In forestry, windthrow refers to trees uprooted by wind. Breakage of the tree bole (trunk) instead of uprooting is called windsnap. Blowdown refers to both windthrow and windsnap. Causes Windthrow is common in all forested parts of the w ...
; that is, they were often blown over by the wind. The coast redwood is naturalized in New Zealand, notably at
Whakarewarewa Whakarewarewa (reduced version of Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao, meaning ''The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao'', often abbreviated to Whaka by locals) is a Rotorua semi-rural geothermal area in the Taupo Volcanic ...
Forest, Rotorua. Redwood has been grown in New Zealand plantations for more than 100 years, and those planted in New Zealand have higher growth rates than those in California, mainly because of even rainfall distribution through the year. Other areas of successful cultivation outside of the native range include Great Britain, Italy, Portugal,
Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; hai, X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / , literally "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago located between off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Heca ...
, middle elevations of Hawaii, Hogsback in South Africa, the Knysna Afromontane forests in the Western Cape, Grootvadersbosch Forest Reserve near Swellendam, South Africa and the Tokai Arboretum on the slopes of Table Mountain above Cape Town, a small area in central Mexico ( Jilotepec), and the southeastern United States from eastern Texas to Maryland. It also does well in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia), far north of its northernmost native range in southwestern Oregon. Coast redwood trees were used in a display at Rockefeller Center and then given to Longhouse Reserve in East Hampton, Long Island, New York, and these have now been living there for over twenty years and have survived at . This fast-growing tree can be grown as an ornamental specimen in those large parks and gardens that can accommodate its massive size. It has gained the
Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...
's Award of Garden Merit.


Statistics

Fairly solid evidence indicates that coast redwoods were the world's largest trees before logging, with numerous historical specimens reportedly over . The theoretical maximum potential height of coast redwoods is thought to be limited to between , as
evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpi ...
is insufficient to transport water to leaves beyond this range. Further studies have indicated that this maximum requires fog, which is prevalent in these trees' natural environment. A tree reportedly in length was felled in Sonoma County by the Murphy Brothers saw mill in the 1870s, another claimed to be and in diameter was cut down near Eureka in 1914, and the Lindsey Creek tree was documented to have a height of when it was uprooted and felled by a storm in 1905. A tree reportedly tall was felled in November 1886 by the Elk River Mill and Lumber Co. in Humboldt County, yielding 79,736 marketable board feet from 21 cuts.Redwood Lumber Industry, Lynwood Carranco. Golden West Books, 1982 - Page 21. In 1893, a Redwood cut at Eel River, near Scotia, reportedly measured in length, and in girth. However, limited evidence corroborates these historical measurements. Today, trees over are common, and many are over . The current tallest tree is the Hyperion tree, measuring . The tree was discovered in Redwood National Park during mid-2006 by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor, and is thought to be the world's tallest living organism. The previous record holder was the Stratosphere Giant in Humboldt Redwoods State Park at (as measured in 2004). Until it fell in March 1991, the "Dyerville Giant" was the record holder. It, too, stood in Humboldt Redwoods State Park and was high and estimated to be 1,600 years old. This fallen giant has been preserved in the park. As of 2016, no living specimen of other tree species exceeds . The largest known living coast redwood is Grogan's Fault, discovered in 2014 by Chris Atkins and Mario Vaden in Redwood National Park, with a main trunk volume of at least Other high-volume coast redwoods include Iluvatar, with a main trunk volume of , and the Lost Monarch, with a main trunk volume of .
Albino redwood An albino' redwood is a redwood tree which is unable to produce chlorophyll, and has white needles instead of the normal green. It survives by obtaining sugar through the connections between its roots and those of neighboring normal redwood(s) ...
s are
mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It ...
s that cannot manufacture chlorophyll. About 230 examples (including growths and sprouts) are known to exist, reaching heights of up to . These trees survive like
parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
s, obtaining food from green parent trees. While similar mutations occur sporadically in other conifers, no cases are known of such individuals surviving to maturity in any other conifer species. Recent research news reports that albino redwoods can store higher concentrations of toxic metals, going so far as comparing them to organs or "waste dumps".


List of tallest trees

Heights of the tallest coast redwoods are measured yearly by experts. Even with recent discoveries of tall coast redwoods above , it is likely that no taller trees will be discovered. Diameter is measured at above average ground level ( at breast height). Details of the precise locations for most tallest trees were not announced to the general public for fear of causing damage to the trees and the surrounding habitat. The tallest coast redwood easily accessible to the public is the National Geographic Tree, immediately trailside in the Tall Trees Grove of Redwood National Park.


List of largest trees

The following list shows the largest ''S. sempervirens'' by volume known as of 2001. Calculating the volume of a standing tree is the practical equivalent of calculating the volume of an irregular cone, and is subject to error for various reasons. This is partly due to technical difficulties in measurement, and variations in the shape of trees and their trunks. Measurements of trunk
circumference In geometry, the circumference (from Latin ''circumferens'', meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. That is, the circumference would be the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out t ...
are taken at only a few predetermined heights up the trunk, and assume that the trunk is circular in cross-section, and that taper between measurement points is even. Also, only the volume of the trunk (including the restored volume of basal fire scars) is taken into account, and not the volume of wood in the branches or roots. The volume measurements also do not take cavities into account. Most coast redwoods with volumes greater than represent ancient fusions of two or more separate trees, which makes determining whether a coast redwood has a single stem or multiple stems difficult. Starting in 2014, more record-breaking coast redwood trees were discovered. The largest disclosed was a massive redwood called Grogan's Fault/Spartan, which has been measured to have a volume of 38,300 cubic feet. Details of the precise locations for most tallest trees were not announced to the general public for fear of causing damage to the trees and the surrounding habitat. The largest coast redwood easily accessible to the public is Iluvatar, which stands prominently about 5 meters (16 ft) to the southeast of the Foothill Trail of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.


Other notable examples

* The
Blossom Rock Navigation Trees In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as wel ...
were two especially tall sequoias located in the
Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la ...
used as a navigational aid by sailors to avoid the treacherous Blossom Rock near
Yerba Buena Island Yerba Buena Island ( Spanish: ''Isla Yerba Buena'') sits in San Francisco Bay within the borders of the City and County of San Francisco. The Yerba Buena Tunnel runs through its center and connects the western and eastern spans of the San Franc ...
. * The Crannell Creek Giant was documented to have a trunk volume of at least about 32% larger than Grogan's Fault and 17% larger than
General Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his com ...
, the current largest tree. It was felled around 1945. * The Lindsey Creek tree was documented to have a height of and a trunk volume of at least when it was uprooted and felled by a storm in 1905. If these measurements are to be believed, the Lindsey Creek tree was about taller than Hyperion, the current tallest tree, 213% larger than Grogan's Fault, and 171% larger than General Sherman. *
Old Survivor Old Survivor, also known as the Grandfather Tree, is the last remaining old-growth coastal redwood of the redwood forest that once populated the Oakland Hills in California. Description Old Survivor has a unique shaggy appearance with several l ...
, also known as the Grandfather, is the last remaining old-growth coastal redwood of the redwood forest that populated the Oakland Hills. The tree was seeded sometime between 1549 and 1554. * One of the largest redwood stumps ever found, measuring in diameter, is in
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, the Berkeley Hills, in the
Roberts Regional Recreation Area Roberts Regional Recreation Area (RRRA) is an area adjacent to Redwood Regional Park located in Alameda County next to Oakland, CA and is part of the East Bay Regional Parks (EBRPD). It is across Skyline Drive from the City of Oakland's Joaquin ...
section of
Redwood Regional Park Dr. Aurelia Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park (formerly known as Redwood Regional Park) is a part of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located in the hills east of Oakland, California, Oakland. The park ...
.


See also

* '' Bury Me in Redwood Country'' *
Save the Redwoods League Save the Redwoods League is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore coast redwood (''Sequoia sempervirens'') and giant sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees through the preemptive purchase of development rights ...
*
Northern California coastal forests The Northern California coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of coastal Northern California and southwestern Oregon. Setting The ecoregion covers , extending from just north of the California-Oregon border south, to south ...
*
Pacific temperate rainforests The Pacific temperate rainforests of western North America is the largest temperate rain forest region on the planet as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (other definitions exist). The Pacific temperate rainforests lie along the western side of ...
* Redwood (color) * Stephen C. Sillett


References


Further reading

** Noss, R. F., ed. (2000). ''The Redwood Forest: history, ecology and conservation of the Coast Redwood''. Island Press, Washington, D.C. .


External links


Institute for Redwood Ecology
Includes photo gallery,
canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...
views, epiphytes, and
arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose nu ...
animals *
US National Park Service
Redwood


Save the Redwoods League
Non-profit organization: education, protection and restoration
Sempervirens Fund
Non-profit organization

sensors installation by Dr. Stephen Sillett & team
Coast Redwoods - Largest & Tallest
Photos for largest and tallest Coast Redwoods and other information. *
Redwood Timelapse California Redwoods
''YouTube''. This is a short film about the Coastal Redwoods of California.
One Man’s Mission to Revive the Last Redwood Forests , Short Film Showcase
On ''YouTube'' by National Geographic. Published on 28 May 2016; *
Humboldt Redwoods State Park (CA)
Humboldt Redwoods Interpretive Association

- 2/14-21/2005
New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...
article about redwoods and climbing.
More about ''Sequoia sempervirens''

''Popular Mechanics'', November 1943, ''Saga of the Redwoods''
{{Authority control sempervirens Endemic flora of the United States Flora of California Flora of Oregon Trees of the West Coast of the United States Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of Del Norte County, California Natural history of Humboldt County, California Pacific temperate rainforests Extant Miocene first appearances Miocene California Miocene plants Neogene life of North America Redwood National and State Parks Symbols of California Trees of mild maritime climate Trees of the Northwestern United States Trees of the Southwestern United States Garden plants of North America Ornamental trees Plants described in 1824