''Sequoiadendron'' is a
genus of evergreen trees, with two species, only one of which survives to the present:
* ''
Sequoiadendron giganteum'',
extant
Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to:
* Extant hereditary titles
* Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English
* Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...
, commonly known as wellingtonia, giant redwood and giant sequoia, growing naturally in the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
of
California
* † ''
Sequoiadendron chaneyi'',
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
, the predecessor of ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'', found mostly in the
Nevada part of the Tertiary
Colorado Plateau
The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...
until the late
Miocene
Fossil record
left, up '' Sequoiadendron chaneyi'' foliage fossil, Nevada
''Sequoiadendron''
fossil pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...
and macrofossils may have been found as early as the
Cretaceous and throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including locations in western
Georgia in the
Caucasus region.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q14707792
Endemic flora of California
Conifer genera
