metasequoia glyptostroboides growth rate

Because of its deciduous nature, they also considered the possibility that the dawn redwood could live in regions colder than its current range. Rice and other crops were being cultivated in these lowlands, but the researchers guessed that the valley was probably once covered with dawn redwood forests. When League-supported researchers traveled to China’s remote Shui-hsu Valley in south-central China in 1948, they found a few thousand trees growing in narrow canyons that opened into the wide valley. Research Photo by moonlightbulb, Flickr Creative Commons The dawn redwood is commonly known as “ water-fir” or “ water pine” in China because of its tendency to grow in low-lying areas near rivers and streams-the same conditions that support rice cultivation. Dawn redwoods have also been planted in Japan, near schools, museums and temples. In the United States, you can find 200 dawn redwoods at the Crescent Ridge Dawn Redwoods Preserve (CRDRP) in North Carolina, and at botanical gardens. Today you can see naturally occurring populations of dawn redwoods in various locations in China, including the hills and wetlands of Hubei’s Lichuan County and the Hunan Province.

It is considered a fast-growing tree and is often planted as an ornamental. It is also the smallest of the three redwoods: dawn redwoods are typically between 50 and 60 feet tall, but can grow taller than 160 feet with a trunk about 7 feet in diameter.

This means that it sheds its leaves in the fall, is bare in winter and grows new leaves in the spring. The only living species in its genus, the dawn redwood is a deciduous tree rather than an evergreen. Biologyĭawn redwoods’ colorful leaves are one trait that separates this species from its family members. The dawn redwood tree, thought to have been extinct for 20 million years, now had living representatives known to the world. Villagers in the Sichuan region were using the foliage for cattle fodder and the wood for bridges and other construction. In 1948, a small group-partially financed by Save the Redwoods League and including future League President Ralph Chaney-traveled to south-central China and found a few thousand of the trees growing in lowland canyons. However, in 1944, a Chinese forester found an enormous dawn redwood in the Sichuan province of China. Scientists had identified fossil remains of this redwood in North America, Asia and Greenland and had concluded that it must have been extinct for millions of years. The dawn redwood was once one of the most widespread tree species in the Northern Hemisphere (during the Tertiary period). Photo by Dendroica cerulea, Flickr Creative Commons History Thought to have been extinct for millions of years, a Save the Redwoods League group discovered that this unusual member of the redwood family still exists in China, shedding its leaves in the fall. To the Chinese people, the dawn redwood is second only to the panda as a conservation icon. The Arboretum provides the basis for research and education by Harvard faculty and students, Arboretum scholars, and visiting scientists from around the world.To learn more about redwoods, visit our Redwood Forest Facts page. The living collection is supported by comprehensive curatorial documentation, herbaria containing more than 1.3 million specimens, extensive library and archival holdings, and a 43,000-square-foot state-of-the-art research center. Occupying 281 acres, the Arboretum’s living collection of trees, shrubs, and woody vines is recognized as one of the most comprehensive and best documented of its kind in the world. The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University discovers and disseminates knowledge of the plant kingdom to foster greater understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of Earth’s botanical diversity and its essential value to humankind.Įstablished in 1872 and planned and designed in collaboration with Frederick Law Olmsted, the Arnold Arboretum is a National Historic Landmark and one of the best preserved of Olmsted’s landscapes.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides growth rate