Coastal Redwood
Sequoia sempervirens
The California redwood is the largest tree on earth, growing up to 115 meters (377 ft) tall and 9 m (30 ft) wide. This gargantuan conifer has a long, slender trunk with a conical crown. The trunk soars limbless until it reaches the high branches, which extend horizontally or slightly drooping. The furrowed, reddish bark is thick — up to 1 ft thick — and softly fibrous. The dark-green needlelike leaves are long and flat on young trees, 15-25 mm, but scale-like on older trees, 5-10 mm. The small, dark-brown cones are ovoid, only 15-32 mm long, and scaled.
Basic Information
Member of the Cupressaceae (Cypress) family
Is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia
Closely related to the species in the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes the giant sequoia and the dawn redwood
Evergreen
Largest living tree species on the planet
The largest specimen, known as Hyperion, is 379.7 feet tall
One of the living things on Earth, living 1,200 to 2,200 or more years
Habitat
Native to the foggy coast of central California north to southwestern Oregon
Commonly found in temperate rainforests in foggy low-elevation mountainous regions near the protected coast
The largest, oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies where they are provided with consistent moisture from fog drip and streams and are protected from logging by the rough terrain
Ecological Role
Banana slugs, Pacific giant salamanders, and red-bellied newts, along with raccoons, bobcats, Pacific fishers, pine martens, black-tailed deer, Roosevelt elk, marbled murrelets, and northern spotted owls
California’s redwood forests filter trillions of gallons of water annually, providing clean and sustainable drinking water
By minimizing erosion and purifying the water, redwoods create clean, healthy streams which salmon and trout thrive on
The relationship between the forest and fish is symbiotic: when the spawning salmon die, their decomposing bodies provide nutrients to the trees
Coast redwood forests store three times more carbon above ground than any other forest type
Because they are highly resistant to decay, redwoods, even those that are dead and fallen, store carbon for centuries
Mature redwood trees maintain entire ecosystems in their canopies, supporting lichens, plants, and animals — some of which only live in old-growth redwood forests, such as the endangered marbled murrelets, northern spotted owls and fishers
The upper crowns of mature redwood trees accumulate dead leaves that decompose to form a rich soil in which many plants grow
Redwood forests supports many animals: black bear, black-tailed deer, Roosevelt elk, cougar, bobcat, raptors, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and many more
Reproduction
Blooms from September-November
Monoecious, with male and female flowers on the same tree
The pollen-producing male flowers are small yellowish-brown tufts, which sprout at the end of the leaves
The female flowers are greenish cones, which appear only at the ends of the upper branches
Can reproduce sexually by seeds or asexually by sprouting buds, layering, or roots
The seeds are contained within a small, brownish-red cone
Each tree over 15 years produces thousands of cones annually
The cones hold 90–150 seeds, though less than 15% of the seeds are viable
Successful germination often requires a fire or flood
The tree reproduces asexually by sprouting from the root crown, stump, or even (less commonly) fallen branches
Dormant sprouts are stimulated when the adult tree is damaged or begins to die
Bright green sprouts grow around the adult trees trunk, so that when the older tree dies, a circle of new trees form, known as a ‘fairy ring’
When a tree falls over, sprouts often grow along the fallen trunk in a naturally straight line
Alternative Names
Coast Redwood, Coastal Redwood California Redwood, Redwood
Historical Uses
The lumber of the coastal redwood was used by a number of tribes
Many peoples including the Mendocino Indians and Pomo Kashaya used the wood for houses and canoes
The Ohlone used the sprouts in their basketry
Parts of the tree were widely used for medicinal purposes:
The Houma used the inner bark mixed with whiskey to purify blood and treat jaundice
The Pomo took the sap as a tonic
The Kashaya Pomo and Pomo used the new foliage for earaches
The Tlingit used the bark for syphilis
Additional Information
Sought out for their size and resistant to fire and decay, redwoods have suffered from extensive logging dating back to the 1850s
Originally old growth forest covered over 810,000 hectares (2,000,000 acres), but now it only 5% of that old growth remains
The prehistoric fossil range of the genus was considerably greater than it is today, growing across Europe and Asia until about 5 million years ago
Redwoods heavily depend on coastal fog for their water, which they absorb through their leaves
Fog drip may form 30% of the total water used by a tree in a year
