METASEQUOIA GLYPTOSTROBOIDES- Dawn Redwood

Dawn redwoods once blanketed the entire Northern Hemisphere and were thought to have been extinct for millions of years until their rediscovery in 1941 by a Chinese forester in a remote corner of the Sichuan (at the time, Szechuan) Province in south-central China. Somehow, a little over one thousand trees had survived for millennia in a region that ironically is not even Metasequoia’s ideal environment! How then, did it survive in the Shui-sha Valley when it perished elsewhere? That is one of the great modern silvicultural mysteries.

In 1948, researchers traveled to China’s remote Shui-hsu Valley in south-central China. They found a few thousand trees growing in narrow canyons that opened into the wide valley. Rice and other crops were being cultivated in these lowlands; the researchers guessed that the valley was probably once covered with dawn redwood forests. They collected cuttings and seeds and sent them to Asia, Europe and North America to be grown in public and private gardens, which is where you can enjoy them today.

The only deciduous redwood, 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. To the Chinese people, this tree is second only to the panda as a conservation icon.

You may see our Dawn Redwood planted below the Labyrinth in our Cycad Area.