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Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Also called Chinese Redwood, Deciduous Redwood
Dawn redwood is a fast-growing, deciduous conifer, the only living species in its genus, once known only from fossils and now rare in the wild in central China. It is grown as a large, easy ornamental tree in temperate gardens and parks, where it thrives in moist soil and full sun.
Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of the genus Metasequoia, one of three genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. It now survives in the wild only in wet lower slopes and montane river and stream valleys in the border region of Hubei and Hunan provinces and Chongqing municipality in south-central China, notably in Lichuan county in Hubei. Although the shortest of the redwoods, it can grow to 167 ft (51 m) in height.
In 1941, the genus Metasequoia was reported by paleobotanist Shigeru Miki as a widely distributed extinct genus based on fossils, before attracting considerable attention a few years later when small populations were found alive in central China. It is a well-known example of a living fossil species.
Since the tree's rediscovery, the dawn redwood has become a popular ornamental tree in parks and gardens worldwide.
Dawn redwood seed arrived at the Arnold Arboretum on January 5, 1948, and was shipped to arboreta around the world soon after. By 1951, the species had entered the commercial horticultural trade in the United States, and following media excitement about the new discovery, including in the San Francisco Chronicle of March 25, 1948, sales soon took off.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Metasequoia glyptostroboides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
