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Sequoia sempervirens
Also called California Redwood, Redwood, Coastal Redwood
Coast redwood is the tallest tree on Earth, a long-lived conifer native to the foggy Pacific coast of California and Oregon. It grows best with cool, humid air, deep moisture and plenty of space, so it suits large gardens in mild, moist climates rather than small pots.
Sequoia sempervirens (), the coast redwood, is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family, Cupressaceae. Other common names include coastal redwood and California redwood. It is a coniferous, long-lived, monoecious tree that has reached ages of about 2,000 years. The species has produced the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 116.22 m (381.3 ft) in height (without the roots) and up to 8.9 m (29 ft) in diameter at breast height. These trees are also among the longest-living trees on Earth.
Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated 810,000 ha (2,000,000 acres) along much of coastal California (excluding southern California where rainfall is not sufficient) and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States.
Coast redwood is one of the most valuable timber species in the lumbering industry. In California, 3,640 km2 (899,000 acres) of redwood forest are logged, virtually all of it second growth. Though many entities have existed in the cutting and management of redwoods, perhaps none has had a more storied role than the Pacific Lumber Company (1863–2008) of Humboldt County, California, where it owned and managed over 810 km2 (200,000 acres) of forests, primarily redwood. Coast redwood lumber is highly valued for its beauty, light weight, and resistance to decay. Its lack of resin makes it absorb water and resist fire.
P. H. Shaughnessy, Chief Engineer of the San Francisco Fire Department wrote:
Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this tree occurred naturally in an estimated 810,000 ha (2,000,000 acres) along much of coastal California (excluding southern California where rainfall is not sufficient) and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sequoia sempervirens 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.
