Maximum height of evergreen sequoia. Sequoia - a giant tree
Many thousands of years ago, most of the Earth's territories were covered with forests with huge trees and plants. Research has shown that giant trees existed 200-150 million years ago, during the Jurassic period.
Since the time of dinosaurs, giant and evergreen sequoias have survived to this day. Evergreen sequoia Sequoia Sempervirens- the largest tree on our planet. The usual height of a sequoia is about 90 meters, but some specimens reach more than 100 meters in height. The sequoia is a long-lived tree and can live for 3,000 years.
Sequoia wood is valuable because neither fungi nor insects take it.
The largest sequoia is named "General Sherman". The height of the tree is almost 84 meters. This tree is about 2300-2700 years old, scientists cannot determine the exact age, because the age of the tree can only be determined by the rings by sawing it. The General Sherman is the largest tree on Earth by wood volume. The volume of the trunk is estimated at 1487 cubic meters. The weight of the giant reached 1910 tons.
Sequoia "General Sherman" is considered the largest of those currently growing, its height is almost 84 meters, and its age is 2300-2700 years
In 2006, the tallest sequoia was found - " Hyperion". The height of the tree has reached 115,5 meters. But the growth of the tree was slowed down by woodpeckers, who damaged the very top of the tree. According to researchers, the age of the tree is 700-800 years.
Biologists use special cables to climb Hyperion, the tallest sequoia.
There is information that in 1912, a sequoia tree was cut down, which reached 115.8 meters in height.
It's hard to imagine the effort required to cut down a tree of this size.
Sequoia Evergreen
Sequoia Evergreen, or Red sequoia (Sequoia sempervirens )
Monotypic genus of woody plants of the Cypress family (Cupressaceae).
The generic name was proposed by the Austrian botanist Stefan Endlicher in 1847 for the tree formerly known as Taxodium sempervivens D.Don; Endlicher did not indicate its origin. In 1854, Asa Gray, who recognized the need to distinguish the genus, wrote about the new name as “meaningless and discordant.” In 1858, George Gordon published the etymology of the generic names of a number of genera of coniferous plants proposed by Endlicher, but did not find an explanation for the name “Sequoia”.
Sequoia Evergreen
In its natural distribution area, sequoia is better known as “mahogany” (English Redwood, or Coastal Redwood, or California Redwood).
An amazing, unusual, to some extent even a fairy-tale tree. Sequoia is a true giant of the plant world and is recognized as the largest living organism on planet Earth.
Tree - up to 100 meters high. The average trunk diameter can reach 7 m.
The crown begins above the lower third of the trunk, narrow, conical in shape. The branches grow horizontally. The root system, despite the size of the tree, is not deep - it consists of widely spread lateral roots.
Sequoia Evergreen
Young shoots grow slightly to the sides and upwards. The branches are thin, dark green.
The leaves are biseriate, they are flat, strongly appressed, linear or linear-lanceolate, with obvious annual growth constrictions. The leaves are 15-25 mm long, elongated in young trees in the shady lower part of the crown, or scale-like 5-10 mm long in the top of the crown of old trees.
Sequoia Evergreen The sequoia is probably the tallest tree on earth, with the exception of references to unusually tall eucalypts in Western Australia, and references to Pseudotsuga menziesii in historical times reaching over 120 m, which were taller than any redwoods. It is likely that the tallest coast redwoods were the first victims of the axe, so it is difficult to say what the tallest tree of this species was in early historical times. Today's tallest sequoia, named Hyperion, was discovered in the summer of 2006 in Redwood National Park north of San Francisco. The tree reached a height of 115.5 m. Most trees are over 60 m in height, many are over 90 m with a trunk diameter of 3-4.6 m (maximum 9 m). Among the list of “fun facts” is that young growth after a fire receives carbohydrates, water and nutrients from a common network of fused roots from trees undamaged by the fire, which allows the redwood to displace other conifers and regenerate even in deep shade under its own canopy. This also explains the appearance of so-called "white sequoias", which have no chlorophyll in their leaves and rely entirely on root connections to photosynthetic trees. |
Sequoia Evergreen
Sequoia and especially sequoiadendron love humidity and can grow in areas with high humidity and mild winters (withstands short-term frosts down to -20). The breed has an increased ability to absorb moisture from the air.
In Russia, you should not try to grow sequoia north of Rostov-on-Don - it will freeze. For the middle zone, you should pay attention to Metasequoia, or at least Sequoiadendron.
The breed is suitable only for large parks and Botanical Gardens in warm-temperate, humid climates. An excellent accent of the first order, planted singly or in small groups at the end of an alley or as a silhouette dominant in the background.
Prefers well-drained, fresh alluvial soils. Sequoia has the amazing ability to adapt to different environments. When propagated by seed, plants adapt to the external factors of the area and can grow safely in the open air in a temperate and warm climate.
Sequoia Evergreen
Sequoia bark has the amazing property of fire resistance - when it comes into contact with fire, it chars and turns into thermal protection. This principle of thermal protection is used for spacecraft.
Wood is resistant to rot. The sapwood is pale yellow or white, and the heartwood is various shades of red. Redwood wood is poisonous to termites and is used for exterior trim. From the 1930s to the early 1960s, sequoia slabs were used as partitions between the plates of electrolytic batteries for cars and airplanes - the wood can withstand an acidic environment without losing its shape.
Sequoia is also great for Bonsai. The bravest bonsai lovers have harnessed this giant and are successfully growing miniature Sequoia. Sequoia bonsai is one of the rarest and most valuable specimens.
Chokan The classic vertical is the basis of bonsai, so all beginners need to master the style tekkan before taking on more complex miniatures. According to bonsai masters, a straight vertical represents maturity and perfection. Chokan imitates a tree with a perfectly straight, powerful trunk, which is quite rare in nature. After all, in order for a pine or spruce to grow straight upward and have a beautiful shape under normal conditions, they require a sufficient amount of nutrition and water. In addition, they should not be exposed to strong winds or competition from other trees. This specimen can only be seen on the plain. Each miniature tree formed in this style is characterized by a straight, tapering trunk that is divided into three equal parts. The lower part is free of branches, so the tree trunk, its roots and bark are visible in all their glory. Above there are three main horizontal branches: the first, the most powerful, grows in one direction, the second in the other, and the third - back, away from the viewer. The last branch is especially important; it gives the composition depth, so it should be lush. The side branches are slightly lowered down and slightly turned forward, but so as not to overlap the trunk. The upper part of the tree is decorated with thinner and shorter branches. They rise up and create, depending on the selected species, a dense deciduous or coniferous crown, spherical or pointed. When caring for a tree, provide equal and unrestricted access to light and air to all branches. Make sure that the branches do not grow directly above one another; in this arrangement, the sun will illuminate them unevenly. Compositions created in the chokan style are best placed in an oval or rectangular container. Syakan The shakan style reproduces a tree that has survived a hurricane or a landslide. Its trunk - straight or curved - is at an angle to the surface of the container. Powerful roots, on the one hand, go deep into the ground, and on the other, they stick out to the surface, as if clinging to it. Depending on the inclination of the trunk, there are sho-shakan (minimum), chu-shakan (medium) and dai-shakan (maximum). The lower branch in all shakan compositions is located in the direction opposite to the inclination of the tree. Both it and the other branches are curved, the top protrudes slightly forward. It seems that the tree continues to resist gusts of wind. To provide stability, the bulk of the bonsai should be concentrated within the boundaries of the container. When creating shakan compositions, oval or oblong shaped vessels are used. In round containers, the tree is planted in the center. Bujingi Bujingi is one of the most sophisticated bonsai styles, it was formed relatively recently, at the end of the Edo period (1603-1868). The origins of bujinga were Japanese writers, fans of Chinese Nanga painting. Creating compositions from miniature trees, they tried to imitate the artists of the Celestial Empire in everything, deliberately ignoring the canons of bonsai. Intellectuals relied in everything on their own inspiration, which they drew, among other things, from the famous treatise on painting from the Garden of the Mustard Seed, the main guide to nanga. Subsequently, some terms coined by Japanese writers began to be used by other bonsai masters. The literary style is reminiscent of delicate ink drawings that are created with just a few strokes of the brush. Bujinga compositions require less time than others. The emphasis is on the tall, thin, gracefully curved trunk. The tree has no lower branches, the upper ones are ledges. The crown is small but well formed, there is little foliage and it is clearly visible. Such trees are found in shaded areas of the forest, where, due to lack of sun, their lower branches die off and the trunk becomes gnarled and rough. Both coniferous and broad-leaved trees are suitable for buddinga-style compositions. The bonsai should be placed in a small round container with raised edges. The color of the container should be bright. |
Care and maintenance at home:
Sequoia Evergreen
The temperature is moderate, cool in winter - at least 0°C, optimal wintering is at +8-10°C. From the end of May to the end of August, it is better to keep Sequoia in the fresh air, in shade during the midday hours and protected from drafts. Hot air from central heating radiators is destructive for Sequoia.
Sequoia needs bright diffused light, shading from direct sunlight, especially in summer. In winter, the plant needs a bright room.
If in summer it is not permissible to keep Sequoia on an open windowsill (except for northern windows), then in winter it will be necessary to move it as close to the light as possible, even to a southern window, but only until the hot spring sun. With a lack of light, Sequoia stretches out and loses its shape; on the contrary, with too much light, the leaves turn yellow and crumble.
Sequoia Evergreen
Watering abundantly from spring to autumn. Moderate in winter. Sequoia does not tolerate excess water and does not tolerate drying out of the soil.
More precisely, drying out the earthen coma is simply destructive for the conifer. Watering in winter depends on the room temperature, for example, when kept at a temperature of +8°C, watering will be approximately once every 10 days, and at a temperature of +12-14°C once every 5-7 days.
From May to August, potted plants are fed with liquid mineral fertilizer for indoor plants; the fertilizer is taken at half the recommended dose. Feeding is carried out once a month.
Air humidity - regular spraying in spring and summer. If in winter it is not possible to provide Sequoia with a cool room, then it should also be sprayed with warm water in the morning and evening.
Transplantation annually in spring, in April - May. Sequoia does not tolerate injury to the root system very well, so complete replanting with replacement of soil is only necessary, but usually transshipment is used, with partial replacement of the top layer of soil.
Sequoia Evergreen
For potted plants, replace only the soil that is easily separated from the roots itself if the conifer is removed from the pot.
Soil for Sequoia - 1 part turf soil, 2 parts leaf soil, 1 part peat soil, 1 part sand. As an option, ready-made soil “For conifers and bonsai” is suitable.
Sequoia loves loose soil; when replanting, make sure that the root collar is not buried in the ground, otherwise the plant may die. Good drainage is a must.
Landing.
Open ground: Sequoia seeds are planted in a nutrient substrate from April to May; young seedlings need to be covered for the winter. The soil and air must be moist.
At home: Soak the seeds for a day in warm water with the addition of stimulants to accelerate germination (Epin, Zircon, etc.).
Sow in nutritious soil with the addition of river sand (3:1) at a distance of 5-7 cm from each other, having previously moistened the substrate, sprinkled with earth 1-2 mm, and it is important that they receive sunlight, cover with film and allow to germinate to diffuse light at room temperature.
The crops need to be ventilated and sprayed a couple of times a day. It is very important to keep the soil moist, but not wet, since sprouts often die from waterlogging. To avoid this, they should be sprayed with a spray bottle rather than watered with a watering can.
Shoots appear from 2 months to 2 years, be patient.
As soon as sprouts appear, the film or cap must be removed immediately. Without free air circulation, they quickly die. A couple of days after pipping, the sprout sheds the dry skin of the seeds. If he has difficulty with this, you can gently help him.
Sequoia is the tallest tree in the world. This is a real giant that grows in height and width all its life. Sometimes it is called the mammoth tree. The message will tell you in detail about the plant.
A little history
Scientists have found that sequoia grew on Earth more than 100 million years ago! This is evidenced by the found fossils with remains of bark. So this is the tree is the same age as dinosaurs, it was able to survive the ice age!
The Spanish were the first to see giant trees in the mid-18th century during an expedition in the area of modern San Francisco, a city on the west coast of the United States. They were amazed by the giant tree, they called it “mammoth”.
The Austrian botanist S. Endlicher named the tree “sequoia” in honor of the leader of the Cherokee Indian tribe, whose name was George Guest Sequoia.
The giants were taken under protection in America in 1890.
This huge tree is a symbol of California, an American state on the Pacific Ocean.
Description
Sequoia is an evergreen coniferous tree from the cypress family. Grows in height up to 90 meters (35-storey building) and above, and in width (measured as the diameter of the log trunk at the base) up to 7 meters, weighs more than 1000 tons. To transport one such felled tree you will need a train of 60 cars. Giants live 2-2.5 thousand years and longer.
The trunk is straight and even, rising like a giant column. The crown has the shape of a wide cone, the branches grow horizontally to the ground or with a slight downward slope. The red rust-colored bark (for this reason, sequoia is sometimes called mahogany) is very thick - up to 30 cm, but light, fibrous, porous, so it absorbs moisture well. The needles grow in bunches, are up to 2.5-3 cm long, and can be of different colors - dark green, with a blue or silver tint. The cones are small, up to 3 cm long, oval in shape. Sequoia - monoecious plant, this means that male and female cones grow on the same tree.
Sequoia only tolerates cold poorly; at -20°C it can die, although it once survived the ice age...
Where does it grow
Scientists say that many millions of years ago, gigantic sequoias grew throughout the northern hemisphere of the Earth.
Today, in their natural form, these giants grow in a narrow strip 720 km long along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in North America, California.
Here, ideal conditions for them are high humidity, frequent fogs and the absence of sweltering heat. It's interesting that sequoia never goes far from the coast, You won’t find it further than 70 km from the coast.
This tree is grown artificially in Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Portugal, Italy, South Africa, and New Zealand. In the Nikitsky Botanical Garden the oldest sequoia in Europe grows in Crimea, which is almost 170 years old.
Sequoia can also be found in the Caucasus, in the south of Central Asia, and in the Transcarpathian regions. Four sequoia trees grow in China, in the Sichuan province.
But wherever this tree is planted artificially, it does not reach such enormous sizes as in its natural homeland in North America.
How does it reproduce
Sequoia reproduces:
- vegetatively - shoots from old stumps;
- seeds.
Sequoia seeds are very light and very small - no more than 3 mm in length and only 0.5 mm in width. It’s amazing how such a huge tree grows from such a tiny seed.
The seeds are in cones that are very similar to ordinary pine cones. There are 150-200 seeds in one cone. They are pollinated by the wind at the end of winter, after 8 months they ripen, then the cone opens and the seeds fall out.
Application
Sequoia used in construction houses; telegraph poles, sleepers, and furniture are made from its wood. It has no odor, so it is used to make containers for tobacco, expensive cigars, and barrels for honey. Since sequoia wood does not rot at all, it is used in the construction of underwater structures and ships.
This gigantic, gigantic tree is planted in parks and gardens.
An interesting use was found for some sequoias in America: the trees were cut down and built on its huge stumps:
- on one - a cafe,
- on the other there is a dance floor,
- on the third - a printing house.
There is no tree on the planet taller than the sequoia that was given its name "Hyperion". It has grown 115 meters in height (this is higher than a 45-story building); it grows in the USA, in Redwood National Park near the city of San Francisco.
The widest tree on earth is the sequoia again! She was called "General Sherman".
It has grown “only” 83 meters in height (higher than a 33-story building), but its diameter is impressive - at the base it is 11 meters, in girth it is almost 32 meters, 15 people cannot hug it!
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On the planet, the sequoia will certainly receive the palm. It belongs to the coniferous species, sometimes it is also called “mahogany” due to the rich color of the trunk. The height of the evergreen sequoia has always interested naturalists, because there are quite a lot of these trees on the planet, and finding the very best was a matter of honor for researchers.
Indian tree?
Although it has been growing on our planet for quite a long time, it received its name, which we use today, only at the beginning of the 19th century. The etymology of this word is believed to come from Sequoyah or Sequoia. That was the name of the Cherokee Indian leader who invented the syllabary for this people.
Be that as it may, today this giant tree evokes awe and delight in everyone who has seen it in person, and the height of the evergreen sequoia is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
Along the Pacific coast, in the states of California and Washington, as well as in the south of the Canadian state of the British province, sequoia is most often found, where it grows for many, many years. Researchers found the remains of this tree in ancient rocks that formed during the Jurassic period. And this is neither more nor less - 208 million years BC. It is believed that this tree has come down to us unchanged, just as it was millions of years ago. Therefore, it is classified as a relict rock.
Unfortunately, only two species have survived to our times - the evergreen sequoia and the people also call them Red and before, as researchers assure, there were much more species, and they grew all over the globe.
Thick and soft bark
Of course, the height of the evergreen sequoia is of great interest. But it will be no less interesting to learn about some more features of this giant. The bark of this tree is very thick, up to 30 centimeters. But despite this, it is quite soft, has a fibrous structure and is relatively easy to separate from the trunk. True, after lying in the air for some time, the bark acquires a brownish tint. It is because of this that sequoia is also called. Although the bark is soft, the trunk itself is very strong and dense.
Which one is visual? This is a huge wide trunk, a dense conical crown, and the branches grow either completely horizontally or fall slightly down, like the paws of a spruce tree. Beautiful dark green leaves reach a length of 15-25 centimeters.
How does it reproduce?
Sequoia evergreen, the cone of which reaches 15-22 centimeters in length, produces fertilized fruits every year. At the end of winter, pollination of the seeds occurs, and then they ripen in about 9 months. Each fruit contains 3-7 seeds measuring approximately 3-4 millimeters. When the cone dries out, the scales begin to open and the seeds fall to the ground. If they are placed in a favorable environment, new trees can grow from them. True, the chance for a new life is very slim. The thing is that the crown of a large tree covers the sun's rays so tightly that young shoots most often die from a lack of good lighting.
So although this tree produces quite a lot of fruits every year, most of them die and do not produce offspring. Natural selection.
Excellent wood
112.83 meters
What is the tallest sequoia tree in the world? This question haunted scientists for a long time, and after many years of measurements and research, they finally found the largest giant. It turned out to be the Stratospheric Giant, which now grows in the Humboldt Redwoods National Park. This sequoia reached a height of exactly 112 meters 83 centimeters. True, the last time it was measured was more than ten years ago, in 2004. So it probably had time to grow some more.
Before this, the limiting height of evergreen redwood was a tree called Giant Dyerville, which also grew in the Humboldt Redwoods. In 1991, after bad weather, it fell, and when they measured the distance from the base to the top, the figure turned out to be: 113 meters 40 centimeters. The age of the Dyerville Giant was determined to be 1600 years.
But they say that in modern history there was an even taller tree! And they cut it down in 1812. His altitude record is 115 meters 80 centimeters. Biologists believe that the maximum growth of a sequoia cannot exceed 130 meters, because the forces of gravity will not allow the sap to rise higher. True, so far no one has discovered trees of this size.
How many giants are there on planet Earth?
And yet, every traveler who has been in the shadow of this tree is fascinated by the evergreen sequoia (height) with its unusualness and some ancient statics. All travelers love to take photos against the backdrop of these giants. Particularly popular are photographs of tourists when a whole group of them tries to grasp the trunk of a relict tree, but sometimes they do not have enough hands. Yes, such enormous growth also requires a solid foundation. The trunk diameter of some trees reaches several meters. The largest sequoia reached 7 meters in diameter at the base.
This is a real giant on our planet. Today, about 15 trees grow on Earth, the height of which reaches more than 110 meters. Scientists also counted 47 sequoias, which stretched more than 105 meters.
Does sequoia grow in Russia?
This giant tree is mainly found in America on the Pacific coast. Sometimes they grow near the coast, but are mainly located within 30-750 meters above sea level. This tree loves good humidity, so in dry places it is doomed to death. Some seeds successfully climbed even higher, sprouted shoots, and the trees took root there well. In any case, there are sequoias that grow well at an altitude of 920 meters above sea level.
This unique giant is very beautiful and captivating with its size. Therefore, many national nature reserves in Europe successfully plant this tree, which, with proper care, reaches relatively large sizes in the middle zone.
In Russia, sequoia can be found in Crimea and Transcaucasia. The warm climate of these territories allows relict trees to grow to quite decent sizes. Of course, these sequoias are relatively young, they are no more than 200-250 years old. But there is a chance that if the climate does not change, they will continue to grow for many, many centuries to the delight of those around them.
Trees of the family Taxodiaceae ( Taxodiaceae). According to one of the classification systems, the Taxodiaceae family belongs to the subclass of Conifers ( Pinidae or Coniferae), which, in turn, is included in the class Conifers or Pinopsids ( Pinopsida), belonging to the department of Gymnosperms ( Gymnospermae).
The only species of the genus is the evergreen or red sequoia ( S. sempervirens) - considered the symbol of the US state of California, this is one of the tallest and longest-living trees on Earth, also famous for its beautiful, straight-grained and rot-resistant wood.
The height of the evergreen sequoia is about 90 m, and the record height is 113 m. It was recorded in Redwood National Park in California. The trunk diameter reaches 6–11 m and can increase by 2.5 cm per year. Sequoia has the most valuable wood among the taxodiaceae with a red core and pale yellow or white sapwood (sapwood is the layers of wood located between the core and the cambium). The bark of the tree is thick, reddish, and deeply furrowed. The quality of wood varies not only depending on the location of growth, but also within the same trunk. The crown is narrow, starting above the lower third of the trunk. Oval cones and short shoots with flat bluish-gray needles give the sequoia beauty and lushness. The root system is formed by lateral roots that go shallow into the soil.
Sequoia evergreen is one of the longest-living plants on Earth: its life age is more than 2000 years (the oldest known tree is about 2200 years old). Maturity occurs at 400–500 years.
The reproductive organs of sequoia (like all conifers) are strobili – modified shortened shoots bearing special leaves – sporophylls , on which spore-forming organs are formed - sporangia . There are male strobili (they are called microstrobili) and female (megastrobiles). Sequoia is a monoecious plant (microstrobiles and megastrobilians develop on the same tree). Microstrobiles are solitary; they are located on the tips of shoots or in the axils of leaves. Megastrobiles are collected in small oval-shaped single cones. One of the features of sequoia is its ability to produce abundant growth, which does not differ in growth rate and life expectancy from seedlings grown from seeds. The redwood forests in America consist mainly of trees that grew this way.
At the end of the Cretaceous and in the Tertiary period, the evergreen sequoia, along with other representatives of taxodiaceae, was widespread in the northern hemisphere, but now the remains of forests with its participation are preserved only in a limited area of western North America, namely, on a narrow strip of the Pacific coast from Monterey County to northern California to the Chetco River in southern Oregon. The length of this strip is about 720 km, it is located at an altitude of 600 to 900 m above sea level. Evergreen sequoia needs a very humid climate, so it does not go further from the coast than 32–48 km, remaining within the influence of humid sea air.
Sequoia forests were first discovered by Europeans on the Pacific coast in 1769. Sequoia then got its name “mahogany” from the color of its wood ( Redwood), which has survived to this day. In 1847, the Austrian botanist Stefan Endlicher isolated these plants into an independent genus and gave it the name “sequoia” in honor of Sequoyah (Sequoyah, 1770–1843), an outstanding Iroquois leader who invented the Cherokee alphabet.
Because of its excellent wood and rapid growth, sequoia is specially grown in forestry. Light, dense, not subject to rotting and insect attacks, sequoia wood is widely used as a building and carpentry material, used for the manufacture of furniture, sleepers, telegraph poles, railway cars, paper and tiles. The absence of odor allows it to be used in the tobacco and food industries. It is used to make boxes and crates for cigars and tobacco, barrels for storing honey and molasses. Because of its excellent wood and rapid growth, sequoia is specially grown in forestry. Sequoia is also used as an ornamental plant, bred for this purpose in gardens and parks.
Two other species are close to the evergreen sequoia, each of which is also the only representative of its genus. The first species is the giant sequoiadendron or mammoth tree ( Sequoiadendron giganteum); the second species is Metasequoia glyptostrobus ( Metasequoia glyptostroboides).
Giant Sequoiadendron
or the mammoth tree was named so because of its gigantic size and the external resemblance of its huge hanging branches to the tusks of a mammoth. Sequoia evergreen and giant sequoia are similar in appearance, but at the same time they differ from each other in the shape of the leaves, the size of the cones and a number of other characteristics.
Like the evergreen sequoia, giant sequoia was widespread in the northern hemisphere at the end of the Cretaceous and in the Tertiary period, now only about 30 small groves have survived, located on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in California at an altitude of 1500-2000 m above sea level.
The giant sequoiadendron was described in 1853, but after that its name changed several times. The appearance of the tree so amazed Europeans that they began to give it the names of the greatest people of that time. Thus, the famous English botanist D. Lindley, who first described this plant, called it Wellingtonia in honor of the Englishman Duke of Wellington, hero of the Battle of Waterloo. The Americans, in turn, proposed the name Washingtonia (or Washington sequoia) in honor of the first US President D. Washington, who led the liberation movement against the British. But since the names Washingtonia and Wellingtonia had already been assigned to other plants, in 1939 this plant received its current name.
The giant sequoiadendron is an unusually majestic and monumental tree, reaching a height of 80–100 m with a trunk diameter of up to 10–12 m. It is distinguished by its longevity and can probably live up to 3 or even 4 thousand years.
Because of their durable, rot-resistant wood, sequoiadendrons in their homeland have been rapaciously exterminated since the time of the first explorers. The remaining old trees (and there are only about 500 of them) have been declared protected. The largest sequoiadendrons have their own names: “Father of Forests”, “General Sherman”, “General Grant” and others. These trees are real giants of the plant world. It is known, for example, that an orchestra and three dozen dancers can easily fit on the cut of one of them, and cars pass through tunnels made in the lower parts of the trunks of some other trees. One of the largest of these trees, the General Sherman, weighs about 2,995,796 kg.
Sequoiadendron as an ornamental plant is grown in many countries of the world; for example, it has taken root well in parks and gardens in the southwestern part of Europe, where it was brought back in the mid-19th century.
Sequoiadendrons are used not only for decorative purposes. Sequoiadendron wood, which does not rot, is used in construction work, for the manufacture of tiles and fences. Thick tree bark (30–60 cm) is used as linings in fruit containers.
Metasequoia glyptostrobus
differs from other taxodiaceae (including the closely related genera sequoia and sequoiadendron) in the arrangement of leaves and scales. This plant was initially known only from fossil remains, so the discovery of living metasequoia (in 1946) aroused the interest of biologists around the world. Subsequent expeditions made it possible to establish the range of this plant. Now metasequoia has survived only in a small area (about 8000 m2) in the mountains of the northeast of the Chinese province of Sichuan and in the neighboring province of Hubei at an altitude of 700–1350 m above sea level. The bulk of metasequoias (about 1,000 mature trees in total) are concentrated in Hubei province, in a valley called Water Fir Valley after the tree's local name. Trees growing here are 600 years old or more, reaching 30–35 m in height and 2 m in diameter.
The natural habitats of metasequoia are mixed forests on the slopes of mountain gorges, along streams and in ravines. In addition, it is often found in the surrounding villages, where local residents have a custom of planting young trees brought from the forest along rice fields and near houses.
In the past, the range of this genus was extremely wide, as evidenced by the fossil remains of metasequoia found almost everywhere in Asia, North America, Greenland and Spitsbergen. This genus apparently arose in the Cretaceous period (from 132 to 66 million years ago) and reached its peak in the Oligocene epoch of the Tertiary period (from 37 to 25 million years ago). Metasequoia forests covered vast areas of the northern hemisphere at that time, but, unlike the modern species, the metasequoias of the past grew near wetlands of forests.
Metasequoia is now grown in many countries outside its natural range. It develops best in the humid subtropics, but it also grows in cold climates (Alaska, Norway, Finland) and in countries with a hot continental climate. As a rule, it is grown as an ornamental plant - a slender metasequoia with a pyramidal crown and a beautiful reddish-brown trunk is a decoration for any park. The wood of this tree is not of high quality, however, in a number of countries with an optimal climate for the development of metasequoia, attempts have been made to introduce its forestry.
Natalia Novoselova