coast redwood

Sequoia sempervirens

Family: Taxodiaceae

Type: Evergreen conifer tree.

Needles: Flat, with no petiole, and attached directly to the stem in an alternate arrangement. Dropped in sprays, not as individuals. Needles at the top of the tree (sun-leaves) closely resemble those of the giant sequoia; much smaller, thicker, awl-shaped, clustered tightly around the stem.

Twig: Bark is reddish-brown with very deep furrows.

Cone: Very small, barrel-shaped, scales are peltate (attached with a base at right angles to the central axis, with a flat surface parallel to the central axis). Young cones are serotinous (fused shut), but they will open as they dry, even without fire.

Miscellaneous: One of the state trees of CA. Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world, and can live 2000 years. Redwoods vigorously resprout from their roots in a circle (a "fairy ring") around a burned or logged tree. Redwoods are completely dependent upon fire to reproduce, and their seeds depend upon fire or flood to germinate, because ground cover is otherwise too thick for the seeds to survive. The coast redwood grows in coastal areas in northern California and slightly into Oregon; southward it is limited by the presence of coastal fog, northward it is limited by cold. The wood of the coast redwood contains chemicals called tannins that deter insects and pathogens very effectively.