Sequoia sempervirens (Coast redwood)

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Sequoia sempervirens (Lamb. ex D. Don) Endl.

Coast redwood, giant sequoia, giant redwood, California redwood

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Coniferophyta	Conifers—cone-bearing trees (and a few shrubs)
Class	Pinopsida	Gymnosperms such as cedars, Douglas-firs, cypresses, firs, junipers, kauri, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces, and yews
Order	Pinales	Cone-bearing plants: cedar, cypress, fir, juniper, larch, pine, redwood, spruce, yew, and others
Family	Cupressaceae	Cypres family, including junipers and redwoods
Genus	Sequoia	After Sequoiah (1770-1843), the son of a British merchant and a Cherokee woman
Species	sempervirens	“Evergreen”

About plant names...

California redwoods, native to portions of California and Oregon along the west coast of North America, are the only living species remaining of genus Sequoia. They live for a long time, up to 2,200 years.

Interested in the oldest trees? Check this Wired magazine article.

Plants: Redwoods reach 377' (115 m), the tallest trees on Earth, and may reach 26' (8 m) in diameter. Even the bark can be 12" (30 cm) thick. The bark is red-brown and deeply furrowed. Tree size and the restricted natural location of these majestic trees serve to identify them.

Leaves: The leaves (needles) are ¹/₃₂-1" (1-30 mm) long, and occur in different groups depending on their age. Older leaves tend to subdivide into smaller and smaller branches, while younger ones resemble hemlock, occurring in closely-spaced, flattened, opposing pairs.

Fruits: Cones are oval in shape, ½-1¼" (1.5-3.2 cm), with 15-25 spirally arranged scales.

8/28/2007 · Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Stout Grove, Crescent City, California
≈ 8½ × 5½' (2.6 × 1.7 m)

8/28/2007 · Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Stout Grove, Crescent City, California
≈ 5½ × 8½' (1.7 × 2.6 m)

The redwoods:

	You are here Sequoia sempervirens	*Sequoiadendron giganteum*	*Metasequoia glyptostroboides*
Common Name	coast redwood	giant sequoia	dawn redwood
Plant	Up to 377' (115 m) tall, living up to 2,200 years.	164-279' (50-85 m) tall.	Up to 148' (45 m) high, up to 6½' (2 m) in diameter.
Leaves	Needles ¹/₃₂-1" (1-30 mm) long, in a branching configuration or in opposite pairs. Photos of mature sun-illuminated foliage (left) and shade foliage. Photos by Christopher J. Earle.	¹/₁₆-³/₁₆" (3-6 mm) long, arranged in spiral whorls.	Small branchlets 3" (7.6 cm) long, with needle-like leaves about ⅜" (1.2 cm) long and ¹/₁₆" (1.6 mm) wide.
Stem	Bark up to 12" (30 cm) thick at base.	Bark, up to 3' (91 cm) thick at the bottom of the tree, is fibrous and furrowed.	Bark reddish brown when young, becoming fissured an gray.
Fruit	Oval, ½-1¼" (1.5-3.2 cm), with 15-25 spirally arranged scales.	Cones are 1½-2½" (4-7 cm) long.	Cones are ½-⅞" (1.5-2.5 cm) in diameter, with 16-28 scales.
Range/ Zones
Type	Wild	Wild	Wild