Sequoiadendron
Encyclopedia
Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoia, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, or Wellingtonia) is the sole living species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s known as redwoods, classified in the family Cupressaceae
Cupressaceae
The Cupressaceae or cypress family is a conifer family with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27 to 30 genera , which include the junipers and redwoods, with about 130-140 species in total. They are monoecious, subdioecious or dioecious trees and shrubs from 1-116 m tall...

 in the subfamily Sequoioideae, together with Sequoia sempervirens (coast redwood) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Metasequoia
Metasequoia is a fast-growing, deciduous tree, and the sole living species, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, is one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China. Although the least tall of the redwoods, it grows to at least 200 feet in height...

(dawn redwood). The common use of the name "sequoia" generally refers to Sequoiadendron, which occurs naturally only in groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

The genus Sequoiadendron includes a single extinct species, S. chaneyi
Sequoiadendron chaneyi
Sequoiadendron chaneyi is an extinct species of tree in the Cupressaceae genus Sequoiadendron. Known from Miocene fossils found in Nevada and California, S. chaneyi is the oldest species of Sequoiadendron...

.

Description

Giant sequoias are the world's largest trees in terms of total volume
Volume
Volume is the quantity of three-dimensional space enclosed by some closed boundary, for example, the space that a substance or shape occupies or contains....

; see Largest trees. They grow to an average height of 50 – and 6 – in diameter. Record trees have been measured to be 94.8 metres (311 ft) in height and over 17 metres (55.8 ft) in diameter. The oldest known giant sequoia based on ring count
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...

 is 3,500 years old. Sequoia bark is fibrous, furrowed, and may be 90 centimetres (3 ft) thick at the base of the columnar trunk. It provides significant fire protection for the trees. The leaves are evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

, awl-shaped, 3–6 mm long, and arranged spirally on the shoots. The seed cones
Conifer cone
A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...

 are 4–7 cm long and mature in 18–20 months, though they typically remain green and closed for up to 20 years; each cone has 30-50 spirally arranged scales, with several seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

s on each scale giving an average of 230 seeds per cone. The seed is dark brown, 4–5 mm long and 1 mm broad, with a 1 mm wide yellow-brown wing along each side. Some seed is shed when the cone scales shrink during hot weather in late summer, but most seeds are liberated when the cone dries from fire heat or is damaged by insects (see Ecology, below).

Giant sequoia regenerates by seed. Trees up to about 20 years old may produce stump sprouts subsequent to injury. Giant sequoia of all ages may sprout from the bole when old branches are lost to fire or breakage, but (unlike coast redwood) mature trees do not sprout from cut stumps. Young trees start to bear cones at the age of 12 years.

At any given time, a large tree may be expected to have approximately 11,000 cones. The upper part of the crown of any mature giant sequoia invariably produces a greater abundance of cones than its lower portions. A mature giant sequoia has been estimated to disperse from 300,000-400,000 seeds per year. The winged seeds may be carried up to 180 m (600 ft) from the parent tree.

Lower branches die fairly readily from shading, but trees less than 100 years old retain most of their dead branches. Trunks of mature trees in groves are generally free of branches to a height of 20–50 m, but solitary trees will retain low branches.

Distribution

The natural distribution of giant sequoia is restricted to a limited area of the western Sierra Nevada, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It occurs in scattered groves, with a total of 68 groves (see list of sequoia groves for a full inventory), comprising a total area of only 144.16 square kilometres (35,622.7 acre). Nowhere does it grow in pure stands, although in a few small areas stands do approach a pure condition. The northern two-thirds of its range, from the American River
American River
The American River is a California watercourse noted as the site of Sutter's Mill, northwest of Placerville, California, where gold was found in 1848, leading to the California Gold Rush...

 in Placer County
Placer County, California
Placer County is a county located in both the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada regions of the U.S. state of California, in what is known as the Gold Country. It stretches from the suburbs of Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and the Nevada border. Because of the expansion of the Greater Sacramento,...

 southward to the Kings River
Kings River (California)
The Kings River is a major river of south-central California. About long, it drains an area of the high western Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley. A large alluvial fan has formed where the river's gradient decreases in the Central Valley so the river divides into distributaries...

, has only eight disjunct groves. The remaining southern groves are concentrated between the Kings River and the Deer Creek Grove in southern Tulare County
Tulare County, California
Tulare County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, south of Fresno. Sequoia National Park is located in the county, as are part of Kings Canyon National Park, in its northeast corner , and part of Mount Whitney, on its eastern border...

. Groves range in size from 12.4 square kilometres (3,064.1 acre) with 20,000 mature trees, to small groves with only six living trees. Many are protected in Sequoia
Sequoia National Park
Sequoia National Park is a national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California, in the United States. It was established on September 25, 1890. The park spans . Encompassing a vertical relief of nearly , the park contains among its natural resources the highest point in the...

 and Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park is a National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Fresno, California. The park was established in 1940 and covers...

s and Giant Sequoia National Monument
Giant Sequoia National Monument
The Giant Sequoia National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the southern Sierra Nevada in eastern central California. It is administered by the United States Forest Service as part of the Sequoia National Forest and includes 38 of the 39 Giant Sequoia groves that are located in the...

.

Giant sequoia is usually found in a humid climate characterized by dry summers and snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...

y winters. Most giant sequoia groves are on granitic-based residual and alluvial
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...

 soils. The elevation of the giant sequoia groves generally ranges from 1400–2000 m (4,593.2–6,561.7 ft) in the north, and 1700–2150 m (5,577.4–7,053.8 ft) to the south. Giant sequoia generally occurs on the south facing side of northern mountains, and on the northern face of more southern slopes.

High levels of reproduction are not necessary to maintain the present population levels. Few groves, however, have sufficient young trees to maintain the present density of mature giant sequoias for the future. The majority of giant sequoias are currently undergoing a gradual decline in density since the European settlement days.

Ecology

The giant sequoias are having difficulty reproducing in their original habitat (and very rarely reproduce in cultivation) due to the seeds only being able to grow successfully in mineral soils in full sunlight, free from competing vegetation. Although the seeds can germinate in moist needle humus in the spring, these seedlings will die as the duff dries in the summer. They therefore require periodic wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...

 to clear competing vegetation and soil humus before successful regeneration can occur. Without fire, shade-loving species will crowd out young sequoia seedlings, and sequoia seeds will not germinate. When fully grown, these trees typically require large amounts of water and are therefore often concentrated near streams.

Fires also bring hot air high into the canopy via convection
Convection
Convection is the movement of molecules within fluids and rheids. It cannot take place in solids, since neither bulk current flows nor significant diffusion can take place in solids....

, which in turn dries and opens the cones. The subsequent release of large quantities of seeds coincides with the optimal post-fire seedbed conditions. Loose ground ash may also act as a cover to protect the fallen seeds from ultraviolet radiation damage.

Due to fire suppression efforts and livestock grazing during the early and mid 20th century, low-intensity fires no longer occurred naturally in many groves, and still do not occur in some groves today. The suppression of fires also led to ground fuel build-up and the dense growth of fire-sensitive White Fir
White Fir
White Fir is a fir native to the mountains of western North America, occurring at altitudes of 900-3,400 m. It is a medium to large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 25–60 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m . It is popular as an ornamental landscaping tree and as a Christmas Tree...

. This increased the risk of more intense fires that can use the firs as ladders to threaten mature giant sequoia crowns. Natural fires may also be important in keeping carpenter ant
Carpenter ant
Carpenter ants are large ants indigenous to many parts of the world. They prefer dead, damp wood in which to build nests. They do not eat it, however, unlike termites. Sometimes carpenter ants will hollow out sections of trees. The most likely species to be infesting a house in the United States...

s in check.

In 1970 the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 began controlled burns of its groves to correct these problems. Current policies also allow natural fires to burn. One of these untamed burns severely damaged the second-largest tree in the world, the Washington tree
Washington tree
The Washington tree is a giant sequoia located in the Giant Forest Grove in Tulare County, California, within Sequoia National Park. It is named after George Washington, first President of the United States...

, in September 2003, 45 days after the fire started. This damage made it unable to withstand the snowstorm of January 2005, leading to the collapse of over half the trunk.

In addition to fire, there are also two animal agents for giant sequoia seed release. The more significant of the two is a longhorn beetle
Longhorn beetle
The longhorn beetles are a cosmopolitan family of beetles, typically characterized by extremely long antennae, which are often as long as or longer than the beetle's body...

 (Phymatodes nitidus
Phymatodes nitidus
Phymatodes nitidus is a species of longhorn beetle. It lays its eggs on the surface of Giant Sequoia and Coast Redwood cones, into which the larvae then burrow.-References:...

) that lays eggs on the cones, into which the larvae then bore holes. This cuts the vascular water supply to the cone scales, allowing the cones to dry and open for the seeds to fall. Cones damaged by the beetles during the summer will slowly open over the next several months. Some research indicates that many cones, particularly higher in the crowns, may need to be partially dried by beetle damage before fire can fully open them. The other agent is the Douglas Squirrel
Douglas Squirrel
The Douglas Squirrel is a pine squirrel found in the Pacific coastal states and provinces of North America. It is sometimes known as the Chickaree or Pine Squirrel, but since Chickaree is also used for the American Red Squirrel and Pine Squirrel for the genus Tamiasciurus, these alternative names...

 (Tamiasciurus douglasi) that gnaws on the fleshy green scales of younger cones. The squirrels are active year round, and some seeds are dislodged and dropped as the cone is eaten.

Discovery and naming

The giant sequoia was well known to Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 tribes living in its area. Native American names for the species include Wawona, Toos-pung-ish and Hea-mi-withic, the latter two in the language of the Tule River Tribe.

The first reference to the giant sequoia by Europeans is in 1833, in the diary of the explorer J. K. Leonard; the reference does not mention any locality, but his route would have taken him through the Calaveras Grove
Calaveras Big Trees State Park
Calaveras Big Trees State Park is a state park of California, USA, preserving two groves of giant sequoia trees. It is located northeast of Arnold, California in the middle elevations of the Sierra Nevada...

. This discovery was not publicized. The next European to see the species was John M. Wooster, who carved his initials in the bark of the 'Hercules' tree in the Calaveras Grove in 1850; again, this received no publicity. Much more publicity was given to the "discovery" by Augustus T. Dowd of the Calaveras Grove in 1852, and this is commonly cited as the species' discovery. The tree found by Dowd, christened the 'Discovery Tree', was felled in 1853.

The first scientific naming of the species was by John Lindley
John Lindley
John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...

 in December 1853, who named it Wellingtonia gigantea, without realizing this was an invalid name under the botanical code as the name Wellingtonia had already been used earlier for another unrelated plant (Wellingtonia arnottiana in the family Sabiaceae
Sabiaceae
Sabiaceae is a family of flowering plants, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern Asia and the Americas.In the Cronquist system the family was placed in the order Ranunculales, but more recent classifications place it as the sole family in the order Sabiales, or , as unplaced to...

). The name "Wellingtonia" has persisted in England as a common name, though is deprecated as cultural imperialism
Cultural imperialism
Cultural imperialism is the domination of one culture over another. Cultural imperialism can take the form of a general attitude or an active, formal and deliberate policy, including military action. Economic or technological factors may also play a role...

 (R. Ornduff in Aune 1994). The following year, Joseph Decaisne
Joseph Decaisne
Joseph Decaisne was a French botanist and agronomist.Although he was born in Brussels, Belgium, he exercised his activity exclusively in Paris...

 transferred it to the same genus as the coast redwood, naming it Sequoia gigantea, but again this name was invalid, having been applied earlier (in 1847, by Endlicher
Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher
Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. He was born in Pressburg and died in Vienna....

) to the coast redwood. The name Washingtonia californica was also applied to it by Winslow in 1854, though this too is invalid, belonging to the palm
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...

 genus Washingtonia
Washingtonia
Washingtonia is a genus of palms, native to the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico...

.

In 1907 it was placed by Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze in the otherwise fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

 genus Steinhauera, but doubt as to whether the giant sequoia is related to the fossil originally so named makes this name invalid.

The nomenclatural oversights were finally corrected in 1939 by J. Buchholz, who also pointed out that the giant sequoia is distinct from the coast redwood at the genus level and coined the name Sequoiadendron giganteum for it.

John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...

 wrote of the species in about 1870:

Do behold the King Sequoia! Behold! Behold! seems all I can say. Some time ago I left all for Sequoia and have been and am at his feet, fasting and praying for light, for is he not the greatest light in the woods, in the world? Where are such columns of sunshine, tangible, accessible, terrestrialized?

Uses

Wood from mature giant sequoias is highly resistant to decay, but due to being fibrous and brittle, it is generally unsuitable for construction. From the 1880s through the 1920s logging took place in many groves in spite of marginal commercial returns. Due to their weight and brittleness trees would often shatter when they hit the ground, wasting much of the wood. Loggers attempted to cushion the impact by digging trenches and filling them with branches. Still, it is estimated that as little as 50 percent of the timber made it from groves to the mill. The wood was used mainly for shingles and fence posts, or even for matchsticks.

Pictures of the once majestic trees broken and abandoned in formerly pristine groves, and the thought of the giants put to such modest use, spurred the public outcry that caused most of the groves to be preserved as protected land. The public can visit an example of 1880s clear-cutting at Big Stump Grove near General Grant Grove. As late as the 1980s some immature trees were logged in Sequoia National Forest
Sequoia National Forest
Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundaries of the forest....

, publicity of which helped lead to the creation of Giant Sequoia National Monument
Giant Sequoia National Monument
The Giant Sequoia National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the southern Sierra Nevada in eastern central California. It is administered by the United States Forest Service as part of the Sequoia National Forest and includes 38 of the 39 Giant Sequoia groves that are located in the...

.

The wood from immature trees is less brittle, with recent tests on young plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

-grown trees showing it similar to coast redwood wood in quality. This is resulting in some interest in cultivating giant sequoia as a very high-yielding timber crop tree, both in California and also in parts of western Europe, where it may grow more efficiently than coast redwoods. In the northwest United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 some entrepreneurs have also begun growing giant sequoias for Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...

s. Besides these attempts at tree farming, the principal economic uses for giant sequoia today are tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

 and horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

 (see Cultivation, below).

Cultivation

Giant sequoia is a very popular ornamental tree in many areas. Areas where it is successfully grown include most of western and southern Europe, the Pacific Northwest of North America north to southwest British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, the southern United States, southeast Australia, New Zealand and central-southern Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. It is also grown, though less successfully, in parts of eastern North America.
Trees can withstand temperatures of −31 °C (−25 °F) or colder for short periods of time, provided that the ground around the roots is insulated with either heavy snow or mulch. Outside its natural range, the foliage can suffer from damaging windburn.

Since its discovery a wide range of horticultural varieties
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

 have been selected, especially in Europe. There are, amongst others, weeping, variegated, pygmy, blue, grass green, and compact forms.

Europe

The giant sequoia was brought into cultivation in 1853 by Scotsman John D. Matthew, who collected a small quantity of seed in the Calaveras Grove
Calaveras Big Trees State Park
Calaveras Big Trees State Park is a state park of California, USA, preserving two groves of giant sequoia trees. It is located northeast of Arnold, California in the middle elevations of the Sierra Nevada...

, arriving with it in Scotland in August 1853. A much larger shipment of seed collected (also in the Calaveras Grove) by William Lobb
William Lobb
William Lobb was a Cornish plant collector, employed by Veitch Nurseries of Exeter, who was responsible for the commercial introduction to England of Araucaria araucana from Chile and the massive Sequoiadendron giganteum from North America.He and his brother, Thomas Lobb, were the first...

, acting for the Veitch Nursery at Budlake near Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...

, arrived in England in December 1853; seed from this batch was widely distributed throughout Europe.

Growth in Britain is very fast, with the tallest tree, at Benmore
Benmore Botanic Garden
Benmore Botanic Garden is a large botanic garden situated between Dunoon and Loch Eck, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It features a large square walled gardens, a waterfall, the remains of a fernery, ponds and walks up the hillside to where you can look out across the Holy Loch...

 in southwest Scotland, reaching 54 metres (177.2 ft) at age 150 years, and several others from 50–53 m tall; the stoutest is around 12 m in girth and 4 m in diameter, in Perthshire. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...

 in London also contains a large specimen. The General Sherman of California has a volume of 1,489 cubic meters; by way of comparison, the largest giant sequoias in Great Britain have volumes no greater than 90-100 cubic meters, one example being the 90-cubic-meter specimen in the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....

.

Twenty-nine giant sequoias, measuring around 30 m in height, grow in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

's municipality of Lazarevac
Lazarevac
Lazarevac is a town and municipality located in Serbia at 44.22° North, 20.15° East. Its name stems from name of medieval Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic. In 2002 the town has total population of 23,551. Lazarevac is one of Belgrade's 17 municipalities....

 in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

.

Growth rates in some areas are remarkable; one young tree in Italy reached 22 metres (72.2 ft) tall and 88 centimetres (2.9 ft) trunk diameter in 17 years (Mitchell, 1972).

Two members of the German Dendrology Society, E. J. Martin and Illa Martin, introduced the giant sequoia into German forestry at the Sequoiafarm Kaldenkirchen
Sequoiafarm Kaldenkirchen
The Sequoiafarm Kaldenkirchen is a German arboretum that has been used as a biological institute for many years. Part of the protected area in the city of Nettetal, it is situated in the "Kaldenkirchen Grenzwald" . Nettetal lies in the Lower Rhine region of Germany.- History and use :In 1946, Illa...

 in 1952.

Growth further northeast in Europe is limited by winter cold. In Denmark, where extreme winters can reach −32 °C, the largest tree was 35 metres (114.8 ft) tall and 1.7 metres (5.6 ft) diameter in 1976 and is bigger today. One in Poland has purportedly survived temperatures down to −37 °C with heavy snow cover.

United States and Canada

Giant sequoias are grown successfully in the Pacific Northwest and southern US, and less successfully in eastern North America.
Giant sequoia cultivation is very successful in the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

 from western Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 north to southwest British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, with fast growth rates. In Washington and Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, it is common to find giant sequoias that have been successfully planted in both urban and rural areas. In the Seattle area, large specimens (over 90 feet) are fairly common and exist in several city parks and many private yards (especially east Seattle including Capitol Hill, Washington Park, & Leschi/Madrona).

In the northeastern US there has been some limited success in growing the species, but growth is much slower there, and it is prone to Cercospora
Cercospora
Cercospora is a genus of ascomycete fungi. Several species of this genus cause plant diseases, mostly forms of leaf spot. It is a relatively well-studied genus of fungi but there are countless species not yet described, and there is still much to learn about the most well-known of the species.-...

and Kabatina fungal
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...

 diseases due to the hot, humid summer climate there. A tree at Blithewold Gardens
Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum
The Blithewold Mansion, Gardens and Arboretum is an arboretum of , located at 101 Ferry Road, Bristol, Rhode Island, mid-way between Newport and Providence, Rhode Island, on Bristol Harbor with views over Narragansett Bay...

, in Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in and the historic county seat of Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 22,954 at the 2010 census. Bristol, a deepwater seaport, is named after Bristol, England....

 is reported to be 27 metres (88.6 ft) tall, reportedly the tallest in the New England states
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

. The tree at the Tyler Arboretum in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Delaware County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 558,979, making it Pennsylvania's fifth most populous county, behind Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, and Bucks counties....

 at 29.1 metres (95.5 ft) may be the tallest in the northeast. Specimens also grow in the Arnold Arboretum in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 (planted 1972, 18 m tall in 1998), at Longwood Gardens
Longwood Gardens
Longwood Gardens consists of over 1,077 acres of gardens, woodlands, and meadows in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, United States in the Brandywine Creek Valley...

 near Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...

, and in the Finger Lakes
Finger Lakes
The Finger Lakes are a pattern of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York in the United States. They are a popular tourist destination. The lakes are long and thin , each oriented roughly on a north-south axis. The two longest, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, are among the deepest in...

 region of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Private plantings of giant sequoias around the Middle Atlantic States are not uncommon. Since 2000, a small amateur experimental planting has been underway in the Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...

 valley of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

 at the Vermont Experimental Cold-Hardy Cactus Garden
Vermont Experimental Cold-Hardy Cactus Garden
The Vermont Experimental Cold-Hardy Cactus Garden is a nonprofit amateur botanical garden for cactus and succulents that are hardy for USDA Zones 4 and 5 of northern New England, upstate New York, and eastern Canada. The collection includes several opuntias, yuccas, and sedums in a small raised...

 where winter temperatures can reach −37 °C with variable snowcover.

A cold-tolerant cultivar 'Hazel Smith' selected in about 1960 is proving more successful in the northeastern US. This clone was the sole survivor of several hundred seedlings grown at a nursery in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

.

Australia

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens
Ballarat Botanical Gardens
The Ballarat Botanical Gardens Reserve, located on the western shore of picturesque Lake Wendouree, in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, covers an area of 40 hectares which is divided into 3 distinct zones. The central Botanical Gardens reserve in the 'gardenesque' style of the Victorian pleasure...

 contain a significant collection, many of them about 150 years old. Jubilee Park and the Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve in Daylesford
Daylesford, Victoria
Daylesford is a town located in the Shire of Hepburn, Victoria, Australia. It is a former goldmining town about 115 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. At the 2006 census, Daylesford had a population of 3,073...

, Cook Park in Orange, New South Wales
Orange, New South Wales
Orange is a city in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney, at an altitude of . Orange has an estimated population of 39,329 and the city is a major provincial centre....

 and Carisbrook's Deep Creek park in Victoria both have specimens. In Tasmania specimens are to be seen in private and public gardens, as they were popular in the mid Victorian era. The Westbury Village Green has mature specimens with more in Deloraine. The Tasmanian Arboretum contains young wild collected material. The National Arboretum Canberra
National Arboretum Canberra
The National Arboretum Canberra is an arboretum in Canberra, the national capital of Australia, created after the area was burned out as a result of the Christmas 2001 and 2003 Canberra bushfires: The Himalayan Cedar forest lost about one third of its trees, and the commercial Radiata Pine...

 has begun a grove. They also grow in the abandoned arboretum at Mount Banda Banda in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

.

New Zealand

Several impressive specimens of Sequoiadendron giganteum can be found in the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

 of New Zealand. Notable examples include a set of trees in a public park of Picton
Picton, New Zealand
Picton is a town in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It is close to the head of Queen Charlotte Sound near the north-east corner of the South Island. The population was 2928 in the 2006 Census, a decrease of 72 from 2001...

, as well as robust specimens in the public and botanical parks of Queenstown
Queenstown, New Zealand
Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....

.

Largest

As of 2009, the largest giant sequoias (all located within California) by volume are:
Rank Tree Name Grove Height Girth at ground Volume
    (ft) (m) (ft) (m) (ft³) (m³)
1 General Sherman
General Sherman (tree)
The General Sherman is a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth...

 Tree
Giant Forest
Giant Forest
The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of...

274.983.8 102.631.3 52508 ft3
2 General Grant
General Grant tree
The General Grant tree is the largest giant sequoia in the General Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park in California and the second largest tree in the world.-History:...

 Tree
General Grant Grove 268.181.7 107.532.8 46608 ft3
3 Floyd Otter Tree Garfield Grove
Garfield Grove
Garfield Grove is a Giant Sequoia grove which is near the town of Three Rivers in California. The entire lies in Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada range in eastern California in the United States....

00 00 45500 ft3
4 President
President (tree)
The President Tree is the name of a giant sequoia located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in the United States, east of Visalia, California. The tree is believed to be at least 3,000 years old...

 Tree
Giant Forest
Giant Forest
The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of...

240.973.4 9328.3 45148 ft3
5 Lincoln
Lincoln (tree)
The Lincoln Tree is the name of a huge giant sequoia located in Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park. It is currently considered by many to be the fifth largest tree in the world. Wendell Flint, in his book "To Find The Biggest Tree", Sequoia Natural History Association stated that the Lincoln...

 Tree
Giant Forest
Giant Forest
The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of...

255.878 98.330 44471 ft3
6 Stagg
Stagg (tree)
The Stagg tree is a giant sequoia in Alder Creek Grove. It is the sixth largest tree in the world and is believed to be over 3,000 years old. L. Day noticed the tree in 1931 and, with help from two others, he measured the tree in 1932...

 Tree
Alder Creek Grove
Alder Creek Grove
Alder Creek Grove is a Sequoiadendron giganteum grove located within the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California, USA.Alder Creek Grove is a medium sized grove in the Sierra Nevada, covering Sequoia Crest subdivision and Giant Sequoia National Monument...

24374.1 10933.2 42557 ft3
7 Boole
Boole (tree)
The Boole Tree is a giant sequoia in Converse Basin grove in Sequoia National Forest, in the edge of Kings Canyon, 5 miles from General Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. Converse Basin used to be a large grove, but was logged of most of its giant...

 Tree
Converse Basin
Converse Basin
Converse Basin is a grove of giant sequoia trees located in the Sequoia National Forest in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. The grove is situated 5 miles north of General Grant Grove, just outside of Kings Canyon National Park. It includes the Boole Tree, the sixth-largest tree in the...

268.881.9 11334.4 42472 ft3
8 Genesis
Genesis (tree)
The Genesis Tree is a giant sequoia and is the eighth largest giant sequoia in the world. It is located in Mountain Home Grove, a sequoia grove located in Sequoia National Forest in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California.-See also:...

 Tree
Mountain Home Grove
Mountain Home Grove
Mountain Home Grove is a giant sequoia grove located in Sequoia National Forest in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. It includes the Genesis tree, the seventh largest tree in the world and the famous "Adam" tree which also is in the top 20 giant sequoias...

25377.1 85.326 41897 ft3
9 Franklin
Franklin (tree)
Franklin is a giant sequoia in Giant Forest, a sequoia grove where the largest tree in the world lives - the General Sherman. The Franklin tree is the ninth largest giant sequoia in the world. It was named by Wendell Flint after Benjamin Franklin...

 Tree
Giant Forest
Giant Forest
The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of...

223.868.2 94.828.9 41280 ft3
10 King Arthur
King Arthur (tree)
The King Arthur Tree is a giant sequoia located in Garfield Grove, the grove is near the town of Three Rivers in California. The tree was once known as the California Tree, as shown in National Park Service promotional literature from 1917 . The King Arthur is the tenth largest giant sequoia in the...

 Tree
Garfield Grove
Garfield Grove
Garfield Grove is a Giant Sequoia grove which is near the town of Three Rivers in California. The entire lies in Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada range in eastern California in the United States....

270.382.4 104.231.8 40656 ft3
11 Monroe
Monroe (tree)
Monroe is a huge giant sequoia tree in Giant Forest, a sequoia grove where the largest tree in the world lives - the General Sherman. The Monroe tree is the eleventh largest giant sequoia in the world...

 Tree
Giant Forest
Giant Forest
The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of...

247.875.5 91.327.8 40104 ft3
12 Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee (tree)
The Robert E. Lee tree is the second largest giant sequoia in the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park, and the twelfth largest giant sequoia in the world. Richard Field, a Confederate lieutenant, named this tree around 1875. Wendell Flint and Mike Law measured the tree in 1985 and...

 Tree
General Grant Grove 254.777.6 88.326.9 40102 ft3
13 Adams Tree Giant Forest
Giant Forest
The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of...

250.676.4 83.325.4 38956 ft3
14 Ishi Giant
Ishi Giant
Ishi Giant, is a giant sequoia in California, United States. It is located in Kennedy Grove, which is part of a group of eight closely spaced giant sequoia groves situated in Kings Canyon National Park in the Sierra Nevada in eastern central California....

 Tree
Kennedy Grove
Kennedy Grove
Kennedy Grove is located in the Giant Sequoia National Monument in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California, and part of a group of 8 closely grouped, but narrowly separated Giant Sequoia groves situated in either GSNM or Kings Canyon National Park.Kennedy Grove contains the thirteenth largest tree...

248.175.6 105.132 38156 ft3
15 Column Tree Giant Forest
Giant Forest
The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of...

243.874.3 9328.3 37295 ft3
16 Summit Road Tree Mountain Home Grove
Mountain Home Grove
Mountain Home Grove is a giant sequoia grove located in Sequoia National Forest in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. It includes the Genesis tree, the seventh largest tree in the world and the famous "Adam" tree which also is in the top 20 giant sequoias...

24474.4 82.225.1 36600 ft3
17 Euclid Tree Mountain Home Grove
Mountain Home Grove
Mountain Home Grove is a giant sequoia grove located in Sequoia National Forest in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. It includes the Genesis tree, the seventh largest tree in the world and the famous "Adam" tree which also is in the top 20 giant sequoias...

272.783.1 83.425.4 36122 ft3
18 Washington Tree Mariposa Grove
Mariposa Grove
Mariposa Grove is a sequoia grove located near Wawona, California, United States, in the southernmost part of Yosemite National Park. It is the largest grove of Giant Sequoias in the park, with several hundred mature examples of the tree...

23671.9 95.729.2 35901 ft3
19 General Pershing Tree Giant Forest
Giant Forest
The Giant Forest, famed for its giant sequoia trees, is within Sequoia National Park. This montane forest, situated at over above mean sea level in the western Sierra Nevada of California, covers an area of...

24675 91.227.8 35855 ft3
20 Diamond Tree Atwell Mill Grove
Atwell Mill Grove
Atwell Mill Grove is a giant sequoia grove in the east fork of the Kaweah watershed area in California. Can be accessed via the Mineral King Road which branches off highway 198 below the south entrance to Sequoia National Park.-Noteworthy trees:...

28687.2 95.329 35292 ft3
  • The General Sherman tree is estimated to weigh about 2100 tonne
    Tonne
    The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...

    s.
  • The Washington Tree
    Washington tree
    The Washington tree is a giant sequoia located in the Giant Forest Grove in Tulare County, California, within Sequoia National Park. It is named after George Washington, first President of the United States...

     was previously arguably the second largest tree with a volume of 47850 cubic feet (1,355 m³) (although the upper half of its trunk was hollow, making the calculated volume debatable), but after losing the hollow upper half of its trunk in January 2005 following a fire, it is no longer of great size.
  • The trees named "Franklin", "Column", "Monroe", "Hamilton" and "Adams" were named by Wendell Flint and others. These five are now included on the official map of Giant Forest, where they are all situated.
  • The Hazelwood Tree
    Hazelwood Tree
    The Hazelwood tree is a giant sequoia in Giant Forest, a sequoia grove where the largest tree in the world lives - the General Sherman. It is located on a hillside just west of the Hazelwood Nature Trail. The tree had a volume of and was the 17th largest giant sequoia, before losing half its trunk...

     (not listed above) had a volume of 36228 cubic feet (1,025.9 m³) before losing half its trunk in a lightning storm in 2002, if it were still at full size it would currently be the 17th largest giant sequoia on earth.

Oldest

  • Muir Snag - Converse Basin Grove
    Converse Basin
    Converse Basin is a grove of giant sequoia trees located in the Sequoia National Forest in the Sierra Nevada in eastern California. The grove is situated 5 miles north of General Grant Grove, just outside of Kings Canyon National Park. It includes the Boole Tree, the sixth-largest tree in the...

     - more than 3500 years

Greatest girth

  • Waterfall Tree - Alder Creek Grove
    Alder Creek Grove
    Alder Creek Grove is a Sequoiadendron giganteum grove located within the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California, USA.Alder Creek Grove is a medium sized grove in the Sierra Nevada, covering Sequoia Crest subdivision and Giant Sequoia National Monument...

     - 155 feet (47.2 m) - tree with enormous basal buttress on very steep ground.

Greatest base diameter

  • Waterfall Tree - Alder Creek Grove
    Alder Creek Grove
    Alder Creek Grove is a Sequoiadendron giganteum grove located within the Giant Sequoia National Monument in California, USA.Alder Creek Grove is a medium sized grove in the Sierra Nevada, covering Sequoia Crest subdivision and Giant Sequoia National Monument...

     - 57 feet (17.4 m) - tree with enormous basal buttress on very steep ground.
  • Tunnel Tree - Atwell Mill Grove
    Atwell Mill Grove
    Atwell Mill Grove is a giant sequoia grove in the east fork of the Kaweah watershed area in California. Can be accessed via the Mineral King Road which branches off highway 198 below the south entrance to Sequoia National Park.-Noteworthy trees:...

     - 57 feet (17.4 m) - tree with a huge flared base that has burned all the way through.

Greatest mean diameter at breast height

  • General Grant - General Grant Grove - 29 feet (8.8 m)

Largest limb

  • Arm Tree - Atwell Mill
    Atwell Mill Grove
    Atwell Mill Grove is a giant sequoia grove in the east fork of the Kaweah watershed area in California. Can be accessed via the Mineral King Road which branches off highway 198 below the south entrance to Sequoia National Park.-Noteworthy trees:...

    , East Fork Grove - 12.8 feet (3.9 m) in diameter

See also

  • List of giant sequoia groves
  • Metasequoia glyptostroboides
    Metasequoia glyptostroboides
    Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, critically endangered deciduous conifer tree, sole living species of the genus Metasequoia, and one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China...

    - Dawn Redwood
    Metasequoia
    Metasequoia is a fast-growing, deciduous tree, and the sole living species, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, is one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China. Although the least tall of the redwoods, it grows to at least 200 feet in height...

  • Mother of the Forest
    Mother of the Forest
    The Mother of the Forest was an ancient and huge Sequoiadendron tree. The tree lived in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in eastern central California, United States...

  • Old growth forest
    Old growth forest
    An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

  • Sequoia sempervirens - Coast Redwood or California Redwood
  • The House (trees)
    The House (trees)
    The House or The House Group is a group of monumental Giant Sequoias in the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park in California, United States....


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK