The genus Sequoia first appears in the fossil record as Sequoia jeholensis, found in Jurassic deposits of South Manchuria.
#Metasequoia fossil full
Today’s Metasequoia has a full pyramidal shape, grows to 120′ high. First called a “fossil tree” because it was believed extinct, this fast growing tree is now a favorite ornamental tree. It was (and is) a deciduous conifer. The Dawn Redwood ( Metasequoia) is a genus that dates all the way back to the age of dinosaurs… it is related to the California Redwoods and was thought to be extinct until living specimens were discovered in central China in 1944.
It is adapted to wide range of soil conditions, but favors full sun.
Prior to leaf drop, needles turn a beautiful orange to reddish-bronze giving a spectacular fall display. The dawn redwood loses its leaves each fall, which is rare among confers. One other fascinating feature of this tree is that it is deciduous. Although it is the shortest species of redwood, it still reaches up to 200ft in height. The dawn redwood is a member of the Cupressaceae family, which includes its American cousins the coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens) and giant sequoia ( Sequoiadendron giganteum). Merrill distributed them around the world and the rest is history, leading to widespread propagation of the popular landscape plant. Upon receipt in 1948, Harvard botanist E.D. The scientific community and the general public were fascinated with this glimpse into our botanical past and the dawn redwood was named a “living fossil.” The exciting new find captured the attention of the US plant community and in 1947, Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum funded the extensive collection of seeds by Chinese botanists. This was a new species to science and one that spanned over 60 million years of time on the earth! By chance, Hu happened to have a reprint of Miki’s paper from 1941 and made the connection. Despite these challenges, complete specimens were collected and eventually ended up in the desk of Chinese botanist H. To further complicate things, World War II and the concurrent China Civil War were draining resources and further distancing the scientific community. Collection of additional samples was quite challenging as it required a difficult trek through 220 miles of remote mountainous trail that traversed dangerous “bandit-infested regions”. Wang’s specimen attracted attention from Chinese botanists, but without a complete specimen containing all the plant’s anatomy, botanical classification was not possible. The locals referred to it as shui-sa or “water fir”. A short time later, in July 1943, Chan Wang, a scientist with China’s National Bureau of Forest Research, discovered a tree growing in a small, remote village in West-Central China that he believed could be new to science. The genus consisted of 3 species that were all thought to be long extinct, but were found extensively in fossil beds throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Metasequoia fossils had long been a part of many Northern Hemisphere collections under a variety of incorrect names, but it was Miki that was first able to describe the genus correctly. In 1941, a Japanese paleobotanist described a sequoia-like species from fossils of the plant found in Pliocene fossil beds near Tokyo, naming it Metasequoia. This discovery has been noted to be one of the greatest for botany in the 20th century and the story behind the find is certainly a noteworthy tale in world history. Have you ever wondered what the earth looked like when the dinosaurs roamed? Humans didn’t realize that we have a living fossil among us that offers a glimpse into the past until the 1940s when the dawn redwood tree ( Metasequoia glyptostroboides) was “discovered” by scientists in China.
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