- Sequoiadendron giganteum
- California
Genus
Sequoia - The tree was probably named after the son of a Cherokee chief, the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary. It is also believed to be the Cherokee Indian dialect name for the gopher "Oppussum".
Evergreen conifer, a true single-stemmed, columnar giant tree with a great design effect in parks and gardens.
Remnants of the forests decimated by the timber industry can still be found in 72 protected groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in California up to an altitude of 2,500 meters.
Giant sequoias can live to be over 3,000 years old. The largest, called the "General Sherman Tree", is 83.8 meters high and up to 20 meters wide and has a trunk circumference of 31 meters.
The giant trees came to Europe in 1853 and are widely used as large design elements in our parks and gardens.
A special specimen is the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). The tallest is called "Hyporion". It is 115.55 meters high and can be found in the Redwood National Park in California.
Information on the species
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Bark: The soft, brown-reddish, cracked bark can grow up to 60 centimetres thick as protection against forest fires
Needles: They are short, scaly and blue-green. In contrast, the needles of the coast redwood "Sequoia sempervirens" are pressed in two rows, like yews (two specimens can be found in Redoubt Park)
Flower: monoecious, male flower: small, yellow globules; female flower: biennial, first green cones, brown cones in the second year, six centimetres long
Characteristics: frost-hardy, hardy, not drought-tolerant, long-lived, susceptible to lightning strikes
Timber use: until the designation of the protected areas, the redwood was rigorously felled especially for the construction industry, indoor and outdoor house building and much more