Between March 12th and March 27th, I visited the spectacular dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) at Mountain View Cemetery. It is a rarity in nature - a deciduous conifer. Closely related to the coastal redwoods and giant redwoods of the west coast (these guys stay evergreen all year round), it grows tall and straight like its cousins.
Dawn redwood trees are old - as much as 50 million years - so yes, they did meet up with dinosaurs once upon a time. It was first "discovered" in China in the 1940's. There still exist small stands of dawn redwoods in China, but if you have the space, you may purchase one and have a bit, albeit a big bit, of history in your own yard, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment