- Sequoiadendron
Taxobox
name = "Sequoiadendron giganteum"
status = VU
status_system = iucn2.3
image_width = 240px
image_caption = The "Grizzly Giant" tree in theMariposa Grove ,Yosemite National Park
regnum =Plant ae
divisio =Pinophyta
classis =Pinopsida
ordo =Pinales
familia =Cupressaceae
genus = "Sequoiadendron"
species = "S. giganteum"
binomial = "Sequoiadendron giganteum"
binomial_authority = (Lindl.) J.Buchh."Sequoiadendron giganteum" (Giant Sequoia, Sierra Redwood, or Wellingtonia) is the sole species in the genus "Sequoiadendron", and one of three species of
conifer oustree s known as redwoods, classified in the familyCupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae, together with "Sequoia sempervirens" (Coast Redwood) and "Metasequoia glyptostroboides" (Dawn Redwood). The common names "sequoia" and "redwood" generally refer to "Sequoiadendron" and the coast redwood, respectively.Description
Giant Sequoias are the world's largest trees in terms of total
volume (technically, only 6 living Giant Sequoia exceed the convert|42500|cuft|m3 of the Lost Monarch Coast Redwood tree; see Largest trees). They grow to an average height of 50-85 m (165-280 ft) and 6-8 m (18-24 ft) in diameter. Record trees have been measured to be 94.8 m (311 ft) in height and 17 m (57 ft) in diameter.Flint, W. D. (2002). "To Find The Biggest Tree". Sequoia Natural History Association, Inc.] The oldest known Giant Sequoia based on ring count is 3,500 years old. Sequoia bark is fibrous, furrowed, and may be 90 cm (3 ft) thick at the base of the columnar trunk. It provides significant fire protection for the trees. The leaves areevergreen , awl-shaped, 3-6 mm long, and arranged spirally on the shoots. The seed cones 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 severalseed 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 out from fire heat and/or insect damage (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 180m (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 . It occurs in scattered groves, with a total of 68 groves (seelist of sequoia groves for a full inventory), comprising a total area of only 14,416 ha (144.16 km² or 35,607 acres). 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 theAmerican River in Placer County southward to the Kings River, has only eight disjunct groves. The remaining southern groves are concentrated between the Kings River and the Deer Creek Grove in southern Tulare County. Groves range in size from 1,240 ha (3,100 acres) with 20,000 mature trees, to small groves with only six living trees. Many are protected in Sequoia andKings Canyon National Park s andGiant Sequoia National Monument .Giant Sequoia is usually found in a humid climate characterized by dry summers and
snow y winters. Most Giant Sequoia groves are on granitic-based residual and alluvial soils. The elevation of the Giant Sequoia groves generally ranges from 1,400-2,000 m (4,600-6,600 ft) in the north, and 1,700-2,150 m (5,600-7,000 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
soil s in full sunlight, free from competing vegetation. Although the seeds can germinate in moist needlehumus in the spring, these seedlings will die as the duff dries in the summer. They therefore require periodicwildfire 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 full 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 , 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 . 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 keepingcarpenter ant s in check.In 1970 the
National Park Service 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, theWashington tree , 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 alonghorn beetle ("Phymatodes nitidus ") 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 theDouglas Squirrel ("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 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
Europe ans 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.cite journal|last=Farquhar|first=Francis P.|title=Discovery of the Sierra Nevada|date=1925|journal=California Historical Society Quarterly|volume=4|number=1|pages=3–58|url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/exploration_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 in 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 familySabiaceae ). The name "Wellingtonia" has persisted in England as a common name, though is deprecated ascultural imperialism (R. Ornduff in Aune 1994). The following year,Joseph Decaisne transferred it to the same genus as theCoast Redwood , naming it "Sequoia gigantea", but again this name was invalid, having been applied earlier (in 1847, by Endlicher) 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 genus "Washingtonia ".In 1907 it was placed by
Carl Ernst Otto Kuntze in the otherwisefossil 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 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?Largest trees
As of 2002 (updated to remove
Washington tree , previously in second place), the largest Giant Sequoias by volume are:Source: The volume figures have a low degree of accuracy (at best about ±14m³), due to difficulties in measurement; stem diameter measurements are taken at a few set heights up the trunk, and assume that the trunk is circular in cross-section, and that taper between measurement points is even. The volume measurements also do not take cavities into account. The measurements are trunk-only, and do not include the volume of wood in the branches or roots.
The General Sherman tree is estimated to weigh about 2100
tonne s (Fry & White 1938).*(*) Not the famous tree from
Giant Forest but another tree by the same name, situated inMariposa Grove * The trees named "Franklin", "Column", "Monroe" and "Adams" were named by Wendell Flint, these four are now included on the official map of giant forest, where they are all situated.
Giant Sequoia superlatives
Largest
*General Sherman - Giant Forest - convert|52508|cuft|m3Tallest
*Unnamed Tree - Redwood Mountain Grove - convert|311|ft|mOldest
*Examples in Converse basin, Mountain home grove and Giant forest - 3500 years or more.Largest Girth
*Waterfall Tree - Alder Creek Grove - convert|155|ft|m - tree with enormous basal buttress on very steep ground.Greatest Base Diameter
*Waterfall Tree - Alder Creek Grove - convert|57|ft|m - tree with enormous basal buttress on very steep ground.Greatest Mean Diameter at Breast Height
*General Grant - Grant Grove - convert|29.0|ft|mLargest Limb
*Arm Tree - Atwell Mill, East Fork Grove - convert|12.8|ft|m in diameterThickest Bark
*convert|3|ft|m or moreSource:Flint, W. D. (2002). "To Find The Biggest Tree". Sequoia Natural History Association, Inc.]
Uses
Wood from mature Giant Sequoias is highly resistant to decay, but is fibrous and brittle, making it 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 nearGrant Grove . As late as the 1980s some immature trees were logged inSequoia National Forest , publicity of which helped lead to the creation ofGiant Sequoia National Monument .The wood from immature trees is less brittle, with recent tests on young
plantation -grown trees showing it similar toCoast 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 westernEurope , where it may grow more efficiently than Coast Redwoods. In the northwestUnited States some entrepreneurs have also begun growing Giant Sequoias forChristmas tree s. Besides these attempts at tree farming, the principal economic uses for Giant Sequoia today aretourism andhorticulture (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 southernEurope , the Pacific Northwest ofNorth America north to southwestBritish Columbia , southeastAustralia ,New Zealand and central-southernChile . It is also grown, though less successfully, in parts of eastern North America."Sequoiadendron" has been successfully planted in the British Isles, parts of continental Europe, as well as in much of the western, southern, and eastern USA. Trees can withstand temperatures of -31 °C (-25 °F) or colder, for short periods of time providing the ground around the roots is insulated with either heavy snow or mulch. Outside its natural range, sequoia's foliage suffers from damaging windburn. Large specimen examples grow in arboretums in
Pennsylvania andRhode Island USA. A large sequoia, planted by horticulturist Claude Heit in the 1960s, is growing in theFinger Lakes region ofNew York USA. An experimental private planting of young sequoia trees (less than 5 years old in early 2007) exists inVermont USA. In Washington and Oregon, 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). Additionally, Coast Redwoods can be seen in Lincoln Park and on the University of Washington campus.The limit of winter cold tolerance is generally down to about −30 °C, but with a few individuals known to have tolerated lower temperatures, particularly where they benefit from deep
snow cover over the roots.Since its discovery a wide range of horticultural varieties have been selected, especially in Europe. There are, amongst others, weeping, variegated, pygmy, blue, grass green, and compact forms [ [http://users.telenet.be/sequoiadendron/en/cultivars.html Overview of the horticultural varieties (cultivars) of the giant sequoia] ] .
Europe
It was first brought into cultivation in 1853 by Scotsman John D. Matthew, who collected a small quantity of seed in the Calaveras Grove, arriving with it in
Scotland in August 1853 (Mitchell 1996). A much larger shipment of seed collected (also in the Calaveras Grove) byWilliam Lobb , acting for theVeitch Nursery at Budlake nearExeter , arrived inEngland in December 1853; seed from this batch was widely distributed throughout Europe.Growth in Britain is very fast, with the tallest tree, at Benmore in southwest Scotland, reaching 54 m (177 ft) at age 150 years, [ [http://www.tree-register.org/ Tree Register of the British Isles] ] 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 atKew in London also contains a large specimen.Growth rates in some areas are remarkable; one young tree in
Italy reached 22 m (72.18 ft) tall and 88 cm (2.89 ft) trunk diameter in 17 years (Mitchell, 1972).Giant sequoias have also been planted in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg [ [http://users.telenet.be/sequoiadendron/en/loc/benelux.html List of giant sequoias in the Benelux] ] . The stoutest one has a diameter of 2.83 m (9.28 ft).
Growth further northeast in Europe is limited by winter cold. In
Denmark , where extreme winters can reach −32 °C, the largest tree was 35 m (114.83 ft) tall and 1.7 m (5.58 ft) diameter in 1976 and is bigger today. One inPoland has purportedly survived temperatures down to −37 °C with heavy snow cover.USA and Canada
It is very successful in the
Pacific Northwest from westernOregon north to southwestBritish Columbia , with fast growth rates.In the northeastern USA there has been some limited success in growing the species, but growth is much slower there, and it is prone to "
Cercospora " and "Kabatina " fungal diseases due to the hot, humid summer climate there. A tree at Blithewold Gardens, inBristol, Rhode Island is reported to be 27 meters (90 ft) tall, reportedly the tallest in the New England states [http://www.blithewold.org/mansion-history.htm Blithewold Mansion History] ] [http://www.blithewold.org/gardens-gardenmap.htm Blithewold Garden] ] . The tree at theTyler Arboretum inDelaware County, Pennsylvania at 29.1 m (95.4 ft) may be the tallest in the northeast. Specimens also grow in theArnold Arboretum inBoston, Massachusetts (planted 1972, 18 m tall in 1998), at theLongwood Gardens nearWilmington, Delaware , and in theFinger Lakes region ofNew York for many years. Private plantings of Giant Sequoias around the Middle Atlantic States are not uncommon. Since 2000, a small amateur experimental planting has been underway in theLake Champlain valley ofVermont at theVermont Experimental Cold-Hardy Cactus Garden 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 U.S.A. This clone was the sole survivor of several hundred seedlings grown at a nursery in
New Jersey .Australia
The
Ballarat Botanical Gardens contain a significant collection, many of them about 150 years old. Also Jubilee Park in Daylesford. Cook Park inOrange, New South Wales also has a single specimen planted in about 1870.New Zealand
Several impressive specimens of Sequoiadendron giganteum exist throughout the
South Island ofNew Zealand . Notable examples include a set of trees in a public park of Picton, as well as robust specimens in the public and botanical parks of Queenstown. [http://sphaydenphotography.com/images/picton_sequoias.jpg]ee also
*
Forest
*Old growth forest Notes
References
* Listed as Vulnerable (VU A1cd v2.3)
* Aune, P. S., ed. (1994). "Proceedings of the Symposium on Giant Sequoias". US Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service (Pacific Southwest Research Station) General Technical Report PSW-GTR-151.
* Fry, W. & White, J.B. (1938). Big Trees. Stanford University Press.
* Mitchell, A. F. (1972). "Conifers in the British Isles". Forestry Commission Booklet 33. HMSO.
* Mitchell, A. F. (1996). "Alan Mitchell's Trees of Britain". HarperCollins ISBN 0-00-219972-6.
* Thomas, H. H., Shellhammer, H. S., & Stecker, R. E. (1980). "Giant sequoia ecology". U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Scientific Monograph Series 12. Washington, DC. 182 p.
* Kilgore, B. (1970). Restoring Fire to the Sequoias. "National Parks and Conservation Magazine" 44 (277): 16-22.External links
* [http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/plants_and_algae/Sequoiadendron_giganteum/ ARKive: "Sequoiadendron giganteum"]
* [http://www.conifers.org/cu/se2/index.htm Gymnosperm Database - "Sequoiadendron giganteum"]
* [http://www.pinetum.org/cones/Sequoiadendron.htm Arboretum de Villardebelle - photos of cones & shoots with phenology notes]
* [http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/seqgig/ Forest Service database entry on Sequoiadendron giganteum]
* [http://www.nps.gov/seki/fire/pdf/ts_yc90.pdf Giant Sequoia Fire History in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite National Park (.pdf file!)]
* [http://www.savetheredwoods.org Save-the-Redwoods League]
* [http://users.pandora.be/sequoiadendron/en/cultivars.html Overview of the horticultural varieties (cultivars) of the giant redwood]
* [http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/sequoias_of_yosemite/ "Sequoias of Yosemite National Park"] 1949 by James W. McFarland
* [http://www.humboldt.edu/~sillett/sequoia.html Prof Stephen Sillett's webpage] with photos taken duringcanopy research .
* [http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk www.redwoodworld.co.uk] giant redwoods in the U.K.
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