Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron Giganteum) - Description of this Ancient Tree of California.

By Ariadne Unst

Discover the Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron Giganteum), which can grow to 275 feet (or 85 m.) high and to 40 feet (12 m.) in diameter, and can live over 2000 years, perhaps to 3000 years.

A Guide to the Sequoia Groves of California by Dwight Willard - a well-illustrated introduction to Sequoia groves of the Sierra Nevada.	Giant Sequoia Topics: Description. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). Links. Books.
	Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis by Michael Williams.
Books read.	Current hot books on trees and forests.
Ecology.	Trees of the American Pacific Northwest.
Trees of North American.	Forest and Tree Home, Glossary pages: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.

Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron Giganteum): Description.

• Leaves:
  1. Blue-green. Small, overlapping, and pointed sharply. Typically 0.1 inch (0.3 cm) to 0.2 inch (0.5 cm) long.
  2. Giant Sequoias are evergreen.

• Shape and Trunk:
  1. The world's largest tree, with height 150 feet (46 m.) to 250 feet (76 m.), and diameter 10 feet (3 m.) to 25 feet (8 m.).
  2. The heartwood of the giant sequoia is bright vermilion and highly tannin, letting the trees resist fungus and insects. The thick, fibrous bark is cinnamon-red. Often it has has burn scars from past fires.

• Reproduction:
  1. Giant Sequoia cones are about 1.5 inches (4 cm) to 3 inches (7cm) long and elliptical.
  2. Immature cones are dark-green to yellow, and closed.
  3. Mature cones are red-brown.

Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron Giganteum): FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).

• Where is it a native tree?
  The Giant Sequoia is now native to about 75 separate islands or groves in the Sierra Nevada of California, USA.

• Why is the Giant Sequoia called 'the world's biggest tree'?
  Because of the width of its trunk, the Giant Sequoia grows to contain the greatest volume of wood of all trees in the world. It is said (by Jim Paruk in Sierra Nevada Tree Identifier) that a mature Giant Sequoia may contain a greater volume of wood than an acre of good virgin forest in the Pacific Northwest.
  A typical tree adds each year the equivalent volume of a tree 60 feet tall and 1.5 feet in diameter (again, according to Sierra Nevada Tree Identifier by Jim Paruk).

• How long does it live?
  The oldest big trees are about 3000 years old.

• What other trees grow with the giant sequoia?
  Trees found in association are:
  • Incense cedar.
  • Pines: Ponderosa Pine (P. ponderosa) and Sugar Pine (P. lambertiana).
  • White fir.
  • Mountain dogwood.

Links.

• Home and Index of Articles.
• Related trees:
  • The Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens).
  • Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides).
  • Pines.
• State Trees of the U.S.A..
• International trees:
  • Baobab of Africa (the world's widest tree).
  • Fig (Ficus) (sacred to many in Asia).
  • Ginkgo.

Books.

	Buy A Guide to the Sequoia Groves of California by Dwight Willard.
	Sierra Nevada Tree Identifier by Jim Paruk. Published by The Yosemite Association. An excellent guide book to all tree species in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Highly recommended to the amateur and the professional.
	Remarkable Trees of the World by Thomas Pakenham (Writer and Photographer).
	Trees and Shrubs of California (California Natural History Guides) by John David Stuart, et al.

Books:

• The Ecology of Fire by Robert J. Whelan.
• Fire in Sierra Nevada Forests: A Photographic Interpretation of Ecological Change Since 1849 by George E. Gruell.
• The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter by Colin Tudge.

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Copyright © 2003-2006 by Ariadne Unst.