Common Name: dawn redwood
Scientific Name: Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Category: Champion (big) tree
Comments: I first learned of the dawn redwood tree from a coal exhibition near Bluefield, West Virginia. There were imprints of a fern-like branch on the face of a slab of coal. It was the imprint of a fossil tree, the dawn redwood. Around 1950 or so it was found that the dawn redwood could no longer be considered a fossil. A group of botanists had gone to China when the silk curtain came up and there they found a stand of dawn redwoods. Around 1963 I purchased a dawn redwood seedling after reading about it in a gardening magazine. It may be one of the first to be grown in the United States. That seedling then was less than a foot tall. The tree, now 43 years old, is huge so that no picture can be taken of it in its entirety. But on the picture you can see its trunk. I'm standing next to it. Squirrels like the bark and now around my yard they construct their nests with it. That does not seem to hurt the tree, since the bark is sort of "flaky". The cones are quite small, but birds
Nominator: Grete Dollitz
This tree is not on public or publicly accessible property. The owner's name, address, and the exact location of the tree are not displayed to protect the privacy of these individuals. If you are the owner and wish to make this information public, please let us know.
County/City: Richmond City