Seed of the Week: Coast Redwood

Last week’s mystery seed of the week was actually a cone.

cone1

That was because I found it in a park where tearing apart cones to find their seeds is frowned upon. 🙂

The seeds look something like this:

Sequoia-sempervirens

(Photo by Danny S. at Wikimedia)

It belongs to the coast redwood tree, Sequoia sempervirens.

redwood1

It is amazing that such a small seed, only about the size of a tomato seed, can produce such a massive tree. Coast redwoods can grow up to 375 feet tall.

redwood2

The trees also live a long time. You can tell how old a tree is by counting its rings.

redwood3

Actually redwoods don’t often grow from seeds. More frequently they sprout from a parent tree, causing a ring of seedlings.

New redwoods can also sprout from burls, lumpy growths that form on the sides of the trunk. Now that is wild!

redwood5

No matter how they grow, coast redwood trees are still impressive. So impressive that photographs can’t do them justice. You really need to see them in real life.

Coast redwoods are only found naturally along the west coast of California and Oregon, although they have been introduced a few other places.

Isn’t that amazing? With Earth Day and Arbor Day celebrations going on, it’s a great time to go out into the woods and learn more about big trees.

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3 Comments

  1. jasmine

    An amazing post. I love the redwoods but rarely see them. I can’t imagine anything more spectacular or inspiring than walking through a forest such as the one in the video clip you have shared. Thank you 🙂

  2. Roberta

    You are right, nothing matches the experience of walking through a redwood forest.

  3. suzi smith

    mmm… agree with jasmine… thank you for such a lovely post. It’s hard to imagine the size of them!

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