treasureschina: Metasequoia glyptostroboides

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Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, critically endangered deciduous tree, sole living species of the genus Metasequoia, and one of three species of conifers known as redwoods. It is native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China. Although shortest of the redwoods, it grows to at least 200 ft (61 m) in height.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood) bonsai treeLocal villagers refer to the original tree from which most others derive as Shui-sa, or "water fir," which is part of a local shrine.
Together with Sequoia sempervirens (Coast Redwood) and Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant Sequoia) of California, M. glyptostroboides is classified in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. Although it is the only living species in its genus, three fossil species are known as well. The other Sequoioideae and several other genera have been transferred from the former Taxodiaceae family to the new Cupressaceae using DNA analysis.
While the bark and foliage are similar to another closely related redwood genus Sequoia, M. glyptostroboides differs from the coast redwood in that it is deciduous like Taxodium distichum (bald cypress), and like that species, older specimens form wide buttresses on the lower trunk. It is a fast-growing tree to 40–45 m (130–148 ft) tall and 2 ft (0.61 m) trunk diameter in cultivation so far (with the potential to grow to even greater heights).

The leaves are opposite, 1–3 cm (0.39–1.2 in) long, and bright fresh green, turning a foxy red-brown in fall. The pollen cones are 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long, produced on long spikes in early spring; they are only produced on trees growing in regions with hot summers. The cones are globose to ovoid, 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) in diameter with 16-28 scales, arranged in opposite pairs in four rows, each pair at right angles to the adjacent pair; they mature in about 8–9 months after pollination.

The genus Metasequoia was first described as a fossil from the Mesozoic Era by Shigeru Miki in 1941, but in 1943 a small stand of an unidentified tree was discovered in China in Modaoxi (presently, Moudao, Lichuan County, Hubei) by Zhan Wang; due to World War II, these were not studied further until 1946 and only finally described as a new living species, M. glyptostroboides, in 1948 by Wan Chun Cheng and Hu Hsen Hsu. In 1948 the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University sent an expedition to collect seeds and, soon after, seedling trees were distributed to various universities and arboreta worldwide for growth trials.

In Lichuan County, there is one Dawn redwood forest, consisting of barely 5,000 trees (by another count, around 5,400 trees.), as well as a number of smaller groups (typically, under 30 trees each). Since its discovery, the Dawn redwood has become something of a national point of pride, and it is both protected under Chinese law and planted widely.[3] However, it is still listed as critically endangered in the wild. Though cutting of trees or branches is illegal, the demand for seedlings drives cone collection to the point that natural reproduction is no longer occurring in the Dawn redwood forest. Although the species will continue to live in yards, parks and on roadsides all over China, the M. glyptostroboides forest ecosystem could disappear when its mature trees die.

In 1995, the Crescent Ridge Dawn Redwoods Preserve was established in North Carolina. Here, hundreds of Dawn redwoods have been planted in a natural state where they can be observed and recorded in the wild, without having to travel to China. The project goal is 1,000-5,000 trees. Currently, 200+ trees thrive in three separate groves. A fourth grove was lost to beaver depredation, and resulted in the loss of 125+ trees. CRDRP remains the only Eastern redwood forest in America, and the sole wild Dawn redwood forest outside of China. The preserve is tentatively scheduled to open to the public in 2035.