Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Common name: Dawn redwood
Metasequoia glyptostroboides was thought to be extinct and had only been identified from fossils, but living trees were discovered in China during World War II. The tree is now endangered in China due to rice cultivation, but it has been widely planted elsewhere in the world. In areas with hot summers, flowering pollen cones appear in the spring, but they were found on one of our trees in the fall of 2019. More about this living fossil. Self-Guided Tour and also Garden Story.
In 1985, extensive remains of a fossil forest of dawn redwood and bald cypress 45 million years old were discovered in the Arctic, an insight into global climate change in the past. See Garden Story.
We also have a cultivar, Metasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Gold Rush’ along the east slope of the Sino-Himalayan Garden.
Conifer Connect Exhibit Explanation
Tree photo from Longwood Gardens by Raul654
Pollen cone photo by Lyn Anderson, Oct. 2019