Redwood Trees   

             The Redwood Tree, Sequoia sempervirens, is the tallest species of tree on Earth. It can reach up to 380 feet tall and 26 feet in diameter. The bark alone can be up to 1 foot thick. It is an evergreen that can live up to 2,200 years old, with many others reaching 600. It is the only living species of the genus Sequoia.   

                                           Redwood Trees

          Redwood trees are found on the western coast in central and northern California. They can live up to 3000ft, and sometimes at sea level. They rarely live near the ocean because of salt spray, wind, and sand. The tallest ones are found in deep valleys with lots of streams and fog. Places like this recieve up to 100 inches of rainfall a year.

          The bark of the redwood tree is unique because it resists fire and insect damage. Redwood trees are resistant to flooding; they just grow into the silt left behind. The leaves do not start until high off the ground, preventing fires. There are no diseases that can harm redwood trees. They provide shelter for many animals,including the threatened Spotted Owl and the endangered Marbled Murrelet. They may be exclusive to California now, but according to the fossil record, up until about 5 million years ago they were found as far away as Europe and Asia.

          Redwood is the most valuable species of timber because of its beauty, its ability to resist decay and fire, and it is lightweight. About 900,000 acres of redwood forests are cut down as timber. 

          The pictures above are of albino redwood trees(individuals that cannot produce chlorophyll). There are about 50 alive today, and they can reach up to 20m tall(about 32 ft). They survive as parasites, and they get their food by grafting their roots with a normal individual's. Albinos do survive as redwoods, but not any other conifer species.

          The theoretical potential height of a tree is between 400 and 425 ft tall(calculated by gravity and the friction of water on the vessels it goes through), compared to the world's tallest tree, Hyperion, which is 379.1 ft tall.

          Redwood trees begin making seeds from 10-15 years old, but they are only real seeds 15% of the time to stop seed eaters(they would have to search a long time to find 1 seed). The wind only moves them 200-400 feet away from the parent tree. They grow very fast, reaching 65 ft after just 20 years. Also, new trees start to grow on the stump of a tree, around it's base, and even on fallen branches.

          The leaves on redwood trees are flat, sharp, and green (as expected). Their cones are half an inch in diameter. The bark has a grayish tinge on older trees.

Fun Facts 

• There are 33 live trees measured at over 361 feet tall.
• There are 137 at over 350 ft tall.
• A tree that was claimed to be 380 ft tall was chopped down in 1912.
• The tallest tree that isn't a redwood is a Eucalyptus regnans named Centurion that is 327 ft tall.
• If the sun went out, trees would live for decades because of their slow metabolism.    
• There are 4 trees that you can drive through in a car.  
• The insides of a car battery, which is an acid powerful enough to take the skin off of your hand, wouldn't affect a redwood tree. In fact, from the 1930's to the 1960's, redwood was used to separate the acids in car and airplane batteries.                                                                             

Bibliography

Pictures:(in order of appearance up to down, left to right)

Found 1/17/09 Author: Nick Strobelwww.astronomynotes.com/ nature/pic31.htm

Found 1/17/09http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/redwood.html

Found 1/17/09www.flowersociety.org/ Redwood-profile.htm

Found 1/18/09en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Sequoia

Found 1/18/09travel.webshots.com/ photo/2393009600034069617LiXcLl

Fould 1/18/09Author: Joanne Danielsonwww.rovingrowes.com/.../ 0226-felton/index.html

Information:

Found 1/17/09 Sequoia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Found 2/5/09http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/redwoods.html

For more information about the cells that make up Redwood trees, click here. 

For more information about how the cells that make up Redwood trees make food, click here.

Some other random pages that I think are interesting are Glowing Mice, chupacabra, DNA, Aloe Vera, Potatoes, Emperor Tamarin, Mermaid Syndrome, and Taxonomy.

Back to Frontpage