The dawn redwood The dawn redwood (January 30, 2004)

First discovered in China in 1941, the tree thrives in Palo Alto

by Forest Preston

When you last bought stamps at the downtown Palo Alto post office did you feel a sense of sorrow over the apparent demise of that mature redwood on the post office's Waverley Street frontage? Well rest easy, what you saw is the perfectly normal winter state of a Dawn Redwood -- Metasequoia glyptostrobides. Unlike Palo Alto's eponymous example of Sequoia sempervirens and its many cousins around town, or even the other genus of the Sequoia family Sequoiadendron giganteum, the Dawn Redwood is deciduous.

The Sequoia family has three distinct species and each is noteworthy. Coast Redwood (sempervirens) is the tallest living thing. Giganteum is the largest, most massive living thing.

Glyptostrobides, on the other hand, has no such claim. Its first modern identification was in 1941. Shigeru Miki, a Japanese paleobotanist, found something interesting in the fine details of a fossil discovered near Kobe. The needles and shoots were opposite from each other on the branch (in sempervirens they alternate in a "spiral" arrangement). And the cones were on the end of naked stalks; sempervirens has them on needle-bearing twigs. Miki assigned this discovery a name reflecting a new genus -- Metasequoia -- meaning (roughly) the newest, next-to, or akin-to sequoia.

Further research showed that many fossils previously believed to be sempervirens were, in fact, Metasequoia. This species had actually been widely prevalent throughout the northern hemisphere (Europe, Asia, North America, even Greenland, Spetzbergen and some remote Arctic Canadian islands) in Pliocene times (more than 100 million years ago -- truly the time "when dinosaurs roamed the Earth").

But, living specimens were unknown to the scientific community. In fact, the community believed that they had become extinct 20 million years ago.

Meanwhile, in a remote part of the Sichuan (Szechwan) province of China, a Chinese Forestry expedition came upon a large deciduous tree in the village of Modaoqi. Locals had built a small shrine at its base. They prayed to the tree for fertility, health and good crops. It is a remarkable coincidence that this "discovery" occurred in 1941 also -- the year Miki had made his discovery. However, it was wartime. Not until 1946 did Dr. Hu at the Fan Memorial Institute in Bejing recognize the similarities between the specimens sent to him from the Modaoqi tree (known as the "type" tree) and the characteristics of Metasequoia described in Miti's research publication. Since the locals had considered the tree to be akin to the Chinese swamp cyprus Glyptostrobus, the genus whose fossils and living example were now connected was given the additional moniker of glyptostrobides.

What a marvelously exciting time this was in the botanical community! Western awareness of the discovery was given a further boost when Ralph Chaney of the University of California and Milton Silverman of the San Francisco Chronicle decided to go on their own expedition in 1948. They wanted to see first-hand the "type" tree and the unspoiled forest of thousands of these trees reported to be growing in a nearby secluded valley. During this trip the common name "Dawn Redwood" was given to glyptostroboides -- a catchier name for the press to use with its own special aura.

The trip was arduous and dangerous. They brought back specimens and seeds that were distributed worldwide. Then began the wait to see if the tree could survive in other habitats. As we now know, it could and did. Examples abound in horticultural gardens and in private plantings throughout the world (I first saw one in London's Kew Gardens). Our own tree must have been one of these early examples for it was planted March 7, 1949 -- Arbor Day.

The Dawn Redwood has a tapered trunk that is buttressed at its base. It grows rapidly reaching a height in excess of 35 meters. What record does it hold? Well, none, really. But I'm sure you'll admit it has a very interesting history.

Canopy has plans for several events to celebrate Arbor Month -- March 2004. You'll soon see more about them here in the Weekly. Meanwhile, why not plan to drop by this fine example of a Dawn Redwood during Arbor month and wish it a very Happy 55th birthday!

Palo Alto resident Forest Preston is a volunteer for Canopy: Trees for Palo Alto, a non-profit advocate for Palo Alto's community trees. You can contact Canopy at (650) 964-6110 or info@canopy.org or send questions to Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302.

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