Dawn Redwood - Meet The Endangered
Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)
It has long been known that the giant redwoods and sequoias of California were the last remnants of a much larger redwood family, whose other members vanished from the fossil record tens of millions of years ago. So it came as quite a shock when, in 1948, one of these species - presumed extinct and known only from museum fossil collections - was found very much alive in south-central China.
The Dawn Redwood is shorter than its American cousins, growing to ‘only’ 51 m (167 ft) tall. It also grows much more quickly, reaching its mature height in about 50 years - compared to around 400 years for Giant Sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Both characteristics - along with its unusual status as a deciduous conifer that changes color in autumn - have made the newly resurrected species a popular ornamental tree around the world.
Ironically, so has climate change. The Dawn Redwood evolved at a time when temperatures and carbon dioxide levels were much higher. It is thus an excellent climate-resilient arboreal choice for parks or city streets.
Abundant elsewhere, this ancient tree remains endangered within its wild range due to habitat fragmentation and low genetic diversity. If it hadn’t been discovered and commercialized, this living fossil might have gone extinct in this century without anyone noticing.
IUCN: Endangered (EN)
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