Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, Oregon, USA
Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, Oregon, USA
Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, Oregon, USA
Plant Database
Search
Map
Browse
Features
Tours
Taxon
English
Français
Taxon
Metasequoia
glyptostroboides
1 / 6
Next
Common name:
dawn redwood
Family:
Cupressaceae
Distribution:
West China Hubei and Hunan provinces
Habitat:
Wet lower slopes, montane river and stream valleys
IUCN Red list:
Endangered
Hardiness:
Zone 4a -30 to -25 F
Life form:
Deciduous conifer
Usage:
Ornamental shade tree
Comments:
Dawn redwood is a fast growing deciduous conifer reaching 100' x 25' at maturity. Known as the living fossil, the tree was known in the fossil record. A stand of trees was discovered in China in 1943, seeds sent to Arnold Arboretum. Leaves are opposite, linear, feathery, soft to the touch, 1-3cm long. Spring foliage is a light green, needles are soft, featherlike turning a deep green in summer. In autumn, leaves turn red bronze in color and then drop. Deeply fissured orange, shaggy bark provides winter interest. Trees are monoecious, producing oval, light brown female cones (3/4” long) and pendant globose male cones (1/2” long).
Best grown in moist, rich, well-drained soils in full sun. Best foliage color is in full sun. Appreciates consistent moisture. Tolerates some wet soils.
The fossil record suggests that Metasequoia first evolved about 100 million years ago in eastern Russia, then spread to Japan and throughout much of western North America. By 60 mya it is documented from northern Europe. By the end of the Miocene (about 5 mya), Metasequoia vanished from the fossil records in Eurasia and North America, and this indicates that it is relatively new to central China, perhaps only 2 mya.
The genus Metasequoia was thought to be extinct until the early 1940s when isolated populations were found alive in central China.
Oregon’s state fossil!
The species is widely planted as an ornamental.
Links:
OSU Landscape Plants - Metasequoia glyptostroboides
•
Great Plant Picks - Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Locations
1 - 20 / 28
Next
1:
0 s, 600 e
(ST 0,600)
• Accession: 1967-043/1
2:
0 s, 600 e
(ST 0,600)
• Accession: 1967-044/1
3:
0 s, 700 e
(ST 0,700)
• Accession: 1928-046/1
4:
0 s, 700 e
(ST 0,700)
• Accession: 1965-045/1
5:
100 s, 700 e
(ST 100,700)
• Accession: 1950-156/1
6:
100 s, 700 e
(ST 100,700)
• Accession: 1950-161/1
7:
100 s, 700 e
(ST 100,700)
• Accession: 1950-168/1 • Origin: China • Provenance: Wild
8:
100 s, 700 e
(ST 100,700)
• Accession: 1950-170/1
9:
100 s, 700 e
(ST 100,700)
• Accession: 1973-192/1
10:
1800 s, 800 e
(ST 1800,800)
• Accession: 1986-2524/1
11:
1900 s, 0 e
(ST 1900,0)
• Accession: 1981-2654/1
12:
200 s, 100 e
(ST 200,100)
• Accession: 1984-033/1 • Provenance: Garden
13:
200 s, 100 e
(ST 200,100)
• Accession: 1984-036/1
14:
200 s, 100 e
(ST 200,100)
• Accession: 1985-001/1
15:
200 s, 1080 e
(ST 200,1080)
• Accession: 1994-040/1
16:
200 s, 600 e
(ST 200,600)
• Accession: 1928-292/1
17:
200 s, 600 e
(ST 200,600)
• Accession: 1965-296/1
18:
200 s, 600 e
(ST 200,600)
• Accession: 1965-299/1
19:
200 s, 600 e
(ST 200,600)
• Accession: 1965-301/1
20:
200 s, 600 e
(ST 200,600)
• Accession: 1967-334/1
Area
Individual