The Dawn Redwood Tree

 

Scientific Name: Metasequoia glyptostroboides

 The Dawn Redwood tree, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, is a deciduous conifer, with soft needle-like leaves that look like evergreens, but are bright green in the spring and brilliant orange/red in the fall. The needles are shed in the cold season of winter.

Dawn Redwood trees are a very ornamental and interesting large tree, one of the few deciduous conifers in the world. It is feathery pyramidal in form with a straight, fluted trunk. It grows very fast to 40’ and can grow to 70’.

The bark is red- brown, fissured and exfoliating in long strips. It is a beautiful and stately tree, well suited for large areas. It makes a very effective, fast growing screen, perfect as a long driveway alley. This tree does best in full sun and when provided with adequate moisture.

The Dawn Redwood has been called "a living fossil" because it was first discovered in Japan in 1941 and then found growing in the wild in China. The species is over 50 million years old. It is a very hardy tree and tolerates windy sites.