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"There are an estimated half a million -->redwoods<-- in the UK and more are being planted, partly due to their public appeal. In the wild, they are endangered

"There are an estimated half a million -->redwoods<-- in the UK and more are being planted, partly due to their public appeal. In the wild, they are endangered with fewer than 80,000 -->giant sequoias<-- remaining in their native California range." (arrows mine) Giant Sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) and Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are two different trees! Note: It seems that my California nomenclature uses "Redwood" to refer specifically to Coast Redwoods, whereas other regions use "Redwood" to refer to all 3 species of Sequoioideae (Coast Redwood, Giant Sequoia, and Dawn Redwoods"). Also, funnily enough, Coast Redwoods are of the genius "Sequoia", whereas Giant Sequoia are of the genus "Sequoiadendron" I've long been aware of a thriving population of S. Sempervirens (Coast Redwoods)[1] and a non-zero population of S. Giganteum, but such a thriving population of S. Giganteum is new to me. The article focuses specifically on S. giganteum, but the references to "redwoods" throw me off.... I'm sure it's accurate, but I'm going to have to read the source paper. For those in Southern California, there's a grove of Giant Sequoia's on Mount San Jacinto that were planted in the 70's by the Forest Service. [2] [1] https://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/locations.htm https://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/locations.htm [2] https://gizmodo.com/these-sequoia-trees-are-thriving-175-miles-south-of-the-1579409426 https://gizmodo.com/these-sequoia-trees-are-thriving-175-mil...

pvaldes 3y ago
> Coast Redwoods are of the genius "Seqoia", on the genus Sequoia
- daveslash 3y ago
  Typo on my part. Fixed. Thank you. Take my upvote.
ndonnellan 3y ago
Portland, OR (NW Oregon in general) also has a lot of planted Giant Sequoias! So it may not be strictly true that they are super picky. I imagine as climate warms, the PNW will become a better spot for Sequoias. Unfortunately at the cost of trees that like it cooler and wetter e.g. Western Red Cedars. I would plant one, but their trunks get huge quickly, and I see a lot of busted sidewalks around here due to that. https://www.portland.gov/trees/sequoiadendron-giganteum https://www.portland.gov/trees/sequoiadendron-giganteum
- zwieback 3y ago
  Yeah, we have a lot of both in Corvallis, neither are great city trees but look great in parks etc. My neighbor across the street has a Sequoia and the electric company is constantly chopping out massive sections to keep the power lines safe. Redwoods look nicer, in my opinion, but have a bad habit of sprouting like crazy at the base.
- hinkley 3y ago
  Western Red Cedar is remarkably polite about foundations and sidewalks for such a massive tree. Even black walnut is more of a "fuck this sidewalk, and fuck you too" kind of tree. Current owner of a fucked sidewalk, former owner of a WRC planted way too close to a house.
wffurr 3y ago
My kids and I watched a cute short show on Nat Geo titled Giant Sequoias vs Coastal Redwoods that goes into this exact distinction: https://youtu.be/Hmhb2vmEnvA?feature=shared https://youtu.be/Hmhb2vmEnvA?feature=shared
plopz 3y ago
The story of the dawn redwoods is pretty interesting. Found in the fossil record, thought to be extinct, but then in the 40s a grove was found in china and seeds shipped all over the place. Now theres a bunch of cities planting them along sidewalks including nyc. Although sadly now it seems like the grove in china is having issues.
- indoordin0saur 3y ago
  Yeah, they're great trees on the east coast because they provide shade in the summer but drop their leaves in the winter when shaded dark streets are less desirable.
russdill 3y ago
Also in the LA area is a great grove of coastal redwoods: https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/california/redwood-grove-trail https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/california/redw...
- milleramp 3y ago
  That's interesting thanks for sharing, I have been there many times to mountain bike but never saw the grove, next time I will make a trip to that side of the park.
gerdesj 3y ago
On the BBC News today the 0.5M trees in question are being described as being Sequoiadendron. In the UK "(giant) redwood" is synonymous with Sequoiadendron - http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/ http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/ So that doesn't really clear up the issue. I think it is safe to say that there are some sodding large trees in the UK that originated from the US. Many of them will grow really, really tall. Given that there are "only" 80K S. "Big buggers" in the US and around 0.5M assorted "Redwoods" in the UK, there is a good chance that there are more S. "Rather large" here than there. Ours are the result of deliberate collection and planting. We also have a large number of Monkey puzzle trees too which I think originate from S. Americas. Just up the road from here: http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/yeovil.htm http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/yeovil.htm
ashgreat 3y ago
Is there a handy guide to tell them apart? I live in south Texas and we have a redwood tree in our backyard, which was planted by our previous owner when he moved here from California. I have no idea which type of redwood it is. It is not Texas redwood, though.
- joecool1029 3y ago
  It might be a dawn redwood (metasequoia), we have them in NJ and they do really well here. They are originally from some random valley in China and were thought to be extinct to westerners (only showing in fossil record) until 1940's or so.
  - ashgreat 3y ago
    Thanks. I googled it but doesn't look the same.
- pvaldes 3y ago
  Not difficult seeing the leaves and cones. Take some photos.
- daveslash 3y ago
  The quickest way for most is to look at the leaves/needles. Coast Redwood needles look more like a fir tree - flat and extending from a central spine. Coast Redwood cones are about the size of a small marble, about the diameter of a fingernail. Giant Sequoia needles look more like cypress or juniper - strings/ropes of needles. Giant Sequoia cones are about the size a large chicken egg yolk. Dawn Redwoods are native to China, previously thought extinct and only recently (1940s?) discovered to be living. Their leaves look more similar to Coast Redwood. I have no idea how common they are in cultivation/landscaping. Forgive the hotlink...to an image [0]. Image Source [1] [0] https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/sites/plantid7/files/plantimage/se-se-gi2.jpg https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/sites/plantid7/files... [1] https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/sequoia-sempervirens https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/sequoia-sempe...

pvaldes 3y ago

> Coast Redwoods are of the genius "Seqoia", on the genus Sequoia

daveslash 3y ago
Typo on my part. Fixed. Thank you. Take my upvote.

ndonnellan 3y ago

Portland, OR (NW Oregon in general) also has a lot of planted Giant Sequoias! So it may not be strictly true that they are super picky. I imagine as climate warms, the PNW will become a better spot for Sequoias. Unfortunately at the cost of trees that like it cooler and wetter e.g. Western Red Cedars. I would plant one, but their trunks get huge quickly, and I see a lot of busted sidewalks around here due to that. https://www.portland.gov/trees/sequoiadendron-giganteum https://www.portland.gov/trees/sequoiadendron-giganteum

zwieback 3y ago
Yeah, we have a lot of both in Corvallis, neither are great city trees but look great in parks etc. My neighbor across the street has a Sequoia and the electric company is constantly chopping out massive sections to keep the power lines safe. Redwoods look nicer, in my opinion, but have a bad habit of sprouting like crazy at the base.
hinkley 3y ago
Western Red Cedar is remarkably polite about foundations and sidewalks for such a massive tree. Even black walnut is more of a "fuck this sidewalk, and fuck you too" kind of tree. Current owner of a fucked sidewalk, former owner of a WRC planted way too close to a house.

wffurr 3y ago

My kids and I watched a cute short show on Nat Geo titled Giant Sequoias vs Coastal Redwoods that goes into this exact distinction: https://youtu.be/Hmhb2vmEnvA?feature=shared https://youtu.be/Hmhb2vmEnvA?feature=shared

plopz 3y ago

The story of the dawn redwoods is pretty interesting. Found in the fossil record, thought to be extinct, but then in the 40s a grove was found in china and seeds shipped all over the place. Now theres a bunch of cities planting them along sidewalks including nyc. Although sadly now it seems like the grove in china is having issues.

indoordin0saur 3y ago
Yeah, they're great trees on the east coast because they provide shade in the summer but drop their leaves in the winter when shaded dark streets are less desirable.

russdill 3y ago

Also in the LA area is a great grove of coastal redwoods: https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/california/redwood-grove-trail https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/california/redw...

milleramp 3y ago
That's interesting thanks for sharing, I have been there many times to mountain bike but never saw the grove, next time I will make a trip to that side of the park.

gerdesj 3y ago

On the BBC News today the 0.5M trees in question are being described as being Sequoiadendron. In the UK "(giant) redwood" is synonymous with Sequoiadendron - http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/ http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/ So that doesn't really clear up the issue. I think it is safe to say that there are some sodding large trees in the UK that originated from the US. Many of them will grow really, really tall. Given that there are "only" 80K S. "Big buggers" in the US and around 0.5M assorted "Redwoods" in the UK, there is a good chance that there are more S. "Rather large" here than there. Ours are the result of deliberate collection and planting. We also have a large number of Monkey puzzle trees too which I think originate from S. Americas. Just up the road from here: http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/yeovil.htm http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/yeovil.htm

ashgreat 3y ago

Is there a handy guide to tell them apart? I live in south Texas and we have a redwood tree in our backyard, which was planted by our previous owner when he moved here from California. I have no idea which type of redwood it is. It is not Texas redwood, though.

joecool1029 3y ago
It might be a dawn redwood (metasequoia), we have them in NJ and they do really well here. They are originally from some random valley in China and were thought to be extinct to westerners (only showing in fossil record) until 1940's or so.
- ashgreat 3y ago
  Thanks. I googled it but doesn't look the same.
pvaldes 3y ago
Not difficult seeing the leaves and cones. Take some photos.
daveslash 3y ago
The quickest way for most is to look at the leaves/needles. Coast Redwood needles look more like a fir tree - flat and extending from a central spine. Coast Redwood cones are about the size of a small marble, about the diameter of a fingernail. Giant Sequoia needles look more like cypress or juniper - strings/ropes of needles. Giant Sequoia cones are about the size a large chicken egg yolk. Dawn Redwoods are native to China, previously thought extinct and only recently (1940s?) discovered to be living. Their leaves look more similar to Coast Redwood. I have no idea how common they are in cultivation/landscaping. Forgive the hotlink...to an image [0]. Image Source [1] [0] https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/sites/plantid7/files/plantimage/se-se-gi2.jpg https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/sites/plantid7/files... [1] https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/sequoia-sempervirens https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/sequoia-sempe...