| I love the story of the Dawn Redwood. It always | | | | in a very remote part of rural China. Foresters |
| gives me faith that despite all technology and | | | | stumbled upon the small grove, and recognizing that |
| science, the mystery of this world will continue to | | | | they had never seen anything like these trees |
| amaze us forever. Although the Dawn Redwood has | | | | before, brought back samples. A Professor Hu with |
| been growing on this planet for over 50 million years, | | | | the Beijing Botanical Institute, realized after examining |
| it was not until relatively recently that botanists and | | | | the leaves and having read Dr. Miki's article, that he |
| scientists even became aware that it existed as a | | | | was looking at a very much alive and not fossilized |
| species, and even then, they believed that it was | | | | Dawn Redwood. Steps were taken to preserve the |
| extinct. | | | | trees found only in the provinces of Sichuan and |
| In the early 1940's, Dr. Shigeru Miki a Japanese | | | | Hubei as there were only around 1000 trees alive. |
| paleo-botanist, was working with fossils from the | | | | Villagers, not realizing what they had, had been using |
| Redwood Sequoia and Cypress trees from the | | | | the trees for their daily living, feeding their cattle and |
| United States. But what he found was not typical of | | | | using the wood for construction. |
| either the Sequoia or Cypress trees. Both the | | | | If you saw a Dawn Redwood, no doubt you would |
| Sequoia and Cypress trees had alternating leaves. | | | | remember it. A mature tree can be over 200 feet, |
| The leaves of the fossils that he found were | | | | although most are in the 100's. It is tall with a more |
| opposed to each other and were longer than the | | | | slender trunk than the massive trunks of the |
| others. He realized that he had found a new genus of | | | | California Sequoia Redwood tree. The branches are |
| redwood and called it Metasequoia, meaning similar to | | | | symmetrical and curved or sloped upwards. The |
| the Sequoia (Meta is the Greek word for similar to). | | | | Dawn Redwood's bark is similar to the Sequoia with |
| Unfortunately, he believed that it was extinct | | | | the same reddish hue, although it is more delicate (if |
| because the youngest fossils he had were over 1.5 | | | | bark can be delicate) and not as rough. The leaves |
| million years old. However, he published his findings. | | | | needles are almost feathery and bright green. They |
| Surprisingly, in the same decade, but for an entirely | | | | turn an amazing copper in the fall before they fall. A |
| different reason, living Dawn Redwoods were found | | | | Dawn Redwood is truly a beautiful tree. |