Giant Sequoias Are Taking Root in an Unexpected Place: Detroit

[NNadir]

7. Actually when I looked this up I realized that...

...the sequoia in the park is not a Giant Sequoia but is rather a Dawn Redwood, a sequoia species once thought extinct but discovered in China in the 1940s. I knew that but being old I forgot it.

Previously the Dawn Redwood was only known in fossils.

It is one of three sequoia species along with the two that grow in California.

One of the best moments of my life was staying with my wife in a cabin in a grove of coastal redwoods in Big Sur. They are remarkable trees but a different species than the Giant Sequoia in the national parks in California.

I believe the giant sequoia is the only species that requires fire. If one goes one can see the burn marks on many of the trees. They are fire resistant trees, but poor fire management practices and extreme global heating have increased the temperatures of the fires when compared to those in which they evolved. This is thought to be problematic.