Genus Sequoia

General Sherman Tree

4 BCE

General Sherman Tree is the largest known living single-stem tree on Earth.
A Sequoiadendron giganteum, it is about 1,478 cubic meters and is between
2,300 to 2,700 years old.

Hyperion

3 BCE

The world’s tallest known living tree is called Hyperion. It is a Sequoia sempervirens and is estimated to be between 600 to 800 years old.

Last Three Species that survived the Ice Ages

2 BCE

Only three species survived the Ice Ages: the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) and the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) in California and the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) in remote areas in Southwest China. Their descendants include some of the biggest and oldest trees in the world today.

The Giant Sequoia

1 BCE

The Giant Sequoia dates back to the Jurassic Age, about 180-135 million years ago. The Sequoia jeholensis was the first species discovered in Jurassic deposits, according to fossils found in Manchuria dating back to that period. By the late Cretaceous, sequoias were established in Europe, parts of China, and western North America. Fossil remains found in North America, Greenland, Europe and Asia suggested vast forests.

The Giant Sequoia

1 BCE

The Metasequia, a redwood tree, appeared WHEN. There was a range overlap between the Sequoia and the Metasequoia, which could have led to hybridization that created the Sequioia sempervirens. By the late Eocene and Oligocene epochs, the climate changed. The drier, cooler weather reduced the Sequioa forests. The tree was extremely intolerant to frost because of the high water content of its tissues.

Giant Sequoia

1 BCE

Extreme cooling occurred in the Pliocene epoch. The Sequoia became locally extinct in Europe and Asia. Among those that became extinct were the following species (named from fossils): Sequoia affinis, Sequoia chinensis of China, Sequoia langsdorfii, Sequoia dakotensis of South Dakota, and Sequoia magnifica.