Sequoia: description, care and planting, reproduction, use in the garden, photo. Sequoia - the largest tree in the world Sequoia tree where the mainland grows

The only species of the genus is red or evergreen sequoia. Is a symbol american state California. Known throughout the world for its giant size and rot-resistant wood.

Sequoia is considered the tallest tree on the planet. It belongs to the genus of coniferous plants, which means it is also one of the most ancient plants.

During the excavations, it was found that the first redwoods appeared on earth about 208 million years ago and occupied vast territories in the northern hemisphere.

Nowadays, sequoia is found freely in the state of California. This tree is not widely used because it needs a lot of water for normal growth, so it does not go far from the ocean coast.

On this moment the current record for tallest tree is 115.5 meters.

For the first time this plant was found in the coastal zone Pacific Ocean. For the color of its wood, the sequoia received the first name "mahogany", which is still known. A little later, this plant was bred into a separate species.

For the excellent qualities of wood sequoia gained wide popularity and began to be used for the manufacture of various products.

The sequoia has a conical crown, the branches are horizontal or slightly inclined downward. The thickness of the bark is very large and can reach 30 cm, fibrous, relatively soft, immediately after removal, the color is red-brown, and fades over time.

root system shallow, consists of lateral roots. The size of the leaves does not exceed 20-30 mm in length. They have a flat and elongated shape in young trees.

Sequoia care

Decorative sequoia is very demanding on the amount of moisture in the soil, it is necessary to constantly monitor its level. Dry soil is very harmful to the plant.

Throughout the entire period of life, decorative sequoia needs mineral fertilizers. You need to monitor the level of lighting, on a hot day the plant can absorb a large number of water, so it needs to be watered regularly.

Sequoia breeding

Initially, the sequoia did not grow in our climate, but thanks to the efforts of landscapers and dendrologists, species resistant to a cool climate appeared. Redwood propagation is possible by germinating very small seeds.

These seeds are stored in cones. One cone can contain from 150 to 200 seeds. After lengthy experiments, an adult sequoia began to withstand frosts from 18 to 20 degrees.

Possibly also vegetative reproduction: grafting and cuttings. The vitality of the sequoia has been perfected over thousands of years.

This tree can easily sprout from an old stump or sprout hundreds of offshoots from a fallen trunk. Such a rapid renewal was made possible by the awakening of dormant kidneys.

Sequoia planting

Sequoia should be planted in a nutrient substrate, it is advisable to use growth stimulants. It is possible, but not necessary, to lay a layer of coarse sand at the bottom of the landing pit. Young specimens need to be covered for the winter or grown in greenhouses.

Sequoias can be planted in the spring, from April to May. The plant is very sensitive to transplants, so it is advisable to keep an earthen ball on the roots and perform all actions in a short period of time.

The use of sequoia in the garden

Since the sequoia is different large sizes, it is often used as a tapeworm in parks. It is not recommended to land in small areas. Decorative forms of sequoia are often used for bonsai gardens.

Video "Sequoia - the largest tree in the world"

1. Application
2. Wood characteristic
3. Used varieties

Sequoias occupy a special place in the cypress family, including several genera of truly unique trees, the only representatives of which are Sequoia sempervirens - evergreen or red sequoia (Redwood) and Sequoiadendron - giant sequoiadendron.

Giant pines, as sequoias are also called, in ancient times they were common throughout the Northern Hemisphere, today in our country several specimens of trees are planted in the parks of the Black Sea coast, they are also grown in greenhouses or botanical gardens. But the only place where their natural habitat has been preserved is a relatively small area of ​​the Pacific coast. North America: national park Redwood and Muir Forest Reserve in California, approximately 800 km long and about 80 km wide, a small part of East Texas and Maryland, East Coast Canada.

Description of the species

There has been a lot of controversy about the origin of the name "sequoia" given to it by the Austrian biologist Stefan Endliger. Opinions were expressed that this is an empty set of sounds, a designation of the sequential order of the arrangement of seeds in cones, and, finally, the name of the famous leader of the Cherokee tribe. The latter option is considered the most likely.

These trees prefer a humid maritime climate, which is explained by their concentration on the ocean. They are not called giants for nothing - the height of sequoias is rarely below 60 m, but more often taller specimens are found - up to 100–115 m. The width of the trunks corresponds to gigantic sizes - giants reach 18 m in diameter, and 6-meter trees are quite an average scale for sequoias . At the same time, certain species differences can be traced: giant sequoiadendron lower - about 70-90 m, but it has a thicker trunk, reaching up to 37 m in girth, while the "thin-barreled" 6-meter evergreen sequoia, or redwood, grows up to 100 m and above. The weight of one plant exceeds 1000 kg. People against the background of these heroic trees look like midgets.

The genus Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a glyptostroboid metasequoia growing in China, an evergreen coniferous tree. Also included in the subfamily, however, it does not have a cyclopean size, being a rather medium-sized tree belonging to an endangered species.

The size of the plants is impressive, their age is striking: in order to rise to the height of a skyscraper and grow as thick as a house, giant pines sometimes take more than 1000 years. Some unique ones live even longer - up to 2000 and 3500 years. But this is not the limit: there is information about trees 6000 years old. Scientists determine these relics by the layers of wood weather- the amount of precipitation, the ambient air temperature in the area - the former hundreds of years ago.

"General Sherman", "Hyperion", "Stratospheric Giant" and other, the most famous instances of sequoia, are a kind of natural monuments, which thousands of tourists come to admire in the US California national parks. Driving along the highway, laid through the groves of giants, can be considered a real journey through fairy world grandiose giants. On the way there are tunnels for cars, punched in fallen trees, huge stumps, on the surface of which it is possible to place a whole parking lot, arrange a dance floor or an open-air cafe.

Sequoias are monoecious trees, mostly straight-stemmed. Their bark is extremely thick and soft, from 30 to 80 cm wide, and peels off quite easily. In young plants, it has a bright red color, for which they are often called american redwood. In old-timers, the shade of the bark becomes dark. Loose, like a sponge, it is able to accumulate in itself a lot of moisture necessary for growth, serves as a protection for the trunk from adverse external conditions and even forest fires. The root system is widely branched, located relatively shallow. The branches of the sequoia grow horizontally with respect to the trunk; in sequoias, they often hang down like mammoth tusks, for which they are nicknamed mammoth trees. The crowns are very dense, pyramidal in shape, the needles are 10 to 20 mm long, scaly, flat. Cones are rounded, 3-3.5 cm in size, consist of spirally twisted scales. Sequoia seeds are small - up to 3-4 mm, ripen in October, in one cone they are found from 3 to 7 pieces.

Pests do not damage giant pines - like all conifers, sequoias contain many phytoncides that are harmful to insects and pathogens.

An important property of trees is the ability to quickly recover from mechanical damage - even the removal of the bark does not become an obstacle to further growth, and new young shoots quickly rise in place of completely felled specimens.

Sequoias are relatively frost-resistant, able to withstand temperatures down to -20°C, which makes it possible to plant them in the southern and temperate regions of Russia. It propagates not only by seeds, but also by cuttings, as well as grafting, it allows you to breed new ones, including decorative varieties of various sizes, shapes and colors, perfect for landscape gardening.

Wood characteristic

The wood of the evergreen sequoia and giant sequoia is recognized in the world as one of the best conifers. It is similar in quality to spruce, but with greater resistance to fungal attack.

The red California tree, as the sequoia is called, has earned considerable popularity. It grows 10 times faster than birch, and the mass of one log can reach 2500 kg. Sequoia belongs to the soft types of wood. The sapwood is thin, light creamy, looser than the central part. Heartwood is of great value, it is light cherry, carmine or light brown in color with uniform core rays and vertical rows of resin cells. It has a pronounced contrasting pattern formed by darker growth rings. Younger layers are less dense than older ones. Lumber fibers are straight, there are almost no graininess.

In the process of pre-treatment, freshly cut material practically does not crack or warp; shrinkage due to the lack of internal stress in the sequoia is negligible, despite the high natural humidity. Dry wood has density about 450 kg/cu. m, durable, well resists compression and twisting, fairly light, resistant to mold, insect damage, rotting. Its service life is more than 40 years, in contact with the soil - about 25.

Used varieties

The best grade is recognized as the so-called pure heartwood without knots and other defects, equal in density, with an impeccable texture and a regular geometric pattern. It undergoes drying in natural conditions, is not exposed to high temperatures. Such material is used exclusively for the production of products and top-class finishes.

Less quality, but quite practical and durable are considered wood varieties: just clean and sound B. They are able to undergo pre-drying in kilns, include a small amount of sapwood, have knots and other defects in their composition. These types are used for the manufacture of various outdoor structures, supporting structures, flooring of terraces, installation of fences.

In addition, within less valuable varieties there is a gradation:

• construction (deck) sound - includes fragments with a large number of knots, designed for beams, decking, installation of supports;
• building ordinary - is a mixture of sapwood and kernels, used for various ground structures: arbors, verandas, flooring, fences;
• trade sound - a kind of pure, but cheaper wood, the composition includes various defects: cracks, knots, defects in processing. It is used for outdoor work, where decorative qualities are not important, but high strength and resistance to adverse factors are required;
• trade - the lowest grade, assuming the presence of sapwood, is used only for outdoor work: the construction of fences, formwork of supporting walls.

Sequoia is easily amenable to any type of processing: sawing, turning, cutting with mechanical and hand tools. Holds screws, nails and staples well, etched with stains, sanded and polished, glued and painted.

Application

High performance and beautiful appearance allow you to use this wood anywhere: for outdoor and internal works, in construction, furniture, turning industry, for the manufacture of facing and decorating skins. At home, poles and sleepers, various retaining parts, street benches, stairs, trim panels, window frames, jambs, doors, interior lining of trailers, wagons, yacht cabins, wooden tiles, and paper are made from it.

Sequoia is odorless, so it can come into contact with food products, and in addition, it is excellent for making cigar cases and boxes, barrels for storing honey, boxes for spices.

Fire firewalls and redwood exits have historically been made due to the wood's high resistance to fire.

Sequoia is a hero tree, one of the tallest and oldest trees on our planet. Its size is shocking, changing the idea of ​​trees that we are used to in puppet cities. This feeling of being tiny won't leave you yet. for a long time. It clearly does not fit into the framework of perception modern man, which are usually equivalent to the size of the phone - the eyes part in different directions, wanting to embrace 111 meters of wildlife with a single glance and not clink glasses.

The ability to see the whole world without tearing it into frames was probably the most common thing for people who once lived among such giants.

Where is the name from?

Only one tree was honored with the name of the people's leader. This is what the Iroquois Indian tribe in North America did: wanting to perpetuate the memory of their outstanding leader, the Sekwa, they assigned his name to one of the most unusual and majestic trees. It was he, Sekwu, who invented Indian writing, led the liberation struggle of the Iroquois against foreign enslavers, and was the first public educator.

True, numerous attempts were made to rename the sequoia. So, immediately after the discovery of sequoia by Europeans, they called it a California pine, and later called it a mammoth tree (for the similarity of old sagging branches with mammoth tusks). Some time passed, and the English botanist Lindley, who first scientifically described this tree, gave it a new name - wellingtonia in honor of the English commander Wellington, who distinguished himself in the battle with Napoleon's troops at Waterloo. The Americans decided not to lag behind and hastened to christen the sequoia Washingtonia, in memory of their first president, George Washington.

How long does a tree live?

Numerous studies show that its age can reach 6000 years: this is more than the entire ancient, middle and new story humanity. Some sequoias are many centuries older than the Egyptian pyramids.

Where does Sequoia grow?

Experts from many countries claim that in distant geological periods, sequoias grew all over the earth.

Now the oldest giant sequoia grows in the United States along the Pacific coast in a strip about 750 km long and 8 to 75 km wide from California to southwestern Oregon. Sequoia is also grown in Canadian province British Columbia, in the southeastern United States from east Texas to Maryland, Hawaii, New Zealand, the UK, Italy, Portugal, South Africa and Mexico. Average heights - 30-750 m above sea level, sometimes trees grow near the shore, sometimes climb to a height of up to 920 m. Sequoia loves the humidity that it brings with it sea ​​air. the highest and oldest trees grow in gorges and deep ravines, where all year round flows can get humid air and where fogs regularly occur. Trees growing above the fog layer (above 700 m) are lower and smaller due to drier, windier and cooler growing conditions.

Russian sequoia

The efforts of our scientists to acclimatize sequoia did not immediately give encouraging results. Only after many years of experiments did it begin to grow in the parks of the Crimea, the Caucasus, in the south Central Asia and in Transcarpathia. It has been established that under our conditions it can tolerate frosts of no more than 18-20 degrees.

The seeds obtained from our redwoods germinated poorly, and only after the use of artificial pollination, proposed by the Soviet Michurinists, was it possible to increase their germination to 50 - 60%. Vegetative propagation of sequoias is also well mastered: cuttings or grafting.

The pioneers of the acclimatization of giant trees in our country were botanists from the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. Sequoia has been cultivated here since 1850. It is in the Nikitsky Garden that the oldest copy of the giant sequoia in Europe is located, and in many parks of the Southern Crimea and Black Sea coast In the Caucasus, it has now become an almost obligatory tree. The height of its individual specimens (in the park of the village of Frunzenskoye, in the Crimea, in Batumi botanical garden on Cape Verde and in other places) exceeds 50 meters.

Why do scientists love sequoia?

The longevity of the sequoia is put at the service of science. With the help of these ancient inhabitants, scientists managed to look into the depths of millennia. Thanks to the annual rings on the cross sections of huge trunks, researchers have received quite reliable data on the climate of bygone times. After all, sequoias, reacting to weather changes, regularly and according to the amount of precipitation each year, increased thicker, then thinner layers of wood, or growth rings. Scientists have examined the trunks of over 450 such giants. These materials made it possible to track the weather for more than 2000 years. As a result, it became known, for example, that 2000, 900 and 600 years ago there were periods very rich in precipitation, and the periods 1200 and 1400 years apart from us were distinguished by extremely long and severe droughts.

With the help of redwoods, American scientists also learned the weather of a closer time. Thus, it was possible to establish that the years 1900 and 1934 were marked for the North American continent by the most severe droughts in the last 1200 years.

Not afraid of fires

The bark of an adult sequoia is about half a meter thick and absorbs water like a sponge. Thanks to this structure, these trees are not at all afraid of fires, which in coniferous forests not uncommon - young trees with thin bark die, the old ones could not be destroyed by fire, and this is for thousands of years of constant attempts.

Lightning Favorite

The Sequoia pays a high price for its greatness. Proudly towering above the rest of the trees, it attracts lightning like a magnetized rod. Despite the deadly blows, many trees manage to survive by shedding scorched branches.

scientific classification

Domain: Eukaryotes
Kingdom: Plants
Department: Conifers
Class: Conifers (Pinopsida Burnett, 1835)
Order: Pine
Family: Cypress
Subfamily: Sequoias
Genus: Sequoia
International scientific name
Sequoia Endl. (1847), nom. cons.
Daughter taxa
Sequoia evergreen
Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.
conservation status
VU from English. Vulnerable species - vulnerable species. Protected status assigned species that are at risk of becoming endangered

Botanical description

Sequoia is an evergreen monoecious tree.

In monoecious plants, female and male flowers (in the broadest sense - male and female generative organs) are on the same individual ("in the same house"). Monoeciousness is more common in wind-pollinated plants. Monoecious plants include: watermelon, birch, beech, Walnut, oak, corn, hazel, cucumber, alder, pumpkin and other gourds, breadfruit. When monoecious is understood in a broad sense, spruce, pine, and many mosses and algae also belong to monoecious plants.

The crown is conical, the branches grow horizontally or with a slight downward slope. The bark is very thick, up to 30 cm thick, and relatively soft, fibrous, red-brown in color immediately after peeling (hence the name "mahogany"), darkens with time. The root system consists of shallow, widely spread lateral roots. The leaves of young trees are elongated and flat, 15-25 mm long, in the upper part of the crown of old trees they are scaly, 5 to 10 mm long.

Useful for its qualities and very thick (in comparison with other tree species) sequoia bark, which, like a sponge, absorbs water well. Thanks to this structure of the bark, these trees are not at all afraid of fires.

Cones are ovoid, 15-32 mm long, with 15-25 spirally twisted scales; pollination occurs at the end of winter, ripening - after 8-9 months. Each cone contains 3-7 seeds, each of which is 3-4 mm long and 0.5 mm wide. The seeds are released when the cone dries and opens.

The redwood genome (at 31,500 megabases) is one of the largest among the conifers, and it is the only known hexaploid among gymnosperms to date.

How to grow Sequoia at home

Initially, the sequoia did not grow in our climate, but thanks to the efforts of landscapers and dendrologists, species resistant to a cool climate appeared. It is better to find the place where these trees grow near you. Having received sequoia seeds, they should be prepared for planting. Do it better in early spring to advance next winter small sequoias managed to get stronger. To begin with, the seeds should “overwinter” in the refrigerator for about a week. At the same time, you should not put them in the freezer, a temperature of about +6 C is enough. Then you need to arrange a “thaw” for them, soaking them in melted water at room temperature for a couple of days. The seeds should be planted in sandy-clay, well-moistened soil, sprinkled with earth by 1-2 mm, and it is important that the seeds get sunlight. At this time, they can be covered with cling film or a transparent cap.

A couple of times a day, crops must be ventilated and sprayed. It is very important at the same time to keep the ground moist, but not wet, since the sprouts often die from waterlogging. To avoid this, the sprouts should be sprayed with a spray bottle, and not watered with a watering can. The germination rate of sequoias is low, in the best case, 15-25% of the seeds will sprout. The first shoots may appear after 2 days, or maybe after 2 months.

As soon as you have sprouts, the film or cap must be removed immediately. Without free air circulation, the sprouts quickly die. A couple of days after hatching, the sprout sheds the dry skin of the seeds. If he has any difficulty with this, you can gently help him. Young shoots love the sun, but they should be shaded from direct sunlight. Small sequoias should not be kept close to heating appliances. Dry air is harmful to them. After 5 months, you will already have a miniature Christmas tree. Sequoias under the age of 3 years should be kept in a pot and watered regularly. Dry periods are stressful for redwoods, as a result of which it greatly slows down growth. Biennial plants can be kept in the yard in warm weather. For the winter, the tree should be brought into the house. From spring it can be kept outdoors in a well-lit area. A tree 1-1.5 m high can already be planted in open ground. In European climatic conditions sequoia withstands frosts down to -18 C.

Lumberjacks hunting for Sequoia

For reddish, as if impregnated with carmine wood, sequoia is sometimes also called mahogany. Its wood is valued not only because of the original color, but also because of the unusual physical properties: it is light, like that of aspen, and porous, like that of paulownia, it perfectly resists decay in the ground and water, and is easily amenable to any processing.

Data

The most high sequoia, named Hyperion, was discovered in the summer of 2006 by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor in Redwood National Park north of San Francisco. The height of the tree is 115.61 meters. The researchers said that the woodpecker's damage to the tree at the top prevented the sequoia from reaching a height of 115.8 meters (380 feet).

15 currently growing trees have a height of more than 110 m, and 47 trees have a height of more than 105 m.
Some argue that the height of the sequoia, cut down in 1912, was 115.8 m.
The second place in height after the sequoia is occupied by Douglasia (Pseudotsuga Menzies). The tallest living pseudo-hemzies of Menzies, "Doerner Fir" (formerly known as "Brummit fir"), is 99.4 m tall.

In 2004, a Northern Arizona University study was published in the journal Nature, according to which the maximum theoretical height of a sequoia (or any other tree) is limited to 122-130 meters due to gravity and friction between water and the pores of the wood through which it oozes.
The most voluminous tree among redwoods is Titan Del Norte (English) Russian. The volume of this sequoia is estimated at 1044.7 m³, height - 93.57 m, and diameter - 7.22 m. Among all trees growing on Earth, only 15 giant sequoias (sequoiadendrons) are more massive than it. Sequoiadendrons (English giant sequoia) are somewhat shorter, but they have a thicker trunk than sequoias. So, the volume of the largest copy of the sequoiadendron "General Sherman" is 1487 m³.

Sequoia National Park

Sequoia National Park is a national park in the United States, located in the southern part of the Sierra Nevada, east of the city of Visalia in California. The park was founded in 1890, the third after national parks Yellowstone (since 1872) and Mackinac (1875-1895). The area of ​​the park is 1635 km². The park has a mountainous relief, rising from a height of about 400 meters above sea level in the foothills to highest point in the adjacent 48 states - the peaks of Mount Whitney (4421.1 m). The park borders Kings Canyon National Park; since 1943, both parks have been managed by the US National Park Service as a single division - Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

The park is best known for its giant sequoias, including a specimen called the General Sherman, the largest (by volume of wood) tree on earth. In 2009, the wood volume of this tree was just under 1,500 cubic meters. General Sherman grows up in a grove" giant forest”(Eng. Giant Forest), which contains five of the ten largest trees in terms of volume of wood in the world. The giant forest is connected by the Generals Highway to Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park, where, among other redwoods, grows the General Grant tree - the second largest tree in the world.
Other attractions include Moro Rock, which can be climbed by a specially constructed staircase in the 1930s to look around the surroundings from a height of 75 meters above the ground.

It makes me want to draw a couple of dinosaurs here.

How the Sequoia was photographed

Sequoia is a monotypic genus of trees, plants of the Cypress family. The natural range of the genus is the Pacific coast of North America. Individual specimens of sequoia reach a height of more than 110 m - these are the tallest trees on Earth. The maximum trunk diameter of a sequoia is 11.1 m (for a specimen with its own name General Sherman, maximum age- more than three and a half thousand years.

Sequoia (Sequoia)
Sequoia evergreen

The name of the genus was given in honor of Sequoyah (George Hess) (Sequoyah) - the Indian leader of the Cherokee tribe, the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary, the founder of the newspaper in the Cherokee language.
Distribution area
Trees taller than 60 m are very common, many taller than 90 m.

* The tallest tree is a sequoia discovered in the summer of 2006 by Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor in Redwood National Park, the height of Hyperion, as the tree was named, is 115.5 meters (379, 1 foot). The researchers said that the woodpecker's damage to the tree at the top prevented the sequoia from reaching a height of 115.8 meters (380 feet).
* The previous highest growing record was the Stratospheric Giant at Humboldt Redwoods California State Park at 112.83 meters, last measured in 2004 (August 2000-112.34m, 2002-112.56m) .
*Before Hyperion, the tallest tree of all time was the Dyerville Giant, also in Humboldt Redwoods Park, measured after it fell in March 1991 at 113.4 meters, estimated to be 1600 years old.
* Of 15 growing trees over 110 m in height.
* 47 trees over 105 m in height.
* Some claim that the height of the tree cut down in 1912 was 115.8 m.
* highest tree not red breed has a height of 100.3 m - Douglas fir.

Botanical description of sequoia.

Distribution and ecology of sequoia.

It grows in California along the Pacific coast in a strip about 750 km long and 8 to 75 km wide. Average heights are 30-750 m above sea level, sometimes trees grow near the shore, sometimes they climb to a height of up to 920 m. Sequoia loves the humidity that the sea air brings with it. The tallest and oldest trees grow in gorges and deep ravines, where currents of humid air can reach all year round and where fogs regularly occur. Trees growing above the fog layer (above 700 m) are lower and smaller due to drier, windier and cooler growing conditions. In 2004, the journal Nature wrote that the maximum theoretical height of a sequoia (or any other tree) is limited to 122-130 meters, due to gravity and friction between the water and the pores of the wood through which it oozes.

The largest tree is "Del Norte Titan", its volume is estimated at 1044.7 m³; its height is 93.57 m, and its diameter is 7.22 m. Among the growing trees, only 15 giant sequoias are more massive than it; they are shorter, but they have a thicker trunk. Thus, the volume of the largest giant sequoia General Sherman is equal to 1487 cubic meters.
Classification

The genus Sequoia belongs to the subfamily Sequoioideae of the Cypress family (Cupressaceae), which also includes Sequoiadendron (Sequoiadendron J. Buchholz) and Metasequoia (Metasequoia Miki ex Hu & W.C. Cheng).

Single view:
* Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl. - Evergreen Sequoia, or Red Sequoia.
Synonym:
* Taxodium sempervirens D.Don - evergreen taxodium.
scientific classification
Kingdom: Plants
Superdivision: Gymnosperms
Department: Conifers
Class: Conifers
Order: Pine
Family: Cypress
Subfamily: Sequoioideae
Genus: Sequoia
Latin name
Sequoia Endl. (1847), nom. cons.
Kinds
Sequoia evergreen
Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.

Materials used:
Dictionaries and encyclopedias at Academician
http://dic.academic.ru/

One of the most amazing trees our planet - redwoods. These majestic giants have been growing up and down for thousands of years and today are highest plants peace

Giant sequoias are one of the subspecies of cypress. Kind of these huge trees, whose trunks and crowns go tens of meters high, involuntarily arouses admiration ...

The oldest sequoias known today are over 3,500 years old.

Average Height trees is about 60 meters, but there are also whole groves with a height of more than 90 meters. To date, about fifty sequoias are known, whose height exceeds the 105-meter mark.

The tallest known tree on our planet is the Hyperion sequoia, which grows in national park Redwood near San Francisco. The height of this giant is 115.5 meters

Exists interesting subspecies sequoia - sequoiadendrons, characterized by a smaller height, but a large diameter of the trunks. The most voluminous sequoia in the world belongs to this subspecies, it is the 83.8-meter "General Sherman", the base diameter of which is 11.1 meters, and the trunk coverage is 31.3 meters. The volume of the tree is 1487 m 3

Thanks to the colossal area of ​​​​the trunks, even small cafes and dance floors were arranged on the log cabins of fallen trees.

It is usually difficult to imagine the real scale from a photograph, so I specifically found a few pictures in which people are present - to make it easier to compare sizes)