Sequoia is a hero tree, one of the tallest and most ancient trees on our planet. Its size is shocking and changes the idea of the trees we are used to in doll cities. This feeling of being tiny will not leave you yet for a long time. It clearly does not fit into the frame of perception modern man, which are usually equivalent to the size of a telephone - the eyes move apart different sides, wanting to embrace 111 meters of wildlife with a single glance and not go crazy.
The ability to see the world as a whole without tearing it into frames was probably the most common thing for people who once lived among such giants.
Where does the name come from?
Only one tree was awarded the name of the people's leader. This is what the Iroquois Indian tribe did in North America: wanting to perpetuate the memory of their outstanding leader Sequo, 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 popular educator.
However, numerous attempts have been made to rename the sequoia. So, immediately after the discovery of sequoia by Europeans, they named it California pine, and later called it a mammoth tree (for the resemblance of old drooping branches to 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 be left 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 all ancient, middle and new story humanity. Some redwoods 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 USA along the coast Pacific Ocean on a strip approximately 750 km long and 8 to 75 km wide from California to southwestern Oregon. Sequoia is also grown in the Canadian province of British Columbia, in the southeastern United States from eastern Texas to Maryland, Hawaii, New Zealand, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, South Africa and Mexico. Average heights are 30-750 m above sea level, sometimes trees grow close to the shore, sometimes they climb to a height of up to 920 m. Sequoia loves the humidity that sea air brings with it. The highest and oldest trees grow in gorges and deep ravines, where all year round streams can reach humid air and where fogs occur regularly. Trees growing above the fog layer (above 700 m) are shorter and smaller due to drier, windier and cooler growing conditions.
Russian sequoia
The efforts of our scientists to acclimatize sequoia did not immediately yield encouraging results. Only after many years of experiments did it begin to grow in the parks of Crimea, the Caucasus, and the south Central Asia and in Transcarpathia. It has been established that in our conditions it can tolerate frosts of no more than 18-20 degrees.
The seeds obtained from our sequoias germinated poorly, and only after the use of artificial pollination, proposed by the Soviet Michurins, was it possible to increase their germination to 50 - 60%. Well mastered and vegetative propagation sequoias: cuttings or grafting.
The pioneers of the acclimatization of giant trees in our country were botanists from the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. Sequoia has been grown here since 1850. It is in the Nikitsky Garden that the oldest specimen of giant sequoia in Europe is located, and in many parks of the Southern Crimea and the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus it has now become an almost obligatory tree. The height of some of its specimens (in the park of the village of Frunzenskoye, in Crimea, in the 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 were able to look into the depths of thousands of years. Thanks to the growth rings on the cross sections of huge trunks, researchers obtained completely 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 grew thicker, then thinner layers of wood, or tree rings. Scientists have examined the trunks of over 450 of these giants. These materials made it possible to trace 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 periods 1200 and 1400 years distant from us were characterized by extremely long and severe droughts.
American scientists, with the help of sequoias, also learned the weather of a more recent time. Thus, it was possible to establish that the years 1900 and 1934 were marked by the most severe droughts in the last 1200 years for the North American continent.
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 are not uncommon in coniferous forests - young trees with thin bark die, old trees have not been destroyed by fire, and this is after thousands of years of constant attempts.
Lightning's Favorite
Sequoia pays a high price for its greatness. Proudly towering above the other trees, it attracts lightning like a magnetized rod. Despite the deadly blows, many trees manage to survive by shedding their scorched branches.
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryotes
Kingdom: Plants
Department: Conifers
Class: Conifers (Pinopsida Burnett, 1835)
Order: Pine
Family: Cypressaceae
Subfamily: Sequoiaceae
Genus: Sequoia
International scientific name
Sequoia Endl. (1847), nom. cons.
Child taxa
Sequoia evergreen
Sequoia sempervirens (D.Don) Endl.
Security status
VU from English. Vulnerable species - vulnerable species. Security status assigned biological species that are at risk of becoming extinct
Botanical description
Sequoia is an evergreen monoecious tree.
In monoecious plants, female and male flowers(understood in a broad sense - male and female generative organs) are located on one individual (“in the same house”). Monoecy is more common in wind-pollinated plants. Monoecious plants include: watermelon, birch, beech, Walnut, oak, corn, hazel, cucumber, alder, pumpkin and other cucurbits, breadfruit. When understanding monoecy in a broad sense, monoecious plants also include spruce, pine, as well as many mosses and algae.
The crown is conical in shape, 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 it is removed (hence the name “mahogany”), and darkens over time. The root system consists of shallow, widely spreading 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 scale-like, 5 to 10 mm long.
The very thick (compared to other tree species) sequoia bark, which, like a sponge, absorbs water well, is also useful for its qualities. 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, maturation occurs 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 spill out when the cone dries and opens.
The sequoia genome (at 31,500 megabases) is one of the largest among conifers, and it is the only hexaploid known to date among gymnosperms.
How to grow Sequoia at home
Initially, sequoia did not grow in our climate, but thanks to the efforts of landscapers and dendrologists, species resistant to cool climates appeared. It is better to find the place where these trees grow closest to you. Having received sequoia seeds, they should be prepared for planting. It is better to do this in early spring, so that by the onset of next winter the small sequoias have time to get stronger. To begin with, the seeds should be “overwintered” in the refrigerator for about a week. At the same time, you shouldn’t put them in the freezer; a temperature of about +6 C is enough. Then you need to give them a “thaw” by soaking them in melt water at room temperature for a couple of days. Seeds should be planted in sandy-clayey, well-moistened soil, sprinkled with 1-2 mm of soil, and it is important that the seeds receive sunlight. At this time they can be covered cling film or a transparent cap.
The crops need to be ventilated and sprayed a couple of times a day. It is very important to keep the soil moist, but not wet, since sprouts often die from waterlogging. To avoid this, sprouts should be sprayed with a spray bottle rather than watered with a watering can. The germination rate of sequoias is low; in the best case, 15-25% of the seeds will germinate. The first shoots may appear in 2 days, or even after 2 months.
As soon as sprouts appear, the film or cap must be removed immediately. Without free air circulation, the sprouts quickly die. A couple of days after pipping, the sprout sheds the dry skin of the seed. If he has difficulty with this, you can gently help him. Young sprouts love the sun, but from direct exposure sun rays they should be shaded. Small sequoias should not be kept close to heating appliances. Dry air is harmful to them. In 5 months you will already have a miniature Christmas tree. Sequoia under 3 years of age should be kept in a pot and watered regularly. Dry periods are stressful for sequoia, as a result of which it greatly slows down its growth. Biennial plants can be kept in the yard in warm weather. The tree should be brought indoors for the winter. From spring it can be kept outside in a well-lit place. A tree 1-1.5 m high can already be planted in open ground. In European climatic conditions Sequoia can withstand frosts down to -18 C.
Loggers hunt sequoia
Because of its reddish, carmine-soaked wood, sequoia is sometimes also called mahogany. Its wood is valued not only because of its original color, but also because of its unusual physical properties: it is light, like aspen, and porous, like paulownia, it perfectly resists rotting in soil and water, and can easily be processed in any way.
Data
The tallest 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 woodpecker's damage to the tree at the top prevented the sequoia from reaching a height of 115.8 meters (380 feet), the researchers said.
15 currently growing trees have a height of more than 110 m, and 47 trees have a height of more than 105 m.
Some claim that the height of the sequoia tree felled in 1912 was 115.8 m.
The second place in height after sequoia is occupied by Douglassia (Pseudotsuga Menzies). Menzies's tallest living pseudohemlock, 'Doerner Fir' (formerly known as 'Brummit fir'), is 99.4 m tall.
In 2004, a study by Northern Arizona University 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. The volume of this sequoia is estimated at 1044.7 m³, height - 93.57 m, and diameter - 7.22 m. Among all Of the trees growing on Earth, only 15 giant sequoias (sequoiadendrons) are more massive than him. Sequoias (English: giant sequoia) are somewhat shorter, but they have a thicker trunk than sequoias. Yes, volume largest specimen sequoiadendron "General Sherman" is 1487 m³.
Sequoia National Park
Sequoia National Park - national park in the USA, 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 Yellowstone (since 1872) and Mackinac National Parks (1875-1895). The area of the park is 1635 km². The park has mountainous terrain, rising from a height of about 400 meters above sea level in the foothills to highest point in the contiguous 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 unit - Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.
The park is best known for its giant sequoias, including a specimen called General Sherman, the largest tree by wood volume on Earth. In 2009, the volume of wood from this tree was just under 1,500 cubic meters. General Sherman grows in the Giant Forest, which contains five of the ten largest trees by timber volume in the world. The giant forest is connected by the Generals Highway to Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park, where, among other redwoods, the General Grant tree grows - the second largest tree in the world.
Other attractions include Moro Rock, which can be climbed using a staircase specially built in the 1930s to view the surrounding area from a height of 75 meters above the ground.
I just want to draw a couple of dinosaurs here.
How Sequoia was photographed
Many thousands of years ago, most of the Earth's territories were covered with forests with huge trees and plants. Research has shown that giant trees existed 200-150 million years ago, during the Jurassic period.
Since the time of dinosaurs, giant and evergreen sequoias have survived to this day. Evergreen sequoia Sequoia Sempervirens- the most a big tree on our planet. The usual height of a sequoia is about 90 meters, but some specimens reach more than 100 meters in height. The sequoia is a long-lived tree and can live for 3,000 years.
Sequoia wood is valuable because neither fungi nor insects take it.
The largest sequoia is named "General Sherman". The height of the tree is almost 84 meters. This tree is about 2300-2700 years old, scientists cannot determine the exact age, because the age of the tree can only be determined by the rings by sawing it. The General Sherman is the largest tree on Earth by wood volume. The volume of the trunk is estimated at 1487 cubic meters. The weight of the giant reached 1910 tons.
Sequoia "General Sherman" is considered the largest of those currently growing, its height is almost 84 meters, and its age is 2300-2700 years
In 2006, the tallest sequoia was found - " Hyperion". The height of the tree has reached 115,5 meters. But the growth of the tree was slowed down by woodpeckers, who damaged the very top of the tree. According to researchers, the age of the tree is 700-800 years.
Biologists use special cables to climb Hyperion, the tallest sequoia.
There is information that in 1912, a sequoia tree was cut down, which reached 115.8 meters in height.
It's hard to imagine the effort required to cut down a tree of this size.
SEQUOIADENDRON GIANT(Sequoiadendron giganteum) also called the mammoth tree because of its gigantic size and the external resemblance of its huge hanging branches to the tusks of a mammoth, is undoubtedly the most well-known representative.
Giant sequoiadendron occurs in separate small groves (about 30 of them) only on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in California (at an altitude of 1500-2000 m). The giant sequoiadendron was described in 1853. After the discovery of the Mammoth tree by Europeans, its name changed several times. 
The giant sequoiadendron captured the imagination of the inhabitants of the Old World, and it was given names greatest people. Thus, the famous English botanist D. Lindley, who first described this plant, calls it Wellingtonia in honor of the Englishman Duke of Wellington, hero of the Battle of Waterloo. 
The Americans, in turn, proposed the name Washingtonia (or Washington sequoia), in honor of the first US President D. Washington. But since the names Washingtonia and Wellingtonia had already been previously assigned to other plants, in 1939 this genus received the name Sequoiadendron.
The giant sequoiadendron is an unusually majestic and monumental tree, reaching a height of 80-100 m, with a trunk up to 10 m in diameter, and is distinguished by its amazing longevity. The question of the maximum age of sequoiadendron still remains unresolved: they call it 3 and 4 thousand years.
Because of their durable, rot-resistant wood, sequoiadendrons in their homeland have been rapaciously exterminated since the time of the first explorers and gold seekers. The remaining trees to date, and there are only about 500 of them, have been declared protected. 
The largest sequoiadendrons bear proper names: “Father of the Forests”, “General Sherman”, “General Grant” and others. The first of them, now no longer existing, reached, as is clear from its descriptions, a height of 135 m with a trunk diameter at the base of 12 m. 
It is estimated that the Sequoiadendron, known as General Sherman, contains about 1500 m3 of wood, with a height of 83 m and a trunk diameter at the base of the tree of 11 m. 
To transport it would require a train of 20-25 wagons. An orchestra and three dozen dancers can easily fit on the cut of another tree. Tunnels made in the lower parts of trunks are also known (for example, such a tunnel has existed in Yosemite Park since 1881). Cars pass through it freely. 
Sequoiadendron is grown as an ornamental plant in many countries around the world. It is especially good at the age of 80-100 years with a dark green, regularly pyramidal crown starting from the ground and a translucent reddish trunk. With age, the correctness of the crown is disrupted, the trunk becomes bare and thickens, and the tree takes on a monumental appearance. 
Having been brought to Europe back in 1853, sequoiadendron has taken root well in the parks and gardens of its southwestern part. Its seeds came to our country in 1858. The first trees were planted in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden, then in Black Sea coast Caucasus and Central Asia. 
And although they grow slower under these conditions than in their homeland, they nevertheless reach quite impressive sizes. Thus, seventy-year-old specimens grow to a height of 30 m or more (with a diameter of over 1 m). Unlike sequoia (“redwood”), Sequoiadendron is also called “Sierra redwood.”
(c) http://www.floranimal.ru/pages/flora/s/5581.html 
Because of their durable, rot-resistant wood, sequoiadendrons in their homeland have been rapaciously exterminated since the time of the first explorers and gold seekers. 
The remaining trees to date, and there are only about 500 of them, have been declared protected. The largest sequoiadendrons have their own names: “Father of Forests”, “General Sherman”, “General Grant” and others. 
The first of them, now defunct, reached, as is clear from its descriptions, a height of 135 m with a trunk diameter at the base of 12 m. It is estimated that the Sequoiadendron, known as "General Sherman", contains about 1500 m3 of wood, with height 83 m and trunk diameter at the base of the tree equal to 11 m. To transport it would require a train of 20-25 cars. 
John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt in the National Park
Sequoia- the second oldest national park in the United States. It was established on September 25, 1890 to protect the redwoods in the Giant Forest, including the General Sherman Tree, currently the largest tree in the world. Redwoods are also native to Mineral King Valley and Mt. Whitney - the most high mountains USA outside of Alaska. 
A small portion of what is now Kings Canyon National Park was called General Grant National Park in 1890. In 1940, the park's boundaries expanded significantly to include the South Fork of the Kings River and more than 456,000 acres of wilderness. 
The total size of the national park, including Sequoia Park, now reaches just under 900 thousand acres. 
People appeared in the forests of giant seiquoias soon after the end civil war. The General Grant Tree was discovered in 1862 by Joseph Hardin Thomas, and its name was coined in 1867 by a certain Lucretia Baker. 
Five years later, on March 1, 1872, Ulysses Simpson Grant, the eighteenth President of the United States, approved legislation establishing Yellowstone as the world's first national park. The grove of giant (mammoth) seiquois named after Grant, as well as Yosemite Park, were approved by the same law. 
From the history of the park
Captain Charles Young, Military Chief, Sequoia National Park, 1903
by Wm. C. Tweed 
The new military leader arrived in Sequoia National Park in the summer of 1903 and immediately encountered many difficulties. Born in Kentucky during the Civil War, Charles Young was black, which was not welcomed in those parts. 
He was the first African American to graduate high school for whites in Ripley, Ohio, and took part in a serious competition, as a result of which he was able to enter the famous Military school at West Point in 1884. 
He was courageous and strong man and became the third black person to be educated at this prestigious educational institution. The conditions of this training were so harsh that he later wrote about it being the greatest test of his life. 
In May 1903, Sequoia National Park was already thirteen years old, but it was still underdeveloped and difficult to access. Since 1891, the management and development of the park was placed under the responsibility of the US Army, but due to lack of funding by Congress, almost nothing was done and much was stolen. The main thing is that there were no roads, the construction of which began only in 1900. But the work was carried out so slowly that in three years of work only 5 miles were laid. 
Young immediately began to build new roads and widen old ones that even small wagons could not travel on. Soon the road ran to Moro Rock.
In 1904, Young was sent as a military attaché to Haiti. He later served in the same capacity in Liberia.
Young took part in the Expedition to Mexico in 1916. He died in 1923 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full honors. 
Although Colonel Charles Young served in the Park for only one working season, his efforts were not forgotten. He is remembered for his energy, tenacity and dignity. Expensive ones, built under his leadership, improved only a little, still serve today. 
Walter Fry: Famous Man
Malinee Crapsey
(This article first appeared in The Sequoia Bark magazine in the summer of 1994) 
"When I first met Judge Frye, under his own grand old trees, I knew I had met a rare man..." 
In 1888, Walter Fry first encountered giant sequoias as a lumberjack and was shocked. Having spent more than five days with a team of lumberjacks cutting down and felling a single tree, he counted the growth layers on the trunk of the fallen giant. 
He had to count several days and the answer was surprising: 3266 rings, that is, 3266 years of life. 
Two years later, local residents petitioned the US government to place the great seiquois under government protection. The third signature on the petition was that of Walter Frye. 
President Grant
The Park Authority moved the Fry family over the course of several years from the San Joaquin Valley to Trois-Rivieres. Fry served as traffic controller, and in 1905 he became park ranger. By 1910, Fry had become chief of the Rangers, managing parks for military leadership.
In 1914, the Army finally relinquished control of the Park and Fpay was appointed its official civilian leader. 
Mr. Fry's contribution to the development and improvement of the Park was so significant that in 1994 the Lodgepole Nature Center was named after him. 
Giant Sequoia
In the world sequoias grow in natural conditions only on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, most often at elevations between 5,000 and 7,000 feet. 
There are no more than 75 groves in total.
General Sherman's tree is between 2300 and 2700 years old. Its largest branch is almost seven feet in diameter. 
Sequoias grow from seeds so small and light that they resemble oat flakes.
Take a closer look - there are tiny little people on the branches of the giant.
Translated independently from the page http://www.sequoia.national-park.com/info.htm#tree
Ten biggest giants:
Tree.................................... .......Location..... .........Height(ft) Circum(ft)
1. General Sherman.............Giant Forest........274.9........102.6
2. Washington .....................Giant Forest........254.7.......101.1
3. General Grant ....................Grant Grove ........268.1.......107.6
4. President ...........................Giant Forest .......240.9......... 93.0
5. Lincoln .....................Giant Forest .......255.8..... ....98.3
6. Stagg ...................................Alder Creek ........243.0. .......109.0
7. Genesis.........................Mountain Home..257.1......85.3
8. Boole..................................Conver se Basin..268.8....... .113.0
9. Ishi...................................Gi ant Kennedy.....248.1 .......105.1
10. Franklin.........................Giant Forest........223.8........ 94.8
From pre-park history:
To this day, there is debate among historians as to who was the first European to see Yosemite Valley. In the fall of 1833, Joseph Reddeford Walker may have been the first to see the valley - in his subsequent entries, he said that he led a group of hunters who crossed the Sierra Nevada and came close to the edge of the valley, which went down "more than a mile." His party was also the first to enter the Tuolomni Sequoiadendron grove, thus becoming the first non-natives to see these giant trees. 
The part of the Sierra Nevada where the park is located has long been considered the border of European settlements, traders, hunters and travelers. However, this status changed in 1848 with the discovery of gold deposits at the foot of the mountains in the west. From this point on, trading activity in this territory increased sharply, resulting in the California Gold Rush. The newcomers began to destroy Natural resources, at the expense of which the Indian tribes lived. 
The first reliably known white man to see the valley should be considered William P. Abrams, who on October 18, 1849 with his detachment carefully described some landmarks of the valley, but it is not known for sure whether he or anyone from his detachment entered the this land. However, there is no doubt that in 1850 Joseph Screech actually descended into the Hetch Hetchy Valley and, moreover, settled here. 
The first systematic survey of the park was carried out in 1855 by the team of Allexey W. Von Schmidt as part of the state land survey program “Public Land Survey System”.
Mariposa Wars
Before the first Europeans appeared in this territory, the Sierra Miwok and Paiute Indian tribes lived here. By the time the first settlers arrived here, a group of Indians called themselves the Ahwahnechee lived in the Yosemite Valley. 
As a result of the sharp increase in the flow of immigrants during the gold rush, armed conflicts with local tribes. To put an end to the constant skirmishes, in 1851, government troops were sent to the valley - the Mariposa Battalion under the command of Major James Savage with the aim of pursuing about 200 Avanichi Indians led by Chief Tenaya. In particular, the doctor Lafayette Bunnell was attached to the detachment, who later colorfully described his impressions of what he saw in the book “The Discovery of the Yosemite”. Bunnell is also credited with naming the valley after speaking with Chief Tenaya. 
Bunnell wrote in his book that Chief Tenaya was the founder of the Pai-Ute colony of the Ah-wah-ne tribe. The neighboring Sierra Miwok Indians (like most of the white inhabitants who settled there) described the Awanichee Indians as a warlike tribe with whom they had constant territorial disputes; the tribe's name "yohhe'meti" literally meant "they are killers." Correspondence and notes written by the battalion's soldiers helped popularize the valley and its surrounding area.
Tenaya and the remnants of Avanichi were captured and their settlement burned. The tribe was forcibly transferred to a reservation near Fresno, California. Some were subsequently allowed to return to the valley, but after eight miners were attacked in 1852, they fled to the neighboring Mono tribe, who broke their hospitality and killed them.
(c) Weinheim.
My pictures are awkward - sometimes only the tops, sometimes those tops have already been cut off - the whole tree doesn’t fit into the frame, and I can’t go far enough either, the path winds. Here is the bark - yes, I photographed it in high quality. Interesting bark on sequoia, unusual:
No, I can’t resist, I’ll show you another stub. Just keep in mind: people are standing several meters closer to me than the trees to their left:
SEQUOIA
(Sequoia), genus of evergreens coniferous trees Taxodiaceae family (Taxodiaceae). The only species - evergreen sequoia (S. sempervirens) - is considered a symbol of California. These are the tallest trees in the world and are also famous for their beautiful, straight-grained, rot-resistant wood. Evergreen sequoia forests stretch in a narrow strip approx. 720 km along the Pacific coast of the United States from Monterey County in northern California to the Chetco River in southern Oregon. Sequoia evergreen needs very humid climate, therefore it does not go further than 32-48 km from the coast, remaining in the zone of influence of sea fog. Sequoias, along with other representatives of taxodiaceae, were once common in many areas of the Northern Hemisphere, but the last glaciation preserved them only on the west coast North America together with the closely related species giant sequoia, mammoth tree, or wellingtonia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), also the only representative of its genus, sometimes called giant sequoia (S. gigantea). Sequoia evergreen is grown as an ornamental plant in the southeastern United States and in European regions with temperate climate. The average height of the evergreen sequoia is about 90 m, and the record height is 117 m. It was recorded in the Redwood Creek tract in California. The diameter of the trunk often reaches 6-7.6 m and can increase by 2.5 cm per year. The maturity of the evergreen sequoia occurs at 400-500 years, and specimens over 1500 years old are not uncommon (the oldest known is about 2200 years old). The tree reproduces well by root suckers, stump shoots and seeds, which after germination produce rapidly growing seedlings. The crown is narrow, starting above the lower third of the trunk. Oval cones and short shoots with flat bluish-gray needles give it beauty and lushness. The bark is thick, reddish, deeply furrowed. Sapwood is pale yellow or white, and the heartwood is of various shades of red. The root system is formed by lateral roots that go shallow into the soil. Close to the evergreen sequoia and the mammoth tree is the metasequoia glyptostroboides, which is found on very limited area in China. There are two varieties of evergreen sequoia - pressed (var. adpressa), characterized by smaller sizes, and gray (var. glauca) - with bluish needles.
SEQUOIA EVERGREEN
MAMMOTH TREE
Collier's Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .
Synonyms:See what "SEQUOIA" is in other dictionaries:
- (Sequoia), a genus of evergreen coniferous trees of the family. taxodiaceae. Unity, species S. evergreen (S. sempervirens). It is one of the tallest trees (reaches a height of 110-112 m and a diameter of 6-10 m). St. lives 3000 years. Grows in the mountains of California and South. Oregon... ... Biological encyclopedic Dictionary
Or WELLINGTONIA tree from this family. cypress, grows in the north. America: some reach 300 feet. height, trunk circumference 94 feet. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. sequoia (named after the Indian leader... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
A genus of coniferous trees in the Taxodiaceae family. The only species of sequoia is evergreen, height St. 100 m, diameter 6 11 m. Natural plantings only in the mountains of California and the South. Oregon (USA). Cultivated for light and durable wood (used... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Sequoiadendron, Wellingtonia Dictionary of Russian synonyms. sequoia noun, number of synonyms: 3 wellingtonia (5) ... Synonym dictionary
SEQUOIA, and, female. A giant relict coniferous tree native to California. Dictionary Ozhegova. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
A genus of coniferous plants from the family. Taxodiaceae. It is known in fossil form from the Late Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous; It develops widely in the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Nowadays it is preserved only in California. Geological Dictionary: in 2 volumes. M.: Nedra. Under … Geological encyclopedia
Sequoia- (Sequoyah) (1760(70?) 1843), educator of the Cherokee people, who created an alphabet of 85 characters for the language of his tribe. The alphabet is also known as talking leaves. The date of its adoption is considered to be 1821. Later he took the name George Gist,... ... The World History
This term has other meanings, see Sequoia (meanings). ? Sequoia ... Wikipedia
Sequoia- Giant sequoia. Yosemite National Park, California, USA. SEQUOIA, a genus of coniferous trees (family Taxodiaceae). The only type of sequoia is evergreen, height over 100 m, diameter 6 11 m. It grows in the mountains along the west coast of the USA... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (Sequoia), national park in California (USA). Created in 1890 on the square. 163.1 thousand hectares for the protection of the unique landscapes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, incl. 32 groves of giant sequoia. More than 70 species of mammals and 120 birds live here. Forms a single protected... ... Geographical encyclopedia
Books
- Book: manual / operating instructions for the TOYOTA SEQUOIA navigation system (TOYOTA SEQUOIA) from 2008 release. Detailed description navigation system for Toyota Sequoia cars, production began in 2008...
- Book: manual/instructions for operation and maintenance of TOYOTA SEQUOIA (TOYOTA SEQUOIA) petrol from 2008 release. This manual has already become a handy book for many Toyota Sequoia owners, since it is addressed specifically to car enthusiasts. The publication does not contain repair instructions, but contains high-quality…
SEQUOIA– evergreen coniferous pine (monoecious gymnosperm) tree, Cypress family, subfamily – Sequoiaceae, genus – Sequoia.
The name of the genus was given in honor Redwoods (George Hess) (Sequoyah, OK. 1770 - approx. 1843)- Indian tribal leader Cherokee, inventor of the Cherokee syllabary (1826), founder of the Cherokee language newspaper.
Currently genus Sequoia presented in two types:
1.Sequoia evergreen (lat. Sequoia sempervirens), or Red Sequoia, Also - Red tree.
2. Sequoia giant , or Giant Sequoiadendron(lat. Sequoiadendron giganteum), or mammoth tree, Also - Wellingtonia.
Both of these species are relict, preserved WITHOUT CHANGES since ancient times, and were once distributed throughout the globe.
Fossil samples indicate that these giant trees existed already in Jurassic period, between 208 and 144 million years ago, and then occupied vast territories. They now grow in small regions along the western edge of the North American continent.
Previously there were other related species of redwoods, but they all completely disappeared from the physical plane of the Earth, and at present they are known only from fossilized remains.
A brief description of the two extant species of the genus Sequoia.
grows in the states California And Washington in the USA and in the south of the Canadian province British Columbia along the Pacific coast on a strip about 750 km long and 8 to 75 km wide. Average altitudes - 30-750 m above sea level, sometimes the trees grow close to the shore, sometimes they climb to a height of up to 920 m. Sequoia loves the humidity that the sea air brings with it. It has an increased ability to absorb moisture from the air. The tallest and oldest trees grow in gorges and deep ravines, where streams of moist air can reach all year round and where fogs regularly occur. Trees growing above the fog layer (above 700 m) grow shorter and smaller in size due to drier, windier and cooler growing conditions.
A height of 90 or more meters for Sequoia evergreen is common; there are also trees 110-113 m high. A record height of 117 m was noted (scientists believe that the absolute limit of growth is a height of 125-130 m, since due to gravity and friction, the sap they still won’t be able to rise higher from the roots). The thickness of the trunks at the base often reaches 6-7 m or more.
They are by far the tallest trees on Earth and the longest living, along with the Giant Sequoia. Maturity Redwood evergreen occurs in 400-500 years, and specimens aged more than 1500 years(the oldest known - OK. 2200 years).
The size of these forests has now been greatly reduced as a result of active exploitation. Apparently, trees originally covered an area of 6,131 square meters. km, but currently there are much fewer of them, and their logging is prohibited in only two protected areas.
The trunk of the Sequoia evergreen is enclosed in a thick, fibrous, low-flammable bark. Young trees branch along their entire length, but with age the lower branches fall off and a closed canopy forms at the top. It practically does not allow light to reach the ground; as a result, the undergrowth is quite poorly developed, since only ferns and other shade-loving plants can grow here along with rare young sequoias. A mature tree produces many seeds, but only a small portion of them germinate successfully, and those that do germinate must struggle with low light. Under natural conditions, such slow reproduction would be quite sufficient, since trees can survive 3000 years, But With more active exploitation of the forest, young trees do not appear quickly enough to compensate for the felling.
Evergreen sequoia is resistant to fires, fungi and other diseases, it is not eaten by bugs and other insects, the wood is very beautiful and resistant to rotting, is in demand and is expensive, so these trees in many unprotected areas are cut down by commercial companies.
As a result artificial plantings of the 19th and 20th centuries., there are small groves of Sequoia evergreen (Mahogany) and its single specimens in Europe and Asia, usually in special botanical gardens and arboretums (Belgium, Crimea, Transcaucasia).
Currently Sequoia evergreen (Mahogany) is protected from deforestation and sabotage in only two small areas in the USA: in the National Park Redwood(Red Forest) and in National Nature Reserve Muir Forest.
National reserve (forest park) Muir Woods is located 19 km north of San Francisco and is part of the park (rest areas)"Golden Gate". 
Muir Woods occupies 226 hectares, on 97 hectares of them grows Coast Redwood, literally - coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens- lat.), referred to in Russian simply as “ Sequoia«.
Tallest tree in Muir Woods 258 feet ( 79 m). Average age trees in Muir Woods from 500 to 800 years, the oldest - 1200 years.
One hundred and fifty million years ago, these trees grew throughout the continent. When the loggers arrived in the 19th century, they occupied an area of 8,000 sq. km. By the early 20th century, most of these forests had been cleared.
To save the remains of the trees, a local businessman William Kent and his wife Elizabeth bought 247 hectares of land, which had to be flooded during the construction of the dam. The hydraulic engineering company sued him, and then Kent found a way out - he donated 119 hectares of land to the federal government.
January 9, 1908 President Theodore Roosevelt declared these lands a national monument. According to Kent's agreement, the monument was named in honor of the naturalist John Muir, who did much to create the national park system. In 1937, construction of the Golden Gate Bridge was completed, and park attendance tripled, reaching more than 180 thousand people. Now Muir Woods is one of the main tourist attractions in San Francisco, Bay Area (776 thousand visitors in 2005).
Redwood National Park - national park in California, USA.
Created October 2, 1968 when the president Lyndon Johnson signed a decree creating the Redwood National Park with a total area of 23,500 ha. It included three existing state-level redwood parks - Jededee Smith, Del Norte and Prairie Creek. In 1978, Congress decided to expand the national park area by 19,400 hectares.
The park is covered in ancient redwood forests.
Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron, Mammoth tree) It is protected in only one place - Sequoia National Park.
Sequoia National Park(English) Sequoia National Park) - national park United States, located in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of the city of Visalia in California. The park was founded in 1890 year, the third after Yellowstone and Mackinac National Parks, later abolished. Park area 1,635 km². The park has mountainous terrain, rising from an altitude of about 400 meters above sea level in the foothills to the summit of Mount Whitney, the highest in the contiguous 48 states, at 4,421.1 meters. The park borders Kings Canyon National Park. Both parks are managed US National Park Service as a single unit - Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.
The park is best known for its giant sequoias, including an instance named General Sherman is the largest tree on Earth, if you count by the volume of its wood. In 2009, the volume of wood from this tree was just under 1,500 cubic meters. General Sherman tree growing in Giant forest Giant Forest) , which contains five of the ten most big trees in the world by volume of wood. Giant forest connected dear Generals(English) Generals Highway), With Grant's Grove(English) Grant Grove) in the national park Kings Canyon, where, among other sequoias, grows General Grant tree . Both species of Sequoia grow in this park - Red and Giant, but Giant Sequoia of large ages grow practically only here, with the exception of a few in neighboring National parks and nature reserves (Yosemite and others).
Sequoia National Park in California
The park is famous throughout the world for its giant sequoias. One of them - Tree General Sherman- the largest tree on Earth. This tree grows in Giant Forest, which also contains five of the ten largest trees in the world by timber volume.
General Sherman
D General Sherman tree (General Sherman tree) in the Forest of Giants - the most popular tree in the park. It really is largest tree in the world by volume, although not the highest, but one of the highest. Its height 81 meters, the diameter at the base is about 32 meters, and the age is about 3 thousand years.
In addition, the Park has a number of other attractions. The most popular of them is Tunnel Log- a small road tunnel cut right in the middle of a giant sequoia that fell onto the road.
In addition to unique trees, The park is also famous for its caves. There are about 250 of them, one of which extends 32 kilometers in length. Only one cave is open to tourists - Crystal, the second largest in the Park.
The fossil specimens found give us an idea that giant sequoias existed back in the Jurassic period and occupied vast areas in the Northern Hemisphere. Now they can only be found in California and Southern Oregon. Typically, giant sequoias reach a height of 100 m, in diameter up to 11 m. Average duration life this huge living organism 2- 4 thousand years. The bark of trees is thick, fibrous, non-flammable. When you touch it, your palm seems to sink into the wood, creating unusual sensations.
The park was established in 1890 for the purpose of protection forest areas formed by redwood trees. They grow here two types of sequoias: sequoiadendron giant (mammoth tree) And sequoia evergreen (mahogany). Both of them are trees of enormous size - 90-100 or more m in height and up to 10-11 m in girth, their age reaches 4 thousand years.
The unique combination of age, size and weight of these trees makes them the largest trees and longest living creatures present on planet Earth today. And this is one of the few trees that has adapted to forest fires. The giant sequoia is second in life expectancy only to bristlecone pines, which are found in the arid Sierra Nevada mountains.
The Forest of Giants contains five of the ten largest trees in the world by timber volume. The forest is connected by the Generals Road to Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park, where another attraction of the park is located - the General Grant tree.
Sequoia National Park is attractive with mountain landscapes, beautiful waterfalls and alpine meadows. The park is home to many species of animals, including moose, black bear, white-tailed deer, coyote, and bobcat.
