From fossil records, dawn redwood is known to have existed as many as 50,000,000 years ago. (However, because of western Oregons wet, but mild, winters, the cones are not dry enough to open and release the seeds until the following spring.) Sun. It is related to and closely resembles bald cypress ( Taxodium) and redwood ( Sequoia ). It is a most attractive, deciduous tree, conical-shaped when young, with bright-green, feathery foliage growing rapidly in its early years. Metasequoia glyptostroboides, commonly called dawn redwood, is a deciduous, coniferous tree that grows in a conical shape to 100’ tall. Fortunately for us, however, this beautiful tree, the probable ancestor of the American Sequoias, has proved to be very amenable to cultivation, and is strong-growing, vigorous, hardy and, always an asset, the seed germinates in only a couple of weeks or so. At that time the tree was on the verge of extinction with only three survivors remaining in Szechwan and a further 1000 scattered in neighbouring Hupeh, and the natives still felling them for their timber. This was in the winter of 1941 although it was not until 1946 before details of the discovery were published. That changed in the 1940’s when botanist discovered living specimens in China. Considered a living fossil dawn redwood was at one time known only from fossilized remains and considered extinct. In what, therefore, has been described as one of the most remarkable botanical discoveries of the century, a Chinese Professor of Forestry quite by chance spotted a specimen in a village called Mou-tao-chi in Szechwan province in China. General Description: Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a beautiful tree with a fascinating history. glyptostroboides) is a deciduous conifer from the red-wood family of Cupressaceae and is distributed in Europe as well as many parts of East Asia and. Although very similar species had been known to paleobotanists who studied their fossil remains from strata as old as ecocene (70 million years old) beds in coal mines in Manchuria, such species were not thought still to exist in the living state. Metasequoia glyptostroboides Miki ex Hu (M. In many ways, this is one of the most interesting species we have in the catalogue, and it truly justifies its description as a living fossil.
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