Dawn Redwood
The dawn redwood is a living fossil. Assumed extinct, it was discovered alive and well in China in 1941. Beautiful, very tall, and with a long lifespan, the dawn redwood has become widely planted and loved in the 74 years since its rediscovery. The dawn redwood resembles the common baldcypress, and like it, is a deciduous conifer, meaning it drops its leaves in fall. In winter it has a beautiful and distinctive silhouette. You can find dawn redwoods planted in the 1980s at Strawberry Fields.
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Leaves
Deciduous needle-like leaves, opposite arrangement on branchlets -
Fruit
0.5-1 inch long, elongated or rounded cones, blue when young -
Flower
Male flowers in clusters, female flowers solitary, not ornamentally important -
Bark
Shredded, reddish brown, develops interesting buttressed trunk, base is tapered and exhibits a braided or fluted structure
