Coastal Redwood                 se-KWOY-a sem-per-VI-rens

• Conifer, evergreen tree, 200+ ft (61 m) tall (325+ ft in wild), densely branched, gracefully pyramidal in youth.  Bark a rich red-brown, fibrous. Leaves mostly needle-like, flat, 2-ranked, 1-2 cm long, stiff and sharp pointed, dark green, two broad whitish stomatal bands below; leaves on leaders are scale-like.  Cones somewhat egg-shaped, 2-2.5 cm long, brownish, ripen in first year.
• Sun.  Prefers moist, acid, deep, well-drained soils.  Does not perform well in eastern states.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 7     Native to extreme southwest Oregon to central California, rarely found more than 25 miles from the Pacific Ocean or beyond the influence of oceans fogs.  Now most common and largest trees found along the northern California coast, especially in National and State parks.  Typical understory plants includes a number of different ferns, salal, rhododendron, huckleberry, cascara, thimbleberry, and salmonberry.
• Sequoia: after Sequoiah (1770-1843), son of a British merchant and a Cherokee woman;   sempervirens: evergreen.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: Moreland Hall "arboretum",  SE of Ag. & Life Sci;  NW Gilbert Hall.