The tree has been used primarily as a specimen, but there are reports of it being very tolerant of air pollution and it has done well as a street tree with lower branches removed. Soil tolerances: clay loam sand acidic extended flooding well-drained.
DAWN REDWOOD TREE METASEQUOIA GLYPTOSTROBOIDES FULL
Light requirement: tree grows best in full sun. It has been discovered that Metasequoia will thrive in standing water, much like the baldcypress, and if left branched to the ground in full sun, will develop the large, contorted boles that have made it famous. This rapid rate of growth has led to consideration for using the tree in forestry plantations. Planted specimens have already reached 25-40 m in height and 1-1.3 m in diameter, despite being in cultivation for under 60 years. Metasequoia has proved an easy tree to grow in temperate regions, and is now widely planted as an ornamental tree. More widespread seed-collecting expeditions in China in the 1990s sought to resolve this problem and restore genetic diversity to cultivated Metasequoia. This was because most of the trees were grown from seeds and cuttings derived from as few as three trees that the Arnold Arboretum had used as its source. In the late 1980s, it was discovered that many of the second generation trees in cultivation suffered from inbreeding depression (extremely low genetic variability) which could lead to increased susceptibility to disease and reproductive failure. In 1948, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University sent an expedition to collect seeds and, soon after, seedling trees were distributed to various universities and arboreta worldwide for growth trials. These were not studied further until 1946 and only finally described as a new living species of Metasequoia in 1948 by Wan Chun Cheng and Hu Hsen Hsu. Metasequoia first showed up as fossils in the Mesozoic Era, (245-265 mya) and in 1944 a small stand of an unidentified tree was discovered in China in Modaoxi by Zhan Wang. The pollen cones are 5-6 mm long, produced on long spikes in early spring they are only produced on trees growing in regions with hot summers. The cones are globose to ovoid, 1.5-2.5 cm in diameter with 16-28 scales, arranged in opposite pairs in four rows, each pair at right angles to the adjacent pair they mature in about 8-9 months after pollination. The leaves are opposite, 1-3 cm long, and bright fresh green, turning a foxy red-brown in fall. While the bark and foliage are similar to the closely related redwood genus Sequoia, Metasequoia differs from the California redwood in that it is deciduous. Metasequoia, along with Sequoia, Sequoiadendron and several other genera, were reclassified from the Taxodiaceae family to Cupressaceae after DNA analysis became possible. It is the only living species in the ancient redwood genus Metasequoia, but three fossil species are known. Specific epithet means resembling the genus Glyptostrobus.Dawn Redwood is a fast-growing tree in the Cypress family native to the Sichuan-Hubei region of China. Genus name comes from the Greek words metra meaning with, after, sharing, or changed in nature and Sequoia to which it is related and to which fossil specimens were first referred. The twigs, needles and cone scales are in opposite pairs. Trees are monoecious, producing oval, light brown female cones (3/4” long) and pendant globose male cones (1/2” long). Foliage emerges light green in spring, matures to deep green in summer and turns red-bronze in fall. It features linear, feathery, fern-like foliage that is soft to the touch. Bark on mature trees is often deeply fissured. As the tree matures, the trunk broadens at the base and develops attractive and sometimes elaborate fluting. Seedlings grown therefrom were planted in front of the Lehmann Building at MBG in 1952 where they have now developed into large mature trees (70’+ tall). Seeds collected from the original site were made available to the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1947.
However, it was not until 1941 that it was first discovered growing in the wild near the town of Modaoqi, China by Chinese forester, T.
From fossil records, dawn redwood is known to have existed as many as 50,000,000 years ago. It is related to and closely resembles bald cypress ( Taxodium) and redwood ( Sequoia). Metasequoia glyptostroboides, commonly called dawn redwood, is a deciduous, coniferous tree that grows in a conical shape to 100’ tall.
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