#TreeTalkThursday - Redwood

The World’s Tallest Trees

Happy Thursday! 

Last week we posted the world's largest recorded trunk, and this week we saw it fitting to talk about the world's tallest trees, the Redwood trees. These trees reach heights of 200'-380'! They are truly natures giants. The trunk diameter can range from 10'-15'. These trees are so large they create a whole new ecosystem withing their branches.

These trees have the ability to live up to 2,200 years and beyond. 95% of the rare old growth trees are now only located in state parks or protected lands. They are almost exclusivley found on the California coast.  These old growth trees have strongly buttressed trunks with deep hollows and massive burls. They commonly form a "candelabra" in their upper sections consisting of several trunks. The younger growths, up to about 400 years old, are more slender and have a cone like shape.

The bark is thick and reddish-brown. The leaves on mature branches are more flat needles, up to an 1", with dark green on top and 2 white band on the underside, and are arranged in two flat spray rows. On younger branches or higher elevation branches, the leaves are more scalelike because they grow all around the branch and are only about 1/4" in length. 

Fun Fact! The most iconic Redwood tree, known as the Pioneer Tree, unfortunately was felled by a winter storm January 8, 2017. Whenever you see a picture of a car driving through a Redwood tree, that is the Pioneer Tree. It was hollowed out in 1880. It is estimated to have been over 1,000 years old. There are still several other drive through Redwoods all over the coast.