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Scientific name: Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindley) J.Buchholz 1939
Synonyms: Americus gigantea (Lindl.) Hanford, Americus giganteus (Lindl.) Hanford, William H., Gigantabies wellingtoniana (Seem.) J.Nelson, Sequoia gigantea (Lindl.) Decne., Sequoia washingtoniana Sudw., Sequoia wellingtonia Seem., Steinhauera gigantea (Lindl.) Kuntze ex Voss, Taxodium giganteum (Lindl.) Kellogg & Behr, Taxodium washingtonianum Winslow, Taxodium washingtonium Winsl., Washingtonia ambigua (A.Gray) J.M.Coult. & Rose, Washingtonia americana Gordon, Washingtonia bolanderi J.M.Coult. & Rose, Washingtonia brachypoda (Torr. ex Durand) A.Heller, Washingtonia californica Winslow, Washingtonia gigantea (Lindl.) Carrière, Wellingtonia californica Sarg., Wellingtonia gigantea Lindl., Wellingtonia pendula Briolay-Goiffon ex Carrière
Common names: Giant sequoia, Bigtree, Sequoia, Sierra redwood, Wellingtonia
Tree to 90 m tall, with trunk to 11 m in diameter, flaring broadly and buttressed at the base at maturity, often fluted to the base of the crown. Bark bright to dark reddish brown, even in extreme old age, to 60 cm thick. Crown composed of a few major trunklike limbs and numerous horizontal branches, densely conical when young (for 100 years or more!), becoming oblong with age as the lower branches die. Twigs completely clothed by the attached leaf bases and partly hidden by the free tips. Leaves bluish green, with a stomatal band on each outer face and scattered stomates on the inner face, living 5-7 years or more, the free tip 3-8(-15) mm long. Pollen cones 4-8 mm long, remaining green for several years after ripening until the seeds are released. External face of each cone scale 15-30 mm wide and 5-10(-15) mm high. Seeds 3-6 mm long, about half as wide, including the wings.
Restricted to California in the Sierra Nevada from Placer County to Tulare County (with the vast majority of the trees in Tulare County and adjacent Fresno County south of the Kings River). Forming groves on valley flats in montane mixed coniferous forest at (830-)1,800-2,300(-2,700) m.
Red List Category & Criteria: Endangered
Despite the fact that almost all existing ‘groves’ of Sequoiadendron giganteum are in protected areas and some have been protected for more than a century, the population is in continuous decline. The actual area of occupancy, estimated to be 142 km², falls well below the threshold for Endangered (500 km²) and with a continuing decline due to inadequate regeneration and natural death of (over)mature trees, which are being replaced by other, competing conifers, the B2 criterion applies and the species meets the criteria for listing as Endangered.
The present trend in recruitment of Sequoiadendron giganteum is downwards, due to competition in the absence of periodic fires in many of the protected groves. This leads over time to a downward trend in the number of mature individuals in the population. There is at present insufficient regeneration to maintain Sequoia populations in these groves
This species is forming 'groves' of a few to over 20,000 individuals in the Mixed Conifer Forest belt on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. It is mixed with other conifers: Abies concolor, Abies magnifica, Calocedrus decurrens, Pinus lambertiana, Pinus ponderosa, Pinus jeffreyi, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Taxus brevifolia, and with fewer broad-leaved trees: Quercus kelloggii, Quercus chrysolepis, Cornus nuttallii, Alnus rhombifolia, Salix scoulerana, Acer macrophyllum, and shrubs: Castanopsis sempervirens, Ceanothus cordulatus, Ceanothus parvifolius, Ceanothus integerrimus, Arctostaphylos patula, etc. The relatively narrow altitudinal belt, 830-2,700 m a.s.l., and the scattered concentration of groves, which tend to become smaller and further apart going north, indicate rather narrow climatic and soil conditions that are optimal in its natural habitat. Most groves are on granite-based residual and alluvial soils, some on glacial outwash, and mildly acidic; best growth is on deep, well-drained sandy loams with available ground water, the latter appears to be an important limiting factor. The climate is humid, with mostly autumn rain and winter snow, and dry summers, with mean annual precipitation between 900-1,400 mm, but with high year-to-year variation. Temperature in winter is mild, with light frosts but occasional extremes, and warm, occasionally hot, in summer. Sequoiadendron giganteum is well adapted to low-intensity forest fires (extremely thick bark) and resists windfall exceptionally well; its wood is also rot-resistant. As a result its longevity ranges from 2,000-3,000(-3,200) years.
Although nearly all groves (or 92% of the area of occupancy) are on public land, enjoying various levels of protection, the species was previously listed as Vulnerable primarily because of historic rates of decline caused by exploitation. Present problems include fire risks, largely due to (past) management practices which tended to benefit its coniferous competitors (especially Abies) rather than the target species, and which have greatly accumulated the fuel load for future fires to burn more devastatingly. Crown fires could easily spread from adjacent stands of other conifers. Genetic integrity of the small northernmost (and isolated) grove in Placer County is jeopardized by nearby plantings of Sequoiadendron giganteum from other sources.
Since its discovery by Europeans in the mid-19th century, exploitation during the latter half of that century and into the next was considerable. The trees, though of high lumber quality and rot-resistant, often shattered on impact of the giant boles. What wood could be used was put into mainly building applications, and many larger houses in San Francisco and the Bay Area were built of its timber. No commercial exploitation of wild groves occurs at present, and most of these were protected for their scenic and scientific values many years ago. The giant trees are a major international tourist attraction in California. The Giant sequoia is also highly regarded as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens of large homes and, being easily propagated from seed, is sold by many tree nurseries. Several cultivars have been named and are in the trade. The species also has potential as a managed-forest tree for timber production, but has found few applications in commercial forestry thus far.
Nearly all know ‘groves’ of this species are in protected areas; many are within famous national parks or within wilderness reserves of National Forests. There is a considerable literature on the conservation aspects of this species; for compilations see Aune (1994) and Stephenson (1996). The main conservation issue is the long absence of naturally occurring fires in the protected areas where many of the groves of Giant sequoia occur. Different approaches to solve this problem, from controlled burning to selective logging, have been applied on different lands (burning in national parks, logging in national forests), but so far on too limited a scale to reverse the downward trend in recruitment necessary to maintain the population in the long term. More drastic measures seem to be needed, but are difficult to safely apply and/or are controversial.
Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Albospicata’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Argentea’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Argenteum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Aurea’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Aureocompactum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Aureovariegatum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Ayers Rock’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Bajojeka’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Barabits Requiem’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Bart’s Green’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Beautiful Jop’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Blauer Eichzwerg’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Blue’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Blue Giant’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Blue Iceberg’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Brabant’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Bultinck Yellow’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Cannibal’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Cassidy’s Dwarf’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Chief’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Columnaris’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Compactum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Conrad Appel’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Cream Tower’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Curtis’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Curly Green’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Cylindricum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Desperado’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Deurne’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Dolimore’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Dutchman’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Elongatum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Exceptionally Blue’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Flavescens’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’French Beauty’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Geel NK’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Glaucum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Glaucum Compactum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Globus’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Green Stone’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Greenpeace’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Gyula’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Hazel Smith’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’HB Neu’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Hexenbesen Eschrich’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Highlander’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Holmesii’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Hupp’s Variegated Seedling # 2’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Idaho Endurance’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Julian’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Kék Klón’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Klabouterman’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Kugel Mayer’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Lacy Blue’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Lightning Green’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Lime Cross slg. N# 1.’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Lime Cross slg. N# 2.’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Little Stan’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Luzi’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Meteling’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Moonie’s Mini’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’MPH Szende’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Nana’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Nanum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Neuchatel’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Pendulum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Petticoat’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Pete’s Fastigiate’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Pete’s Weeping’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Pevé Bonsai’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Philip Curtis’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Pierie’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Pygmaeum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Pyramidalis Glaucum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Requiem’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Sea Beautiful Jon NK’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Sämling’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Shorty’s Blue’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Strictum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Sulfurea’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Variegatum’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Viking’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Virides’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Von Martin’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Von Warstein’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’WB’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Wittboldt’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Yellow Stone’ Sequoiadendron giganteum ’Yreka’
Copyright © Aljos Farjon, James E. Eckenwalder, IUCN, Conifers Garden. All rights reserved.
