Sequoia is a genus of redwood trees in the Cupressaceae family. It includes the largest trees in the world. The only living species of the genus is Sequoia sempervirens, the coast redwood, in northern California and southern Oregon in the United States.[1] Several other species have been named from fossils, but are now extinct. These include Sequoia affinis, Sequoia chinensis in China, Sequoia langsdorfii, Sequoia dakotensis of South Dakota, and Sequoia magnifica.[2] Other related species of the subfamily Sequoioideae include Sequoiadendron Giganteum, the Giant Sequoia and Metasequoia Glyptostroboides, the Dawn Redwood.
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| Del Norte Titan, one of the largest coast redwood trees | |
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| Genus: | Sequoia |
The oldest known fossils in the Sequoia genus are those of Sequoia jeholensis, which have been found in Jurassic deposits of southern Manchuria.[3] By the late Cretaceous it had spread to other parts of China, Europe, and western North America.
Giant sequoia are much more recent in the fossil record, appearing 25 million years ago. They grow only in 75 groups across 35,600 acres in California, near the Sierra Nevada mountains.[4] These groups were formed as a protection from logging. The most famous area with giant sequoia trees is Sequoia National Park. The park was made as the second national park, after the Yellowstone in 1980.[5] The Sequoia National Park is managed with Kings Canyon National Park. Together, the two parks are called Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Several trees in Sequoia National Park have even been named, for example General Grant, the Grizzly Giant or General Sherman.
References
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