Trees thought extinct thrive in Kew Gardens

It’s not often you have an opportunity to see a living fossil in your own backyard, but in Kew Gardens – about 90 m south of the Gardener’s Cottage and a good roll short of the bowling greens – stands a magnificent group of dawn redwoods that are happily thriving among the oaks and maples. Their gnarled fluted trunks and low-hanging outstretched branches make them look as though they would be more at home in Jurassic Park than a Toronto park. And with good reason – as recently as 1945 these trees were thought to be an extinct species, leaving behind just a few fossilized imprints of their foliage as the only evidence that they ever existed at all.

Dawn redwood trees in Kew Gardens

As a horticulturist and professional gardener, I always marvel at their extraordinary story of re-discovery and usually make a detour on my way to the boardwalk to admire these relics of the dinosaur age. I’m usually not alone – sometimes a dog walker or a jogger happens along to take a look and  occasionally a conversation starts, as often happens when you find yourself standing around looking at trees with a stranger. And it’s not long before  the inevitable question comes: do you know what kind of trees these are?

A distant relative of the well-known giant Sequoias of California, famously seen in those 1950s novelty postcards depicting tourists driving cars through their hollowed out trunks, the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) has only recently joined the ranks of the few deciduous conifers (along with the Larch and Bald Cypress) that are found in North America. It was named in 1941 by palaeobotanist S. Miki, who had taken on the task of identifying and cataloging plant and foliage remains embedded in a cache of recently unearthed fossils. One particularly interesting sample of tree foliage fascinated Miki and his fellow botanists and they launched an exhaustive investigation to try to match the stone imprints to known living plants. Eventually Miki and his colleagues admitted defeat in their search and the tree was officially declared extinct. He  named the samples Metasequoia (literal translation “like a sequoia”) before adding  it to the growing pile of lost species.

The story would have ended there if it were not for a Chinese forester who, four years after Miki’s re-classification, happened to be surveying a remote area of Sichuan province for relocation sites financed by Chinese clients wary of the increasing Japanese occupation of China. A short time after beginning his exploration of the dense forested interior he stumbled across a village where he immediately noticed a large and unusual looking tree planted in front of a temple. Examining the deep emerald coloured feathered foliage and unusual form and twig arrangement he first thought he had come across a unique variety of cypress (which the redwood closely resembles), but he soon ruled that out after noticing anomalies in the leaf size and structure of the mysterious specimen. The local villagers appeared  to have bestowed a religious significance on the temple tree and after noticing his curiosity led him to a small stand of similar trees growing in a densely wooded area nearby. Baffled, he temporarily abandoned his original mission and began collecting foliage samples which he sent to Beijing university for identification. Coincidentally a botanist there had recently read the Miki description of lost species and when he compared the leaf and twig samples to the fossil descriptions they matched perfectly.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides had been brought back from extinction.

Even with the Pacific war in full swing the discovery of an extinct species was big news and word travelled quickly around the world causing great excitement among botanists and the scientific community on both sides of the conflict. As the war came to an end an expedition sponsored by the Arnold Arboretum and Harvard University was assembled and dispatched to collect seed samples, but it wasn’t until 1947 that the team managed to travel inland to examine the original discovery site. When they returned to the United States the researchers discovered that their newly collected seeds proved to be extremely viable and quick to germinate and it wasn’t long before seedlings and small saplings were being distributed to botanical gardens and nurseries where they were nurtured and later sold as ornamental and landscape curiosities.

Today, dawn redwoods are a common sight in parks and gardens in North America and Europe and a few brave souls have even installed these living fossils in their back gardens. However, I wouldn’t  rush out to the garden centre just yet. These fast-growing trees need brontosaurus-sized accommodations since fully mature specimens have been recorded as having a height of 40 m and branches spanning an area of 10 m.

In addition to the group in Kew Gardens, there are some excellent examples of dawn redwoods in Toronto. High Park has a  gnarled and weather-beaten  metasequoia on the shore of Grenadier pond (just behind the carpet bed display) accompanied by a group almost hidden in a forested area nearby. However, one of the oldest and most spectacular Toronto specimens resides in Edwards Gardens.

When it was planted in 1960, legend has it that the gardener of the day positioned the sapling in such a way that between 7:20 to 7:45 am on June 20 (his wife’s birthday), the entire tree is illuminated by the rising sun. Sadly, a careless film crew recently removed some of its large lower branches while they were shooting nearby – a wounding that can sometimes prove fatal for the older and more closely related offspring of the original Sichuan  genetic pool. Nevertheless, the main form is still intact and it  stands majestically at the top of the hill on the path leading to the  west side of the park opposite the children’s garden.  Even though 50 years of nearby tree and shrub growth have slightly diminished the morning illumination effect, this particular living fossil continues to stand as a testament to one gardener’s devotion and creativity.


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11 comments

Very nice article on those mysterious Hobbit-like Dawn Redwoods. There is also one growing in front of Jackman school and a clump of them at Maughan Parkette near Dundas and Coxwell. Wish Steven Chadwick or some other Beacher tree admirer would write a regular tree column like Ann Brokelman’s excellent bird column. A former Beacher, Bronwyn Chester, had a great tree column in The Montreal Gazette’s weekend edition for a few years.
Bruce Girard
Elmer Ave

We have several here in High Park. They are very hobbit-like indeed. They’re absolutely stunningly beautiful trees. They turn this rusty gold in the fall and stay like that until new spring needles emerge.

Interesting article – I first heard about this species 20 years ago when buying trees for a house in don mills.

The thing to note though is that these days the trend is to plant only native species – which in some ways in crazy when we are talking about parks or areas that are clearly not anywhere near being “natural” – but then, i like the idea of planting parks in very formal arrangements (planting trees in straight lines or otherwise in a formal arrangement, unlike the English tradition and more like the gardens of european palaces)

Hi Steven,

I love those trees that we just discovered today. I love the not total shade that they provide and particularly the beautiful contrasting brown or red bark. I note your caution of how big they become but in my fifties now I would love to see one grow in my front yard. Where could I get a seedling or is it possible to take a slip and grow it from a branch?

Regards
Joe

Hi Joe,

If you want to plant one in your front yard, you are a braver man than I.

The seeds of mature trees are about the size of an acorn appearing in late summer and early fall and are hit and miss as far as viability goes so it would probably be easier to nurture one from a softwood cutting. I have also seen small trees in the past at Sheridan nurseries and one at Plant World a couple of years ago so you may want to try there.

I planted a small one in a botanical garden about five years ago and they grow fast (and wide) with lower branches that are part of the charm but will need a wide berth. The five foot sapling is now about twenty five feet.

Glad you found the article interesting and good luck with the growing.

I planted two coastal sequoias at my home’s front yard in back home in Istanbul in 1997. Both are successfully growing 3-4 feet per year. Amazing trees.

I came across these by surprise recently while walking through the neighbourhood. I am a resident of Burlington but don’t recall seeing them in the Arboretum. Do I recall that the RBG showcased them recently?

I was so impressed by their beauty and was so thankful, that after having touched the leaves and bark, felt I just had to hug the tree and after having a quick look around to see if anyone was watching, did just that!

We have a very tall one 35-45 years old, on our front lawn in Fonthill. There is another one of the same age on our street but in their backyard. But….more special is one of the acorns planted itself next to the front window and sprouted the same week our first son arrived. He just turned 2 and last year I relocated it to the backyard. It’s now almost 4 feet tall. I’m going to relocate this one to our cottage in Muskoka. We literally have ppl stopping by on the street and taking a 2nd and 3rd look at it, wondering what kind of tree it is. There is a 3rd one a few blocks over but is much younger than the one in our front yard. There was a letter from the original house owner explaining the tree. :). It feels like I’m hiking in the forest when I visit my brother in Vancouver….when I’m cuttimy the grass….lol

I have wondered about these trees in the past, and I wondered again this morning as I visited Kew Gardens. Glad I found this – an excellent read! Now I know – Dawn Redwood.

My friend Louise just shared this awesome article and showed me these breathtaking Dawn Redwoods! What a gift for our beaches community!

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