Dawn Redwood Tree

 

This is a dawn redwood tree. Isn't it pretty? It has an interesting history. In 1941, a tree genus was described from fossils that were around 5 million years old. A few years later, small populations of that fossil tree were found alive in central China. It was not extinct, just very rare. People call it a living fossil. Its common name, dawn redwood, refers to its early fossil record.

In 1951, dawn redwoods became commercially available in the United States. They have since been planted widely. There are two on my suburban New Jersey street. I noticed this one in a nearby park.

The tree has male and female cones. These are female, or seed-bearing cones.

These are male, pollen-bearing cones. Click to enlarge.

Although the dawn redwood is a conifer with needles and cones, it is not an evergreen. It sheds its needles in autumn and grows new ones in spring. So, yes, it has a nice Christmas tree shape, but it won't be green for the holidays.