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Tree In A Box Giant Sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum |
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A
tree of myth and magic, the Sequoia is the largest of all flora and
represents one of the oldest living individuals on earth.
Sacred to ancient and current lovers of the bond between humans and
the natural world, the romance and grace of the Giant Sequoia hold the
West’s history as living constants in the landscape. Called
by John Muir “the king of all conifers” and “the noblest of a noble
race”, these trees have been known to be 400 foot tall, 30 foot in
diameter and 4000 years old. Flourishing trees now standing in California
groves were swaying in the Sierra Nevada winds when Christ walked the earth.
More commonly they grow 250 foot tall and 15 to 20 foot in diameter
at 1000 years old. The
bright, deep green foliage is scale-like and overlapping in the manner of
cedars. The small cones are 2 to 3 inches long, woody and egg shaped.
The
bark is reddish-brown, very thick and rough in its outer layer, and thin and
tight in its inner layers, with deep vertical breaks, giving the tree a
fluted appearance and a large buttressed base. In
the first several hundred years in open territory, branches will reach
nearly to the ground. The
sequoia’s wood, practically off the market in present day, is brittle,
various in grain, and rose-purple to white in color. Its long life is in
some measure owed to its resistance to disease and fungus. It also has no
pitch tubes as in most pines, for insects to enter.
Giant
Sequoia will grow in much of the US with cool winters and sufficient water.
It also makes an excellent bonsai and may be grown indoors for many
years with lots of sunlight. |
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