Hansen's Northwest Native Plant Database

Metasequoia glyptostroboides (Dawn Redwood)

Kingdom Plantae – Plants

Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants

Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants

Division Coniferophyta – Conifers

Class Pinopsida

Order Pinales

Family Cupressaceae – Cypress family

Genus Metasequoia Miki ex Hu & W.C. Cheng – dawn redwood

Species Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu & W.C. Cheng – dawn redwood

This tree grows fast when young. Bright green leaves. Grows to 100 ft tall. In the fall, the Dawn Redwood leaves turn a beautiful gold color before falling! What an addition to the native plant garden – a mysterious link to an ancient heritage!

Dawn Redwood, a Re-established Native Of The Pacific Northwest 

Stretching back into the mysterious past, this tree grew widely in the area now know as the Pacific Northwest. About sixteen million years ago, the ice age descended on this area and killed all the Dawn Redwood, leaving only fossils behind.

Then in 1941 in Western China, botanists discovered a small stand of living Dawn Redwood! Subsequently, seed was brought to America and the plant is now available, nursery grown. What a wonderful true story – a survival miracle of Beauty and Grandeur!