Sequoioideae
Giant sequoia ( Sequoiadendron giganteum ) " General Grant Tree "
- Sequoiadendron
- Metasequoia
- Sequoia
The redwoods ( Sequoioideae ) are a subfamily of the plant family of the cypress family ( Cupressaceae ). This subfamily includes tart only three monotypic genera, that is, they each consist of a living fossil, however, Art, numerous other species survived.
System
In the subfamily redwoods ( Sequoioideae ) there are three monotypic genera tart, so each with a living species:
- Genus Sequoiadendron Giant sequoia ( Sequoiadendron giganteum)
- Sequoia affinis †
- Sequoia chinensis †
- Sequoia dakotensis †
- Sequoia jeholensis †
- Sequoia langsdorfii †
- Sequoia magnifica †
- Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
- Metasequoia foxii †
- Dawn redwood ( Metasequoia glyptostroboides )
- Metasequoia milleri †
- Metasequoia occidentalis †
- Metasequoia disticha †
Ecology and description of the types
The Giant Sequoias Sequoiadendron giganteum of the genus Sequoiadendron are Pyrophyten; their thick, fibrous bark protects them from forest fires, which can often occur in the dry forests of the Sierra Nevada in the western United States.
Most of the old trees such as the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park show significant burn scars, but which, if the tree is not too badly damaged, heal again. The Journal of giant sequoia trees begin to open after a forest fire. After many of the other competing plants are burned, the seeds can germinate undisturbed in the nutrient-rich ash layer. The giant sequoias can be very old and grow tremendously in the width.
The currently largest after the volume of its trunk giant sequoia, the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park, is almost 84 meters high and has at breast height diameter of about 8.25 meters, the floor around 9.95 meters, which corresponds to a basic set of about 31 meters corresponds. The broadest tribe is the General Grant Tree, have at oval base with a maximum diameter of about 13 m. The oldest of these trees are supposed to be over 3000 years old. Only the master volume of the largest living trees is almost 1,500 m³, making them the largest plants of this earth; her weight should be at about 2,400 tons. (For comparison, an Airbus A380, the largest civilian passenger plane has about 420 t -off weight, a blue whale weighs about 140 tonnes, a small car about 1 t).
Since the mid-19th century, these trees are planted in Central Europe as a (rare ) park trees, mostly in the sprawling English country gardens.
The coastal redwood genus Sequoia forms a much slimmer tribe than the giant sequoia and is not that old. He specializes in the rainy and damp Pacific coast of northern California through Oregon to Washington in the north. Many copies of the coastal sequoia are over 100 m high.
The English name "Californian Redwood " for the coast redwood is very unhappy and the source of a myriad of widespread errors about redwoods, because this name fits both to the giant sequoia and the coastal redwood: Both raised in California and both have reddish wood.
In contrast to the coastal redwoods ( Sequoia genus ) Giant sequoias ( Sequoiadendron genus ) is generally regarded certain provenances and the Urweltmammutbäume the genus Metasequoia under Central European conditions as frost tolerated. Therefore, the latter two types are for years to the regular nursery range.