Common Name: Dawn Redwood
Biological Name: Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Origins / Native Range: Central China (Hubei and Hunan provinces, especially around Lichuan).
Interesting Facts:
• A rare deciduous conifer (it sheds its needles each winter).
• Thought to be extinct for millions of years, until living specimens were rediscovered in the 1940s.
• Fossils show it once grew across North America, Europe, and Asia.
• Known for its rapid growth and buttressed trunk.
Conservation Status: Endangered (EN) – wild populations are small and fragmented, but it is widely cultivated worldwide.