Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)

You can tell you’re walking into a stand of costal redwoods even if you’re not looking at the trees. The air gets cooler, the ground turns a light tan from the decomposing needles, you see Western Sword Fern and Tanbark Oak, and you may very well hear a stream running nearby.

The tree itself, however, is hard to miss. Majestic trunks with vertical ridges of flaky bark, reach way up into the canopy. Redwood needles reach out ½” from stems on a flat plane.

January		April	July		October
Needles always present
	New Needles			Brown dead needles

Field ID Tips

· Groves of redwoods make deep shade.

· Short needles form a more-or-less flat surface. The needles form groups, with a slight gap between each year’s growth (see photo below).

Links:

Cal Photos

Wikipedia

Mountain Home to West Point Trees

<<<NEED PHOTO OF CONES>>>

<<<NEED PHOTO OF DUFF ON GROUND>>>