MY NAME IS DAWN REDWOOD
That’s what people now call me here in the Americas. “Dawn” stands for new beginnings like the pastel glow at the start of each day. Dawn is gentle and comforting, like the feel of my soft, sensitive leaves. “Redwood” connotes the color and strength of my core, my inner molten lava, red with iron. My mighty trunk feeds from this eruptive source and grows to astounding dimensions over time. And so, I carry both characteristics in me: gentleness and great strength.
My ancestors prospered in the days of the dinosaurs, ultimately spreading over the northern lands of this earth. In order to survive, we had to grow tall and be strong.
As we grew, so did the animals around us, until, in a fatal competition of greatness, we all came falling down. When the epic climatic cold arrived, we, the Redwoods, disappeared under a thick layer of ice. Against a rolling mountain of frozen water, even we could not stand. We bowed our heads accordingly to this higher power and left the lands. But we were not completely gone. Some of us remained. Some of us found a deep mountain valley far away in Szechuan to hide. We lived there alone for millions of decades and then… a peculiar thing happened: we were “rediscovered.” Knowledgeable people from abroad came and compared my living features with those imprinted in ancient rocks of their lands and declared me to be alive! How bizarre! I had been happy and alive all these millions of years without their proclamations. My “survival” was celebrated around the world and my seeds distributed to botanists from near and afar. At least by this curious course of fate, I am now back growing in my old home: the Americas.
I share much with the sun. I too have a molten core and a radiant glow. I too am always here but disappear from time to time. Like the sun, I just chose to rest on the other side of this earth. I, like the sun, have returned and bathe now in the glory of my return. I and the eternal orb are both proof of the parable: that which has disappeared, may well be found again.
Home:
USA, Boston, Boston Common (central park)
Tree species:
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Tree family:
Cupressaceae, cypress
Common Names:
Dawn Redwood, Chinese Redwood
Motivation:
This beautiful specimen grows in a very prominent space in the Public Garden of Boston. This tree’s history is fascinating. The Dawn Redwood was previously known only from fossil imprints dating 50 to 100 million years ago. In 1947, Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum sponsored an expedition to the heart of China to confirm that this species was not extinct, following the idea of two Chinese professors. This tree is an offspring of the seeds collected. I was drawn to this specimen solely due to its charismatic nature, which has, in a happy end, survived over the ages.