Description

Leaves: Awl-shaped leaves, 1/8" to 1/2" long, sometimes look scale-like, alternately or spirally arranged along twig; evergreen; blue-green; somewhat similar to junipers.

Twigs/buds: Twigs slender; covered by leaves.  Buds small; naked (no scales).

Flowers/fruit: Monoecious.  Fruit a woody cone; oval; 1-3/4" to 3-1/2" long; red-brown; hangs down; wrinkled scales with diamond shaped ends; mature in two years but cones may persist on tree with live seed for up to 20 years.

Bark: Gray and smooth when young; with age becoming rich reddish-brown, thick, ridged, and furrowed; fibrous; texture spongy.

Wood: Unimportant; brittle; similar to redwood.

General: Native to a few groves in the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in California; not native to Utah.  Native trees grow rapidly, get very large (nearly 300' tall), and can be 4,000 to 5,000 years old.  Extremely resistant to insects, diseases, and fire.   Intermediate shade tolerance.

Landscape Use: This tree does surprisingly well in Utah where temperatures don't get too cold, but avoid very hot locations.  Several good examples can be found in the Salt Lake area and at Weber State University in Ogden.  Also one is growing in the Pine Valley Mountains north of St. George that was planted in the 1930s at a Forest Service guard station.  It has survived fire and drought and is 110' tall.  Sequoia has a nice, dense, upright, conical canopy.  Likes a fair amount of moisture, but tolerates some drying.  Zones 6-8.

Cultivars: 'Argentea', 'Aurea', 'Barabit's Requiem', 'Blauer Eichzwerg', 'Bultinck Yellow', 'Compacta', 'Glauca', 'Greenpeace', 'Hazel Smith', 'Little Stan', 'Moonie's Mini', 'Pendulum', 'Power Blue', 'Pygmaea', 'Von Martin'.

Characteristics