Seeds
- A full-grown redwood tree will produce six to eight million seeds each.
- Seeds are about three times the size of a pinhead; 125,000 form one pound.
A Little Foggy
- Redwoods depend on fog for more than 30 percent of their water needs by absorbing it directly into their leaves and taking in the condensed fog that drips down to their roots.
Habitat
- Coast redwoods grow only one place on Earth - on the Pacific Coast from Big Sur to southern Oregon. The abundant moisture and moderate temperatures allow the redwood to flourish.
Height
- In ideal conditions a coast redwood grows 2-3 feet in height annually.
- The Tallest Redwood is 379.1 feet tall in California named Hyperion and is located in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
Earth's Superheroes
- Studies show that coast redwoods capture more carbon dioxide (CO2) from our cars, trucks, and power plants than any other tree on Earth.
Age & Time
- Redwoods are almost as old as dinosaurs. The earliest redwoods showed up on Earth shortly after the dinosaurs (about 240 million years ago) and before flowers, birds, spiders, and humans.
Root Systems
- Redwood tree roots are very shallow, often only five or six feet deep. But they make up for it in width, sometimes extending up to 100 feet from the trunk.
Survivors
- Redwoods have few natural enemies. Tannic acid makes them resistant to disease and insect infestation, and their thick, fibrous bark effectively resists fire.
- Some of the trees have been burned several times by wildfires but are still alive and growing.
Redwoods are not Sequoias
Redwoods are different than Sequoias (although they are usually referred to as the same thing). While both naturally occur only in California and share a distinctive cinnamon-colored bark, both also require different climates to survive.
The giant sequoia is the largest tree in the world in volume and has an immense trunk with a very slight taper; the redwood is the world's tallest tree and has a slender trunk.
See the redwoods up close
Today, over 160,000 acres of redwood forest are protected by federal, state, county and local parks on the Redwood Coast. From the plains of Humboldt Valley to the valleys of the Big Sur coast, there are many parks that feature these trees.
Some favorites include:
- Van Damme State Park
- Redwood National Park
- Humboldt Redwoods State Park
- Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park's
- Big Basin Redwoods State Park