5 x Metasequoia glyptostroboides - Dawn Redwood - 5 Plants in 9 cm Pot

This Listing is for five, second year plants, approx. 40 to 60cm tall, excluding the pot, with sturdy woody trunk, ready to pot on or plant out.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a tall, fast growing deciduous conifer. Beautiful frond like green foliage turning deep russet brown in autumn. Large heavily buttressed trunk with rugged stringy bark. Without doubt one of the most famous of the living fossil trees. In 1941 a forester in China, named Kan, was undertaking a survey in Sichuan and Hubei provinces when he came across an enormous tree, as it turned out, an individual of Metasequoia and recognised it to be special. In 1943, two more discoveries further brought Metasequoia to light. Chan Wang (1911-2000), a Chinese forestry official, also happened across an individual (said to have been the very tree that Kan had seen) and collected samples from it. These samples were determined to belong to a tree as yet unknown to science. However, in the same year, a second discovery was made that ended up being supremely relevant: Shigeru Miki (1901-1974) of Kyoto University was studying fossil samples of the family Cupressaceae when he isolated a divergent leaf form that led him to describe a new genus, which he named Metasequoia, meaning "like a sequoia". Only in 1946 was the connection made between Miki's new genus and the living samples identified by Kan and Wang. Professor Hu Xiansu (1894-1968) is credited with making this important connection and providing the specific epithet "glyptostroboides", after its resemblance to the Chinese swamp cypress. In the wild the Metasequoia is one of the world's most endangered species of tree. Metasequoia are easy to grow once established. Plant in a sunny or semi-shade location in any soil. Can be planted as a marginal plant or even in shallow water. If you like the beauty of the deep mahogany coloured trunk and the graceful highly cut leaves do not prune.