The Coast Redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens)
by James K. Sayre
The Coast Redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens), as its name inplies, grows in the coastal region of northern California. It does not tolerate salt spray, so it grows a little inland from the Pacific Ocean, often behind a layer of more salt spray-tolerant shrubs and trees. The Redwood tree is the tallest tree in North America, with mature (hundreds of years old) specimens reaching three hundred feet to about three hundred and fifty feet high. The Redwoods always grow within the range of the summer fogs, which provide up to about twelve inches of additional precipitation in the rainless California summers. The tall trees with their dense interwoven upper canopies actually help prescipitate the fogs into droplets of water, which then fall to the ground, where the trees' roots can absorb the water.
Under optimal growing conditions, Redwoods form dense groves, most typically found along riverbanks of rivers which flow in a western or northwestern direction into the Pacific Ocean. Redwood groves typically range from about five miles up to thirty miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. The most northerly Redwood grove is along the Chetco River in southern Oregon, about fifteen miles north of the California - Oregon border. The southernmost limit of naturally-growing Redwood trees in along the Salmon Creek Canyon in the Santa Lucis Mountains in southern Monterey County in California. Redwoods grow from sea level up to about three thousand feet in elevation.
Redwood trees are also widely cultivated in urban coastal California and elsewhere.
Trees and shrubs that occupy the understory beneath Redwood groves include: Red Alder (Alnus rubra) and Madrone (Arbutus menziesii).
Plants that occupy the forest floor under Redwood groves include: ferns, herbs and mosses.
Some of the birds that use Redwood groves as habitat include: Western Flycatechers, Steller's Jays, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Vaux's Swifts, Varied Thrushes, Swainson's Thrushes, Ravens and Owls.
Trees that directly compete with Redwoods in mixed forests include: Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Tan Oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), Grand Fir (Abies grandis) and California Bay (Umbellularia californica).
See Richard Preston's book, The Wild Trees (New York: Random House, 2007) which includes a chapter on life in the upper canopy crown of Redwood tree groves. Some of the plants and animals that live in these small ecosystems include: ferns, epiphates, mites, fungi, Wandering Salamanders, Evergreen Huckleberry, Red Huclekberry, bumblebees, beetles, earthworms, lichens, Red Tree Voles, mosses, rhododendron, Salal, currants, elderberries and Salmonberries. All living upwards of one hundred feet above the forest floor.
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References:
Brenzel, Kathleen N., Editor, Sunset Western Garden Book, 2001. Menlo Park, California: Sunset Publishing Corporation.
Johnson, Verna R., California Forests and Woodlands: A Natural History, 1994. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Peattie, Donald Culrose, A Natural History of Western Trees, 1953. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
Schoenherr, Allan A., A Natural History of California, 1992. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Schultz, Stewart T., The Northwest Coast: A Natural History, 1990. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press.
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Return to the home page of Bottlebrush Press: The homepage of Bottlebrush Press
This web page was recently created by James Sayre.
Author's Email: sayresayre@yahoo.com
Copyright 2007 by Bottlebrush Press. All Rights Reserved.
Web page last updated on 14 September 2007.