Sequoiadendron Explained

Sequoiadendron is a genus of evergreen trees, with two species, only one of which survives to the present:^[1]

• Sequoiadendron giganteum, extant, commonly known as wellingtonia, giant redwood and giant sequoia,^[2] growing naturally in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California^[3]
• † Sequoiadendron chaneyi, extinct, the predecessor of Sequoiadendron giganteum, found mostly in the Nevada part of the Tertiary Colorado Plateau until the late Miocene^[4]

Fossil record

thumb|left|upright| Sequoiadendron chaneyi foliage fossil, Nevada, United StatesSequoiadendron fossil pollen and macrofossils may have been found as early as the Cretaceous^[5] and throughout the Northern Hemisphere,^[6] including locations in western Georgia in the Caucasus region.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.
2. Web site: Wellingtonia – Sequoiadendron giganteum . 2022-01-27 . NatureSpot.
3. Web site: 2013 county distribution map. Biota of North America.
4. Daniel L.. Axelrod. 1959. 2405942. Late Cenozoic evolution of the Sierran Bigtree forest. Evolution. 13. 1. 9–23. 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1959.tb02990.x. free.
5. Sokolova . A. B. . Moiseeva . M. G. . 2016 . A new species of the genus Sequoiadendron Buchholz (Cupressaceae) from the Upper Cretaceous of the Enmyvaam River Basin, Central Chukotka . Paleontological Journal . 50 . 96–107 . 10.1134/S003103011601010X . 129990538 . 1. 2016PalJ...50...96S .
6. Chaney. Ralph W. A Revision of Fossil Sequoia and Taxodium in Western North America Based on the Recent Discovery of Metasequoia. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 40. 3. 1950. 188. 1005641. 10.2307/1005641.
7. Book: The History of the Flora and Vegetation of Georgia. Irina. Shatilova. Nino. Mchedlishvili. Luara. Rukhadze. Eliso. Kvavadze. Georgian National Museum Institute of Paleobiology. Tbilisi. 2011. 978-9941-9105-3-1.