Redwood Trees
There are three kinds of Redwood Trees: Sequoia, Sequoiadendron, and Meta Sequoia. Their natural range is restricted to the foggy coastal belt of Northern California (the Sequoia Sempervirens), a strip in the Sierra Nevada mountains (the Sequoiadendron Gigantia) and a small group of Meta Sequoia (or Dawn Redwood) in a remote valley in China. These are the only Redwood forests left that once spanned most of the the Earth. The Redwood species contain the largest and tallest trees in the world. They can live thousands of years. These are the largest living beings on Earth. A Redwood averages eight feet to twenty feet in diameter with some as tall as three hundred and seventy five feet.
Translation? A tree taller than the Statue of Liberty and larger around and through than a Greyhound bus!
Growth and Range
The Coastal Redwoods require the normal daily occurrences of thick fog along the coast. These majestic giants pull moisture into their needles at the tops of the tree where the circulation system of the tree is unable to reach. The 50-60 degree average temperature of the area is equally important to the life cycle of these trees. These two conditions limit where this Redwood will flourish. They will grow about anywhere but may never achieve their true majestic size.
Proliferation
A live Redwood that is knocked over will attempt to continue growing via its limbs. If undisturbed, the limbs pointing up will turn into trees. Cathedral or family groups of trees are trees growing up from the living remains of the stump. This forms the mystical and eye catching circle.
Redwood Burls are found on the trunks of some Redwood trees. Often times, Burls form as regenerative growth after the tree has been injured. The wart like growth then covers the scar with a nodule or Burl. The growth of a Burl is held in check by the presence of chemical signals in the tree. Should the tree die or be stressed then the chemical signal weakens or vanishes and the Burl will burst forth into green sprouty life. Burls kept in a shallow pan of water will grow almost indefinitely. They can also continue on to become a Redwood tree, an identical clone of its parent tree as each Burl carries a duplicate copy of the parents DNA code.
Roughly 20% of today's Redwood trees grew from seed. 80% came from one of the various cloning based proliferation strategies. The current beloved Redwoods could be the last in a 30,000 year (or more) line of the same tree reproducing itself over and over again. That is a strong will to live!
Roots are generally pale in color and extremely delicate when they first emerge.
As you can see, roots can grow fairly quickly.
Now we can see additional little fingers growing off the main root.
This burl developed roots on both sides of the burl. I scrubbed the base free of algae, trimmed a few little saplings off the burl and then gently potted the burl, carefully submerging the roots in clean soil.
Doesn't it look like a little forest already?
A Redwood Burl is significantly rare and especially fun and beyond interesting. Burls are terrific in a classroom, as a gift to any plant loving friend, a gift to your plant loving self, the bonsai enthusiast and the bonsai novice. There is no other plant in the world like the Burl making it ideal for the rare plant collector. You cannot go to a nursery to pick one up! This is a super rare treat.
No other tree in the world does this but the Redwood. My burls are specifically, Coastal Redwood or California Redwood.
Photos have been added due to multiple questions about Burls and their roots. Many people who have never touched or seen a Burl speculate about their possibilites and have suggested roots are mythical. I am no expert but I have been growing and selling Burls off and on via eBay [under the name MAGNOVIA] since 2002. Most of them root!
They do make great bonsai specimens as they grow into Redwoods and Redwoods are stunning as bonsai! I understand it is wonderful to have a tree that is already "done" but you are depriving yourself of a wonderful experience. Burls are exactly that and memorable! I love them.