Sequoia sempervirens - Coast Redwood

Sequoia sempervirens: Sequoia named for the Cherokee silversmith Sequoyah who developed his nation's first writing system; sempervirens is Latin meaning always green, referring to the evergreen foliage.

Native to the Pacific coast of California and Oregon.

Growth rate fast to 70-90' in cultivation and up to 150-300' in habitat. with a 15-30' spread, developing an open pyramidal form and horizontal branching from a large main trunk with a broad base. Commonly cultivated as a long-lived, fast growing evergreen lawn, shade or screen tree.

Foliage sprays of feathery, flat, glossy green, needle-like leaves, 1/2-1" long tightly spaced in an alternate, opposite flat plane along green stems. Needles have slighlty prickly ends, lighter undersides, and persist 3-4 years, clinging to branches 1-2 years after drying to dull brown.

Cones are brown, oval 3/4-1" long, with densely spaced woody scales with crape-like, peltate thickened ends, maturing and opening in fall of the first year, but may persist for several months afterward.

Bark is fibrous, dark brown to cinnamon red, becoming very thick and spongy with age, with deep wide furrows and vertical ridges.

Sequoiadendron giganteum - Giant Sequoia

Sequoiadendron giganteum: Sequoiadendron for its similarity to the wood of the Sequoia genus, named for the Cherokee silversmith Sequoyah who developed his nation's first writing system; giganteum giant.

Also known as Sierra Redwood.
Synonyms: Sequoia giganteum, Wellingtonia gigantea

Dense, pyramidal or conical form in the landscape to narrow columnar form in dense mature groves. Symmetrical branches generally horizontal to downward-sweeping with upturned ends.

Narrow, gray-green, flat, lance-like leaves with prickly ends, forming round, rope-like foliage sprays of short, overlapping scale-like needles. Opposite or alternate arrangement.

2-3" long cones mature to dark reddish brown in the second year, but may persist on the tree. Wide, oval cone scales.

Thick, cinnamon red to dark reddish brown spongy, fibrous bark with large ridges and deep, vertical, interconnected furrows.

Large central trunk with a broad, buttressed base. Trees grow up to 300' (90m) with trunks to 35' (11m) diameter.

Per Conifers.org, Sequoiadendron only occurs in groves, so that every place it can be seen, it is found within the native mixed conifer forest as a unique, insular stand of gigantic trees. The stature of the trees, despite their occurrence within one of the world's most impressive mixed conifer forest, is literally awe-inspiring.

Native to the western slopes of California's Sierra Nevada from Placer to Tulare counties at 4,500 to 8,000' elevation.

Taxodium distichum - Bald Cypress

Taxodium distichum: Taxodium, from Greek meaning “resembling a yew,” because the yew has a similar leaf shape; distichum, referring to its two-ranked needles.

Fine textured deciduous conifer, similar to Metasequoia glyptostroboides, but T. distichum tends to be somewhat shorter and leafs out later. T. distichum is much less common than M. glyptostroboides in the Bay Area landscape.
Needles are pointed. Compare to M. glyptostroboides' rounded needles.
Round golf ball-sized cones in fall.
Found near New Orleans in swamps, where it puts up 'knees' (seen in the foreground), which provide oxygen to the roots.
Reddish brown fibrous and shallowly fissured bark peeling in thin strips.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides - Dawn Redwood

Metasequoia glyptostroboides: Metasequoia from meta meaning 'with', 'after', 'sharing' or 'changed in nature'; sequoia refers to the sequoia genus; glyptostroboides, for its resemblance to the genus Glyptostroboides.

This tree was known only in the fossil record until it was rediscovered in China in the 1940s. Fossils of this tree have also been found on the Pacific Coast. This is the tallest tree in China.
Leaves are pinnately compound, paired opposite along branchlets with soft fern-like needles.
Female cones resembling giant sequoia cones are about 1" long. They hang pendulous from long slender stalks.
Scales open to release tiny brown seeds when the cones mature in late summer of the first year and can persist on the tree into winter.
Incredible pink to orangey brown fall color.
These conifers are deciduous.
Gorgeous fibrous reddish brown bark with shallow fissures.
Buttressed trunk.

Cryptomeria japonica 'elegans' - Plume Cedar

Cryptomeria japonica 'elegans': Cryptomeria, from the Greek meaning 'hidden parts' because the flower parts are hidden; japonica, Japanese.

See also C. japonica sp.

Foliage turns reddish purple in cold weather. Often branches low to the ground.
Needle-like leaves are more feathery and lighter colored than the species.

This cultivar is almost always coneless.

Taxodium mucronatum - Montezuma Cypress

This is the national tree of Mexico.

Cryptomeria japonica - Japanese Cryptomeria