Rex Trulove
People have probably heard that redwoods or giant sequoias are the largest trees in the world. While this is entirely true, a person who has never actually seen a mature redwood tree often has a bit of difficulty in grasping just how big the trees are.
Redwoods are both massive and tall. They often grow over 300 feet tall; the height of a 30-story building, and they can grow to well over 25 feet in diameter. Although the bark is thick, that is an enormous amount of wood. In fact, the wood from one mature redwood tree would be enough to build about 60 standard sized houses. (I should say “standard sized houses in the US” since, in some places, a 10 x 12-foot single room would be considered a large house.)
Redwood trees are quite resistant to wildfires, mostly because of the thick bark. Indeed, though the cones of redwoods are small, the seeds can’t germinate unless they are subjected to the heat of a fire.
There aren’t many redwoods alive in the wild, but I’d strongly suggest that people visit Redwood National Park if they ever get the chance. It is a very humbling experience, owing to the fact that the trees and even the ferns are immense. This is one of the few places where there are a lot of redwoods.
I remember in the movie “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” when Will Rodman (James Franco) said goodbye to Caesar the ape (Andy Serkis) in the Redwood Forest at the end of the movie. Those trees are awesome.
They most certainly are. I can imagine the almost disbelief that must have been felt when settlers first saw the redwoods.
I agree with you since they look so huge.
Never had the pleasure of seeing a redwood but sure would like to one day. Took me some getting used to since I opened my door in Latvia and always saw lilac bushes, oak trees, and pine trees suddenly a large branch of the tall palm trees are knocking on my door. So I would like to see another miracle like the redwood.
Near the coast in northern Oregon and southern Washington, there are fir trees that are nearly as large as the redwoods. Trees of that size fascinate me.
I have seen the sequoias but not the redwoods. Probably never make it there.
There isn’t a great deal of difference between sequoias and redwoods. Though they are different species, people often talk about them synonymously.
I’d still remember in my elementary days that I drew the tallest tree named redwood. I forgot how tall it is but it is very clear to me that it is the tallest of all
If I’m not mistaken, the tallest of all is something like 326 feet. It is hard to imagine a tree that big and I’ve seen a lot of extremely tall trees. For that matter, I’ve also seen the redwoods.