Final Take on Botanical Gardens in Göteborg and an Amazing Once Believed Extinct Tree

Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) 

This incredibly kool prehistoric looking tree once only found in the fossil records, but actually rediscovered not that far back in 1944 in China, was once the dominant tree of the northern hemisphere. Fossils and actual mummified stumps and trunk remains of both Metasequoia & similar trees like Bald Swamp Cypress have been found everywhere in places like the extreme northern Canadian Archipelago in the Arctic, countries like Bükkábrány Hungary, states like Arizona and so on. The trees discovered were massive in comparison to the present modern day form specimens which are protected in their preserve over in Hubei Province China. One man is so impressed with this wonder that he has dedicated an organization and website to this single tree. Great info. He's created a Reserve for them and will open this to the public in 2035. In the mean time you can view his website for info and pictures.

http://www.dawnredwood.org

Here are some of my pictures of the single specimen at the Göteborg Botanical Gardens. It was exciting when I found it there on my first visit ever to the Botanical Gardens. Prior to the visit I had been researching Metasequoia as a result of the uncovered giant trees found at the north pole on Axel Heiberg Island some couple decades back and the studies of not only the tree, but also what the climate was like to have such an incredible forest of these giants along with countless other biodiverse living organisms. There is a large stump field right where the trees actually grew after what was described by some as a mega-tsunami which destroyed life there by snapping the trees off their trunks and burying them under massive amounts of sediment which apparently flash froze. Sounds like a "The Day After Tomorrow" scenario of sorts doesn't it ? They estimate in an area called the Buchanon Lake Formation there are some 10,000+ logs and other debris buried there. But the truly amazing thing is that the evidence of this ancient world is still somewhat fresh. The wood still burns and so would the cones, leaves, twigs and branches they have unearthed as a result of further global warming revealing this treasure. None of this is petrified wood as in other fossils caches. Just extremely well preserved organic matter. I'll post a further references pages on this subject below. 

(PHOTO BY LYN ANGLIN/NRCAN)

Image - virtualmuseum.ca

The photo above insists that this is a 50-million-year old tree stump which lies exposed on Axel Heiberg Island, where Nunavut may establish a territorial park. I'm skeptical as to an actual 50 million years old without anything happening to cause decay. But the prevailing ideological philosophy holds the power of the print. Below is a photo of the stump field on the hillside. Notice the lake terracing effects of the gradual receding waters which were no doubt followed by snow and glacial build ups. One can only imagine how such an enormous extinction event not only wiped out all the rich biodiverse ancient life for good, but also entirely changing the weather dynamics permanently which presently prevents a re-occurrence of such life again.

Image - David Greenwood

The picture above is said to be Fossil Forest Hill which is the site of the ancient Redwood forest on the Island of Axel Heiberg, which the northern most region of the Canadian Archipelago. If you look closely, you'll see what is termed 'Lake Terracing'. It's both breath taking in the sense of actually being there to see such an amazing fossil find and in a certain way sad as to realize what once was is now gone as a result of a catastrophic event. It has been suggested that a powerful catastrophic event like a mega-tsunami triggered by massive volcanism snapped these giant tree trunks in two like some match sticks and buried the majority of resulting 10,000+ logs and debris in what is called the Buchanon Lake Formation. So burying the majority of forest debris and leaving behind massive stump fields. But now there is another problem. This major volcanism event also blew tonnes of volcanic ash and cases high up into the atmosphere and rapidly changed the regions mild climate to a below zero frigid one in which massive glaciation took place burying and preserving this stump field. Only now with global warming and melting back of these ice caps can we see the exposed ancient forest of mummified wood. That in itself is different than labeling these stumps as fossils, at least rock fossils in the real sense. This wood still burns in a camp fire. But now back to the Göteborg Botanical Gardens and the Dawn Redwoods or Metasequoia.

Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia) 
Göteborg Botanical Gardens

The example they have at the Botanical Gardens is by no means a giant of any sort, but beautiful none the less. Especially in the wet evergreen surroundings of other forests trees and herbaceous understory. It is located way in the back of the gardens among other like conifers. I really wished more people would use this as a landscape tree here, but I never see it sold anywhere in the plant Nurseries, or as the Swedes call them, Plantskola (literally translated as 'Plant School'). Don't ask, I have no clue why! Even still, it's a beautiful tree and I'll have to get back this coming Fall to see if I can actually catch a glimpse of the golden reddish Fall foliage. Remember, the Dawn Redwood unlike the two evergreen California native redwood species is a deciduous tree. There is a Nurseryman in New Mexico who has been successful growing these trees and somewhere in the Sauraton Mountains of North Carolina, lies the Crescent Ridge Dawn Redwoods Preserve, there is a private endeavor to re-establish a self regulating forest of meta-sequoia in the Appalachian region.

The upper tree canopy of the Metasequoia

Dawn Redwood - Göteborg Sweden

Example of the twisted furrowed patterns on this trees trunk. Very different from the deep straight furrowed look of the other Redwoods like the Coastal and Sierra Redwoods. In many ways it resembles more the Bald Swamp Cypress of the southern United States accept it have a more conical shape whereas the Swamp Cypress may be often more broadly crowned and multiple trunk or branched higher up the canopy. This is also seen from the very top photo of this post.

Metasequoia Leaves

The leaves however more closely resemble the California Coastal Redwood as opposed to the Sierra Redwood which are more Cypress or Juniper-like. They are also different however from the evergreen Coast Redwood in that this tree is deciduous and the leaves turn golden to red in the Fall and winter months it is completely bare. One of the more fascinating finds on Axel Heiberg Island was not just the 10,000+ logs and tree stumps they found, but also extremely well preserved forest floor tree liter with cones of various tree species. And it looks as fresh as when it first fell from the trees, take a look below.

Dr. Ken Hooper Virtual Natural History Museum  Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Canada

Fall Colouration

Take an example view of the Fall or Autumn  colouration before the onset of winter and the complete leaf fall. These are brilliantly coloured trees in the Fall. Incredibly there is a research fascility called Arboretum Tome in New Mexico which maintains 33 genetic lines of this tree and has successfully grown them for over 20 years. The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University at Cambridge Massachusetts USA sent an expedition over to China to collect some of the seeds which were germinated and thereafter sample seedlings sent out to other Arboretae and Universities worldwide.  They (the seeds) weren't brought over to the United States until 1948 and problems developed after that with inbreeding as a result of lack genetic diversity. But further collections by those who have a fondness and love for this tree has changed that.

Dawn Redwood Grove in Fall Colour

This tree would be a challenge to grow in many of the drier locations on Earth, but possible given enough water and the proper biological organisms makeup of the soil they are in. The Los Lunas, New Mexico Nursery "Trees The Please" which is just south of Albuquerque is an excellent example of growing such trees in an otherwise challenging soil and climate environment. Please review some of the important and informative links below for further understanding of proper soil requirements and the ability to change saline and badly alkaline soils into a rich forested habitat by using biological processes which have the ability to digest, redistribute and to recreate the Earth into something extremely productive. Keep in mid that not everyone is on board with turning wastelands into natural productive ecosystems. Many environmental groups become viciously indignant at the very thought of changing the status quo of any untouched wildland for the better. The Center for Biological Diversity in Arizona and one of it's main leaders and spokeman, Kieran Suckling viciously attack author, Fred Pearce, who wrote a wonderful article in E360-Yale back in 2013 about the transformation of a true desert island, Ascension Island in the south Atlantic. Over 100+ years ago sailors & a well known British Botanist had brought and planted various plants on the bare island which moved up the mountain slopes and created a cloud forest. Previously little rain fell, but now they get precipitation and running streams where there was once nothing. The reason for the environmentalist anger ? They claimed certain native lichens, mosses, desert ferns and other small perennials would be wiped out by these non-native invaders. Many comments I read in the comments section were like, "If Nature wanted a forest there, it would have evolved one". This is such complete nonsense. A major study of how the island tramsformed itself could be used as a foundation stone for building up other desert ecosystems and restoration of areas ruined by land misuse.

image by Arno Gourdol (Dec 22, 2008)
Borrego badlands from Font's Point

See this beautiful although lifeless looking badland area above ??? It's in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park in Southern california near where I grew up and lived for some 30+ years. I was attacked by the Southern California Desert Protective Council (now a defunct oranization) who were livid that I would suggest turning lifeless Anza Borrego badlands into protective native plant ecosystem. There are many environmental groups out there who feel exactly the same way and believe they know how Science should be used and what Earth needs, but the reality is they are mainly obsessed with a political ideology and a secular worldview that views other humans as a threat to the natural world. I call it, "David Attenborough Syndrome" who called all 'humans beings the plague of the earth' which has been parroted within scientific and environmental organizations for the re-implimentation of Eugenics programs of sterilization and increased abortions. Of course the followers of such groups never view themselves as part of that threat either, because the main focus is always on their opponents. In any event, I hope this spotlight on Metasequoia helpful and shows how much further humans have to go as far as learning about nature if they really intend on improving the earth. Here's the post I wrote on that very subject of the creation of a new earth.

Tardigrades: pioneers in creating a new Earth ?

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REFERENCES:

Plant of the Month: Dawn Redwood

The Arboretum Tomé - Education Center

http://www.dawnredwood.org/

University of Cambridge Botanic Garden & Dawn Redwood

http://www.metasequoia.org/

THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE “LIVING FOSSIL” METASEQUOIA GLYPTOSTROBOIDES (TAXODIACEAE): A REVIEW (1943–2003)