Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Pinopsida - Order: Pinales - Family: Pinaceae
In its native Sierra Nevada the Giant Redwood (also known as Wellingtonia) reaches a height of 80 metres and can live for 3000 years. Giant Redwoods weighing 2000 tonnes are not unknown.
This deep-rooting evergreen with its thick spongy red-brown bark, has been planted in Britain since 1853. Tree-creepers make good use of the sockets left as lower branches fall off.
The overlapping, sharp-pointed foliage is scale-like and quite different from that of the Coast Redwood.