dawn redwood
(Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu & W.C. Cheng)
Tree Numbers 2209, 2212, 2215 in the VT Campus Tree Inventory

Location: On Stanger St., Adjacent to McBryde Hall; GPS: 10923553.1770, 3613278.0048

Description: Dawn redwood is a living fossil, perhaps 100 million years old, and was widely distributed during the Cretaceous Period. This species was thought to be extinct, but was described in scientific literature from fossil records. In the early 1940's a stand of dawn redwoods was "discovered" growing in Hubei Province, China. This fast-growing tree is gaining popularity as an ornamental, and now can be found planted in North America. An interesting side-note: it is likely that dawn redwood once grew wild in the area that would eventually become Virginia Tech.

More Information on dawn redwood:

• University of Florida Extension Infomation
• VT Dendrology Fact Sheet
• USDA Plants Database