Let's play guess the mystery plant! If there is interest, then each Monday, TELCS will post a photo of a new plant, and we'll see who can name it (extra kudos for Latin) before Solved on Sunday. Each day, I'll check in to see if a clue is needed and post it in comments below. Good luck!
Solved on Sunday!
I'm calling these the "Tree Sisters", because they share the same subfamily, Sequoioideae, of the family Cupressaceae. This photo, taken at West Valley College in Saratoga, California, illustrates them nicely. On the far right, most Californians will recognize the coast redwood, or Sequoia sempervirens. The middle, deceiving in its currently smaller stature, is the giant sequoia, or Sequoia giganteum. Our mystery plant, at distant relative native to China, is Metasequoia glyptostroboides, but you can call her the dawn redwood. Unlike the evergreen siblings, this one turns golden in the fall and is completely winter deciduous. Its lush redwoodiness returns in the spring, confusing a lot of passersby.
Final Hint:
Hint #4: Fossil dating has determined this species' existence 50,000,000 years ago.
~ Missouri Botanical Garden
Hint #3: The largest registered specimen in California stands at 88' tall, a trunk circumference of 182", and a crown spread of 59'.
~ Urban Forest Ecosystem Institute
Hint #2: "The natives [in Maodaoqi village] call this towering tree a Shui-sa or 'water fir.'"
~ Jill Jones