16/ SEQUOIADENDRON GIGANTEUM 

Características: Forma cónica. Color gris azulado con ramas ligeras, inclinadas y luego algo curvadas. Los árboles adultos tienden a extenderse y fragmentarse.

• Su corteza es rojo oscura, muy gruesas, con profundos surcos y se hunde con la presión. Con la edad se vuelve dura y gruesa (hasta 60 cm), protegiéndolo contra los incendios forestales. 

• Hojas escamosas y alargadas (parecidas a los cipreses), verde azuladas, con escamas en espiral a modo de cuerda, sin marcas blancas y terminan en punta. Sus brotes son rígidos, huelen a anís y pueden curvarse hacia arriba.

• Los estróbilos o conos femeninos, tienen forma rómbica ancha ahuevada, y escamas intumescentes (se van hinchando), crecen solos o en parejas en el extremo de las ramas gruesas. Los conos masculinos siempre solitarios en el ápice de las ramitas.

• Tronco: recto y robusto, hasta una altura de 2 m es muy ancho y a partir de allí se va estrechando.

• Ramas rígidas y recias, que en los ejemplares adultos aparecen a considerable altura, librándose de ese modo del fuego en los incendios.

• Su floración es en  marzo y abril.

• Como Taxodiácea pertenece al grupo de coníferas gimnospermas, de hojas esparcidas, caedizas, persistentes  y estróbilos duros. Son monocóicos (cada árbol produce semillas masculinas y femeninas

Curiosidades: su nombre deriva del género “Sequoia” y del griego “dendrón” árbol.

• No tiene utilidad comercial pues su madera blanca es como el cartón.

• Es mas rústico y resistente que la  Sequoia Sempervirens.

• Los incendios curiosamente favorecen su reproducción. Los incendios queman la hojarasca del piso forestal y el calor abre las piñas que pueden permanecer cerradas hasta 20 años, liberando unas 230 semillas minúsculas, que caen flotando hasta el  “perfecto y limpio semillero” a  sus pies.

Family: Taxodiaceae

Longevity: Among the largest and longest-lived trees on Earth, capable of reaching up to 100 m in height and living for as long as 3,500 years. Precise measurements are difficult because the largest specimens died accidentally. A single tree can hold up to 1,600 m³ of wood, equivalent to about half a hectare of spruce forest.

Natural habitat: Native to California’s Sierra Nevada, growing between 1,500 and 2,500 m altitude. The famous General Sherman, one of the largest trees in the world, grows here (84 m tall and 24 m in diameter). Considered a living fossil but highly adaptable to similar environments. Requires deep, cool, moist, non-calcareous soils and tolerates cold winters well. Introduced to Europe in the mid-19th century.

Distribution in Spain: Found in several parks and gardens due to its extraordinary size and presence. Notable specimens include those at the entrance of La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia), reaching 51 m, and another at Mas Tortadés (Girona) at 48 m.

Characteristics: Conical shape with bluish-gray foliage; branches are light, initially drooping and later slightly curved. Mature trees tend to broaden and fragment. Bark is dark reddish-brown, extremely thick and deeply furrowed, soft under pressure when young and hardening with age (up to 60 cm thick), providing excellent fire protection. Leaves are elongated, scale-like, blue-green, arranged spirally without white markings, ending in a pointed tip. Shoots are rigid, smell of anise, and may curve upward. Female cones are broad, rhomboid, hollowed, with swollen scales, growing singly or in pairs at branch ends; male cones are solitary at twig tips. The trunk is massive and straight, very wide at the base and tapering upward. Flowering occurs in March–April. As a taxodiaceous conifer, it is a monoecious gymnosperm with hard cones.

Curiosities: The name comes from Sequoia and the Greek dendron (“tree”). It has little commercial value, as its pale wood is soft and cardboard-like. More rustic and resilient than Sequoia sempervirens. Wildfires actually aid its reproduction: fire clears forest litter and heat opens cones that may remain closed for up to 20 years, releasing around 230 tiny seeds onto the newly cleared ground.