Showing posts with label Wood. Show all posts
Muir Woods National
Monument is a unit of the National Park Service on the Pacific coast of
southwestern Marin County, California, 12 miles north of San Francisco and part
of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It protects 554 acres, of which
240 acres are old growth Coast Redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens) forests, one of a few such stands remaining in the San
Francisco Bay Area. One hundred and fifty million years ago ancestors of
redwood and sequoia trees grew throughout the United States. Today, the Sequoia sempervirens can be found
only in a narrow, cool coastal belt from Monterey, California, in the south to Oregon
in the north. Before the logging industry came to California, there were an estimated
2 million acres of old growth forest containing redwoods growing in a narrow
strip along the coast. By the early 20th century, most of these forests had
been cut down. Just north of the San Francisco Bay, one valley named Redwood
Canyon remained uncut, mainly due to its relative inaccessibility. Source
Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoia, giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, or Wellingtonia) is the sole living species in the genus Sequoiadendron, and one of three species of coniferous trees known as redwoods, classified in the family Cupressaceae in the subfamily Sequoioideae, together with Sequoia sempervirens (coast redwood) and Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood). The common use of the name "sequoia" generally refers to Sequoiadendron giganteum which occurs naturally only in groves on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. It is named after Sequoyah (1767–1843), the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary. The giant sequoias are having difficulty reproducing in their original habitat (and very rarely reproduce in cultivation) due to the seeds only being able to grow successfully in full sun and in mineral-rich soils, free from competing vegetation. Although the seeds can germinate in moist needle humus in the spring, these seedlings will die as the duff dries in the summer. Source
