| Our word 'weird', for things
that are 'strange', comes from an Anglo-Saxon or Germanic root. The 'web
of wyrd' was the way all things are connected and mutually create and
influence each other (similar to the Chinese concept of 'Tao'). So to
say that something is 'wyrd' acknowledged that a strange fact or phenomenon
is part of the Great Web, whose strands we cannot always see.
The coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) are the tallest trees in the world and the highest in
our time and age has been measured at 368 feet, which is more than the
combined height of 61 six-foot people. This is a very ancient tree
species, a living dinosaur of the plant world. At one time, in the history of our Earth,
it grew on other continents too. Pre-ice-ages fossils have been found in
our own Cornwall, UK!
They must have felt at home in Cornwall, as they require moist air to
thrive. Nowadays they can only be found in a narrow coastal fog belt
from Mid California to South Oregon and they are never more than 35
miles from the sea. The remaining stands of redwoods have sadly been
hugely reduced by human development and our timber-hungry society.
All the Sequoias have been named after a First Nation American called
Sequoiah, who invented the Cherokee alphabet. The Latin description 'sempervirens'
means 'ever-living' and its common name 'redwood' alludes to its deep
red heartwood.
This is a good point to try to clear up
a common confusion about the name 'Sequoia', which is also used to
describe two other species of giant trees:
- "The Big Tree" or
"Giant Sequoia" (Sequiadendron giganteum), also
known by the names of "Wellingtonia", "Mammoth
Tree" and "Sierra Redwood". This is botanically a
different species from the Redwoods with different foliage, bark and
habitat preferences. It grows in the much drier climate of the
Californian western slope of the Sierra Nevada in open groves. It is
now very rare and there are only a few scattered groves on rocky
slopes left. (please se item below for details of the biggest
specimens). Unlike the Coast Redwoods however, the Giant Sequoia can
be more easily cultivated and British tree collectors have planted
quite a few in this country in avenues and parks.
- The "Dawn Redwood" (Metasequoia
glyptostroboides), a native of central China, which is now
extinct in the wild, although some remnant populations are tended by
Buddhist monks. The Chinese name for "Dawn redwood" is
"shui-sa", which means "water-fir" and it is
also known by the name of "Water Larch". Alan Mitchell
reports that it was first introduced into this country in 1948 and
specimens have been planted in many large gardens in the south of
the country.
The three species above are classed
botanically in the Taxodiaceae (Swamp Cypress) family in Alan Mitchell's
authoritative "Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern
Europe", but on American websites they are often classed in
Cupressaceae (Cypress) family itself, rather than its sub-section. In
the Gallery of the "Sacred Grove" on this website we have a
collection of Sequoia pictures for you.
The Biggest Living Tree
The "General Sherman" Giant
Sequoia, located in Sequoia National Park, while neither the
tallest nor the widest tree, is considered the largest living tree in
the world because of its volume. It weighs approximately 2.7 million
pounds, and it is believed to be around 2,100 years old. Its height is
274.9 feet, and its circumference at ground level is 102.6 feet. The
diameter of its largest branch is 6.8 feet. This giant weighs as much as 360
elephants and is wide enough to
block a 3-lane highway, and stands as tall as a 27 story building!
Other famous "Big Trees" (an affectionate common name for the
Giant Sequoia) are the "General Grant" (81.5m x 24.3m) and and
the "Grizzly Giant" (61m x 22m, circumference measured at a
height of 2.4m). In the past individuals have been found of over 100
metres tall and with a girth of 27 metres. The trees are known to be
able to achieve an age of 3.400 years.
Defying gravity &
outperforming mechanical pumps
"To carry the great
amounts of water needed to the leaves, a tree is equipped with a
circulation system of amazing intricacy that extends from the millions
of root hairs through the trunks and the branches to the hundreds of
thousands of leaves. In the case of the Giant Sequoia of California,
this means that some of the water collected by the roots must travel a
distance of nearly 450 feet (this measurement includes estimated root
size! - Anna) to get to the highest leaves of the tallest
trees. This seems to contradict a basic law of physics. To raise water
that high requires a pressure of about 420 pounds per square inch.
However, atmospheric pressure at sea level is only about 15 pounds to
the square inch, and this limits the height that a suction pump can
raise water to a mere 33 feet. Not only does the tree attain the
tremendous pressure required, but it does so with a speed of flow so
great that in certain trees water rises at the speed of almost 150 feet
an hour."
(from "The Forest" by Peter Farb and the Editors of
Time-Life Books, Time-Life Books, 1961)
Forests charge the
Earth's magnetic field
It is a little known fact that trees,
apart from all their other useful functions, play an important part in
helping to maintain the intensity of the Earth's magnetic field. A
Forest is not only one of the richest eco-systems on Earth, but it is
also a collection of countless parallel
vegetable electrical conductors. "Plants and trees
"continually discharge to the air electrical tension voltage between the
earth and the ionosphere", because of their sap flow."
"The electromagnetic influence of the forests is conducted
through magnetic fields in the core where it induces electrical currents, thus
in turn creating magnetic fields. In this way the vegetation has a charging
effect on the Earth's magnetic fields. This
becomes evident by the correlation between the density of vegetation and the
declination of the Earth's magnetic field."
Read more in 'The
"Magnetism" of Trees', where we introduce you this
fascinating subject with the help of
Fred Hageneder's excellent book: "The Spirit of Trees - science,
symbiosis and inspiration" (Floris books, 2000)
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