Weird and wonderful members of the plant kingdom - the Sequoia

The Sequoia isn't just incredible for its immense size - but for a whole range of amazing attributes that make it a truly unique species. To begin with, its sap is non-resinous, and once the tree is mature enough to have developed its typical heavy bark, it's practically fire-proof, which may help to account for their long life. Amazingly, even if they have been damaged by fire, the high tannin content in the sap (like tea, only more so) has the same healing action on the tree as tannic acid has on our own flesh.

The Sequoia waits 175 to 200 years before it first flowers - which is the most delayed sexual maturity on the whole planet! It will bear millions of seeds in its lifetime, but each one is so small that it requires 3,000 of them to weigh one ounce.

Because the trees are so majestic, many of the oldest and largest have names. The current tallest tree is Hyperion, measuring 379.1 feet. Believe it or not, this tree wasn't discovered until the summer of 2006 in the Redwood National Park and has been measured as the world's tallest living thing. Until it fell in March 1991, the Dyerville Giant was the record holder. It stood in Humboldt Redwoods State Park; it was 372.04 feet high and estimated to be 1600 years old. Although the tree seems able to live almost forever, its wood is practically useless as timber. It's so brittle that when it falls it cracks both lengthwise and into horizontal fragments which are only fit to be used for making pencils or toy boats.

Sequoia photograph by Joe Shlabotnik, used under a creative commons attribution licence