Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Netherlands

Common name: Watercipres, Chinese watercipres, Chinese mammoetboom, Chinese moerascipres, Dawn redwood, 水杉 shui shan

Family: Cupressaceae (Cypress familiy)

Distribution: China (Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan)

Hardiness: Zone 05

Life form: Conifer

Comments: The dawn redwood is a deciduous, monoecious, fast-growing conifer from South- and West-China; it can grow up to 45 metres tall there. This species, the only one in this genus, was described as late as 1948, and its name indicates that it resembles a Sequoia – also known as the Californian redwood. At first, it was only known as a fossil that was 60 million years old, until a few living specimens were discovered in 1943. Its trunk has bark that exfoliates; its branches spread and bear the needles on small twigs on the sides. Its autumn colour is bronze-brown. The male cones have the shape of catkins; the globose female cones are solitary. The species name refers to the slit in the margin of the cone scales. It thrives near water. In China, it has been planted along 60 km of avenues.