Metasequioa glyptostroboides; 'Dawn Redwood'

Originally from south west china but now has become a popular garden and city plant often found in commercial areas as a form of decoration.

Often known as Dawn Redwood this tree is a conical deciduous conifer with the leaves forming opposite pairs on the shoots.  The leaves are 2.5cm long and needle like, pale green at first and darkening in maturity. Its distinctive bark is the real standout feature being dark reddish brown, peeling in vertical strips. Creating a visually attractive tree which gives this plant a specific look and character.

This dawn redwood was found on oxford road in Manchester. This being a very busy area of traffic and pedestrians these row of Dawn Redwoods have done very well living here. The tree pits are very compact, some of the tree protective gates are way too small and chocking the tree and some don’t have any at all increasing soil compaction. These tree are placed to create a visual barrier from the car park to the road, the only problem is that these trees are deciduous so the coverage is only during the summer.

Dawn Redwood has been noted on its tolerance to pollution, this could be the reason by they are doing so well on oxford road, one of the busiest bus routes in Europe. So this tree was picked well as many trees couldn’t live in this very harsh environment.