Did you know? Find facts, stories, and lore about some of the trees found in The Park.
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Dawn Redwoods — A Children’s Guide (and for grownups too!)
Dawn redwoods are unusual because they are deciduous, which means they drop their needles in winter. No other kind of redwood does that. Known as living fossils, they have an intriguing story behind their discovery. We have two of them, each standing on its own island; a fluffy looking young one (when its needles are on) at W. Poplar & Costa Rica, the other larger but not yet full grown, with wonderful bark, on W. Poplar & Hillcrest. Here’s their tale.
Once upon a time -- in 1941 actually -- a Japanese paleobotanist (that is someone who studies fossils of plants) named Shigeru Miki was studying fossils of the Sequoia tree. He noticed differences among his specimens, and went on to identify a previously unrecognized and unnamed fossil that he called Metasequoia – from the Greek word ‘meta’ meaning ‘with’ or ‘after’ combined with ‘sequoia.’ He discovered it among Sequoia fossils, after all, so that seems like a good official name. (We have been told that fossils of the Metasequoia have been found in this area as well. We’re not sure about this, though.)
That same year, in a far away land -- the remote western Chinese village of Modaoqi actually -- 3 very unusual trees were discovered. One of them stood one hundred feet tall and over six feet in diameter. The tree was estimated to be 450 years old yet still it was healthy and bearing seed filled cones. No wonder local villagers believed this tree was the home of God. Botanists later realized these trees were identical to Shigeru Miki’s fossil – and so the trees became known as living fossils. (Officially, though, they were named Metasequoia glyptostroboides. How its simpler name, dawn redwood, came to be used we don’t know. But with an official name that was such a mouthful, it needed a nickname and this is a lovely one, don’t you think?)
Some of the oldest dawn redwoods now growing in the United States grew from seed that came from the trees in Modaoqi. (Maybe ours are descended from them as well.) Anyway, when their needles are on, dawn redwoods look a lot like California’s coast redwoods (we have a lot of those around the Park, too), but the dawn redwood has smaller cones and bright, apple green needles that are soft and bend easily. The needles are arranged opposite each other in pairs on tiny short branches. They turn a rich, coppery-bronze color in autumn and then fall off usually after the first hard rain of the season. That’s when you can better see the interesting bark, the rust colored trunk and the shape of their outstretched limbs. Why not visit them in each season, and compare them to the coast redwoods on other islands. Can you see the difference when their needles are on?
Meanwhile, we may have a “living happily for a long time after” ending to the story of these living fossils. In China in 1980, the largest trees there (including the one the villagers called the home of God) were put under protection by the Chinese government. And here, we’re doing our small part to preserve these trees happily ever after in San Mateo Park.
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Cork Oaks
As you walk around The Park enjoying the magnificent trees that were planted here at the beginning of the last century, notice the Quercus suber, a member of the Oak family. These trees are native to Mediterranean countries but have been planted in the US from Maryland to California. They thrive in semi-dry conditions. More commonly known as the Cork Oak, its bark needs to be touched if you want to see what this tree is all about.
The thick, soft, outer bark of this tree is indeed cork. To produce cork, the bark is stripped every 10 to 20 years on the lower section of the tree. With proper harvesting, the inner, living bark is not harmed, and one tree can yield over 1,000 lbs. of cork in a single crop. The first and second stripping of a tree give mediocre quality cork; subsequent strippings produce a higher quality product. (Don’t even think of taking a sample – even a small one - from our trees! If not done properly, living tissue easily can be damaged, killing limbs or even the whole tree.)
Thomas Jefferson sent the first cork oak acorns to the United States from France in 1787, but it was not until 1858 that interest in these majestic trees took root. In the following years, many acorns were imported from Spain and distributed throughout the South and in California. About 600 trees were planted at Chico by the University of California in 1904.
Cork oaks are slow-growing and extremely long-lived: some trees in Europe are over 500 years old. They may range from 60 to 100 feet in height and have massive branches forming a round crown. They are evergreen with rich green, shiny leaves that have grayish undersides.
With these clues, can you spot the cork oaks on a few of our islands?
Mature cork oak islands can be found on the first block of West Bellevue, at the intersection of W. Bellevue and Hurlingham, and on Warren between Hurlingham and Crescent. Our newest cork oak island is on West Poplar between Hurlingham and Crescent. This one was planted (for future generations!) when sustained freezing weather killed all the frost-susceptible silk oaks that were on this island.
If you have any tales about trees found here, whether horticultural, literary, or folk, please submit them to board@sanmateopark.org. We hope to hear from you!