The evergreen trees described on “The Beginning Gardener” page were the kinds most often used as Christmas trees.
There are others equally useful and beautiful—yew (Taxus), cypress (Cupressus), arborvitae (Thuja), larch (Larix), and bald-cypress (Taxodium distichum).
The redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and big-tree (S. gigantea), and dawn-redwood (Metasequoia) have interesting historical and botanical backgrounds.
These all bear cones except the yew, which was formerly included in the pine family but later placed in the yew family.
Yew Plant’s Features
The leaves of the yew are broader than those of the fir or spruce.
They form a flat spray, or a V-shaped trough, although on some branches they may stand out spirally around the stem.
The rich, dark green foliage (lighter on the underside) holds its color well through the year. Thus it is always in demand, in summer and winter, to use as greenery with cut flowers.
Added to this, the yew can tolerate quite severe pruning. There are both spreading and upright forms.
Staminate And Pistillate
The staminate (pollen-bearing) and pistillate seed-producing flowers of the yew usually appear on different plants.
Seeds are in drupes instead of cones. These cherry-like fruits—each seed is covered with a translucent pulp—turn scarlet in the fall.
Horses and cattle have been poisoned by eating the foliage of some forms of yew. The seed (but not the colorful pulp around it) is also said to contain poisonous properties.
Genus Cupressus
Cypress is the common name for the genus Cupressus. These evergreen trees are found mainly in the mild climates of California and the Gulf states.
The scale-like leaves are dark green and aromatic, pressed close to branchlets that are somewhat four-angled. The cones are globe-shaped.
Arborvitae
Arborvitae also has scale-like leaves flattened on the stem, soft and waxy to the touch, with a pleasing aromatic fragrance when crushed. This foliage often turns brown in winter. Like the yew, arbor-vitae bears pruning well.
I remember two long rows of arborvitae sheared to form an attractive hedge leading to the front yard of an uncle’s country home some distance from the main road. Cones are small, having eight to 12 scales.
A globe-shaped variety is compact and dwarf. Varieties of golden arbor-vitae make a pleasing contrast in color.
Larch
The larch (one variety with the common name tamarack) has needled foliage in clusters on short spurs or singly in spiral arrangement on the long shoots. The leaves are “summer-green” and “autumn-yellow” and are shed during the winter.
The dainty cones are treasures for winter corsages and dry arrangements. During the winter, one will see both older cones, somewhat dried and weathered, and fresh new brown cones of the current year’s growth on the bare branches.
Genus Taxodium
The bald cypress is the best known of the genus Taxodium. The word Taxodium is Greek for similar to taxes or yew, but the feathery foliage and manner of growth are not much like that of the yew. When this tree grows in swamps, it produces “knees.”
Some of the roots have a way of turning and growing up out of the water to a height of three to five feet or more. This may strengthen the root system, but it is probably a method of getting air to the roots.
When autumn comes, the fern-like leaves turn orange-brown and later, with their branchlets, fall to the ground. The small round cones contain the seeds.
My bald cypress (grown from seed) has developed cones each season for four years but never contains seeds.
The catkin-like pollen-bearing flowers never develop. Whether this is due to the harsh winters this far north, or some other reason, I do not know. The scales forming these cones are four-sided disks that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
In the fall, the least pressure causes them to crumble into individual pieces, and a sticky red resin exudes from them.
Nature’s Great Wonders
The redwoods and big trees are among nature’s great wonders. However, they are more demanding in their requirements and grow best in certain regions along the Pacific coast, where they are native.
With discoveries of new species of sequoia, we may find we can grow them over a much wider area in the years ahead.
The redwood is said to grow taller than any other tree on the American continent, sometimes over 300′ feet high and 75′ feet or more around, with bark 8″ to 12″ inches thick.
The reason for their great height and size is probably their ability to live to a ripe old age—some are said to be 2,500 to 3,000 years old.
Big Tree is Harder Than Redwood
It, too, lives to an advanced age, grows large and tall, and has bark 1’ to 2’ feet thick. Both are evergreen but different in appearance.
Foliage on the big tree is scale-like, pressing closely to the stern and covering it almost completely.
On the redwood, the 1/2 to 3/4-inch needles form flat sprays. When cut down, the redwood stump sends up suckers which continue growing, but for the big tree, cutting means death. Burls, growth on the trunks of the redwood, are sold by florists.
When placed in water, they send up delightful greenery. One would expect such large trees to have cones befitting giants, but they are comparatively small, the largest probably not over 4” inches long.
Old Dawn Redwood Tree
The dawn-redwood could be called very, very new, or very, very old. In 1941 fossils found in Nevada proved that these trees once grew in North America.
It was believed at that time that there were no longer living trees of it anywhere—that it had been extinct for millions of years.
Four years later, living trees were discovered in a remote part of China. The seed was obtained and planted at the Arnold Arboretum and distributed to other institutions.
The tree is said to be extremely hardy. Therefore, it may prove successful in a much wider area than the sequoias of California. “Meta” in metasequoia means “akin to”—akin to the sequoia.
Like the bald cypress and larch, it is deciduous, bare of leaves in winter. Its foliage is like that of the bald cypress, but the cones resemble those of the redwood. Leaves about 1/2-inch long are apple-green in color.
The seeds are said to germinate easily. Seedlings may grow as much as four feet in one season.
A few nurseries can supply the trees. They may be planted in open or half-shaded locations and have no special soil needs.
44659 by Olga Rolf Tiemann