nly in the Sierra Nevadas of California, IS ONE OF THE OLDEST LIVING THINGS ON EARTH!
The longevity of the giant sequoia is attributed to several factors: it is very resistant to insects, disease and fire. E.F. Clements in a pamphlet, "California Redwoods," said, " … scars show evidence of ancient forest fires, yet the trees grew to maturity."3 Its resistance to fire is due to several factors: the bark is "massively thick, greater than any tree on earth, 24-31" thick" 4, a poor conductor of heat, asbestos-like, and contains small amounts of resin. The wood is also of a soft and sponge-like quality which absorbs water easily.
"Trees," said Asa Gray in his famous essay on the Longevity of Trees, "far outlast all living things. They never die of old age, but only from injury or disease, or, in a word, from accidents. If not destroyed by accident, that is, by extrinsic causes—they do not eventually perish, like ourselves, from old age. It is commonly thought that they are fully exposed to the inevitable fate of all living things…. But the tree is an aggregate of many individuals united in a common trunk and why should not the aggregate, the tree, last indefinitely?" 5
If there is nothing "extrinsic" that can destroy trees and, if the giant sequoia is extremely resistant to insects, disease and fire, why are there no giant sequoias much older than 3200-plus years (using the most authentic and conservative age)? We know from the fossils that they existed long before that ... during the period when "pre-historic" animals also lived. "The pick of the fossil hunter has unearthed fossil remains of sequoia leaves and cones in strata as early as the Triassic. This period represents the morning of reptilian life.... Hence, the sequoia as a race has a claim to almost fabulous antiquity." 6 What could have happened 3200-plus years ago that can account for the discontinuance of the giant sequoia? Listen to one evolutionist's version: " … few of the dramas of the earth which science has restored are more wonderful than the restriction of the sequoia exclusively to the mountains of California. The record of the rocks following the great Age of Reptiles tells quite a different story. With amazing abruptness, all the rich diversity of reptilian life apparently ceased…. A feature so extraordinary seems to demand an unusual explanation. Causes of a violent cataclysmic nature are advanced as valid interpretations. Yet science refuses to take cognizance of universal calamities and considers them as apocryphal because they are too unnatural."7 There we have it. Thousands of years ago " … the sequoia was one of the chief garments of the earth's vegetation during Miocene times. Its forests must have been the most imposing the earth has ever known…. Under the lava flows of Mt. Shasta imprints of its leaves and cones are found. This is indubitable evidence that the sequoia existed in California at that time."8 Then "a terrible solitude was the lord of this universe." 9 And, for a time the three common species of redwood ceased to grow as extensively as before. Why? Is it possible a universal calamity" actually occurred? Perhaps an understanding of the reproduction and growth habits of the giant sequoia can tell us something that would throw light on this mystery.
According to Ellsworth, the giant sequoia reproduces by seed only. These are contained in small, egg-size cones with 30-40 closely packed, woody, persistent scales; the cones mature in two years. The seeds, 30-plus in each cone, are the size of an oat seed with membranous disk-like wings. The cones remain green and closed until dried and open, and may remain attached to the tree in a green, growing condition for 21 years. They do not disseminate the seeds while on the tree. Even severely damaged trees continue to produce cones. In order to germinate, the seed must be buried in moist mineral soil in such places as rocky ledges, steep hillsides and in crevices, with little nutrient needed. There must, however, be open sunlight. The following discovery is most pertinent to our study: seeds hav