To some, The Arboretum may look just like any other park or even like your backyard if you reside in the country. However, this is far from the truth.
We currently are home to four Nationally Accredited plant collections: maples, witch-hazels, buckeyes, horse- chestnut and dawn redwoods. Since 1990, we have undertaken a large ex situ conservation project with Meta-sequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood. From this time, The Arboretum has become the largest collection of these species outside of China.
Ex situ conservation translates to the conservation of genes or genotypes outside their environment of natural occurrence. For the dawn redwood, their natural occurrence takes place in China. In order to maintain a conservation such as this, a large sampling of genetic material is needed to keep the existing and potential new variation within the species.
The dawn redwood is a deciduous conifer- meaning they are needled trees that lose their needles during the fall season. While this species was once thought to be extinct, it was later rediscovered, still growing in south central China in a mild and wet climate. Because of this, it was argued that this species would not survive in the United States north of Georgia, however, the dawn redwoods at The Arboretum today are thriving in height and density.
The typical form of this large tree is up to 150 feet and can add over 3 feet of growth per year when adequate moisture is present. The genetic variation of dawn redwoods in China is believed to be much greater than in the United States. In 1990, a study was conducted and at this is the point in time The Arboretum would become involved in provenance testing of this species. During the study, seeds of dawn redwoods in several locations across China were collected by Minghe Li, a Chinese professor with Huazhong Agricultural University in Hubei. Rutgers University, located in New Jersey, received seeds and were able to successfully produce seedlings from most of the 53 seed lots obtained. In 1993, a shipment of 344 dawn redwoods were delivered and planted at The Arboretum. This would result in a total of 8 acres being dedicated to growing these coniferous trees.
Currently, there are approximately 308 of these trees present from the collaboration of seedling planting in the early 1990’s. Thus, making The Arboretum this largest documented conservation collection of dawn redwoods outside of China. The long-term goal is to be able to produce seeds and to propagate the offspring. Those that will be propagated will then have a greater level of genetic diversity within the species in comparison to those that could ever occur in China.
Plan a trip out to The Arboretum and walk among these giants! We recommend beginning your tour at the Metasequoia Research Plot. Once you are here, take a driving tour and stroll our trails to view some of the many cultivars of dawn redwood that we have growing in our collection. Go to https://dawesarb.arboretumexplorer.org/tour.aspx to help guide your tour with details and fun facts!