And while the dinosaurs of that age have long since disappeared, the redwoods remain, going back 20 million years in their present range. No disease is known to kill them. Unlike their thoughtless marauders, redwoods do not change physiologically as they age. Their growth slows, but they do not deteriorate-and do not die of old age. The power of the One Life was evident in the redwoods' unusual ability to regenerate.
New sprouts come directly from a stump or downed tree's root system as a clone.
When the original tree dies, the surrounding shoots may develop into mature trees, growing in a circle around the parent. Successive generations of redwood sprouts are really cloned trees, we learned. The redwood trees growing close together, in many cases, have arisen as descendents of the same original tree. They have a strong regenerative ability, with a ring of trees able to sprout from the base of a damaged giant, and use of the old, established root system to ensure survival. The redwood forest is a unique, egalitarian community, home to a variety of other vegetation.