The California varieties are often confused, but they are very different trees. Find out how these trees differ . Just as the mighty oak comes from the small acorn, giant sequoias begin life as tiny seeds. Like all evergreen conifers, sequoias bear cones. These seeds are so small that 3,000 of them weigh just an ounce.
Sequoias are unusually hardy trees.
Their bark can be 2-feet thick, which helps them withstand threats such as insects and fires. Ironically, throughout history, forest fires sparked by lightning provided the ideal living environment for the giant sequoia. Fire would heat the sequoia cones, which released the seeds. The fires also cleared out brush and other trees, providing the seeds with the bare soil they needed to germinate and the large forest openings the seedlings needed to get enough sunlight. Investigate the nature of photosynthesis in the Biology Gateways activity, An Overview of Photosynthesis .