Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Sir Harold Hillier Gardens has the most comprehensive collection of Champion Trees in Britain and Ireland with 611 trees that are considered to be the largest, finest, or most rare of their species, as recorded by the Tree Register of the British Isles in 2020. The collection includes Metasequoia glyptostroboides, from the original batch of seed received by the Arnold Arboretum from China and distributed in 1948, its first introduction to the West. The young shoot is the emblem of the Gardens.