Giant Sequoia, Sequoiadendron Giganteum, 100 Tree Seeds Giant Sequoia, Sequoiadendron giganteum, Tree Seeds Bonsai, Fast Growth, Long Lived, Shade Tree, Christmas Tree, Evergreen, Specimen Tree, Timber Giant Sequoia has the most massive size of any tree in the world. It is a beautiful, dense, needled evergreen conifer that is native to groves scattered through coniferous forests along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (4500-8000 feet in elevation) in central California. In its native California habitat, mature trees will often grow to 200 to 280 feet tall, with trunk diameters ranging from 15 to 24 feet. Trees may live 2000 to 3000 years. Young trees have a pyramidal-oval shape. As trees mature, they begin to lose branches from the lower part of the trunk. Trees feature attractive dark cinnamon-brown bark with deep furrows and ridges, small, scale-like, blue green needles and fruiting cones to 3 inches long. Giant Sequoia is a very popular ornamental tree in many areas. Areas where it is successfully grown include most of western and southern Europe, the Pacific Northwest of North America north to southwest British Columbia, the southern United States, southeast Australia, New Zealand and central-southern Chile. It is also grown, though less successfully, in parts of eastern North America. Trees can withstand temperatures of -25 F or colder for short periods of time, provided that the ground around the roots is insulated with either heavy snow or mulch. Outside its natural range, the foliage can suffer from damaging windburn. John Muir called the Giant Sequoia "the noblest of a noble race." Giant Sequoia was originally discovered in 1833 by Zenas Leonard. A very large percentage of giant sequoias in California are now protected in parks, including Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Sequoiadendron giganteum and its close relative, Sequoia sempervirens (redwood), are jointly designated as the State Tree of California. Sequoiadendron, like Sequoia, is a monotypic genus in the bald cypress family, an ancient group of conifers that once shared the landscape with dinosaurs.