History of the Metasequoia

In 1941, Shigeru Miki found Pliocene fossils of cones and foliage that looked like sequoia. After studying the fossils he believed it belonged to a new genus. Miki named it Metasequoia.

Professor Zhan Wang found and studied the Metasequoia Glyptostoboides in 1944 while he worked as the forest administrator at the Central Forestry Experiment Institute of the ministry of agriculture and forestry.

It all began when Longxing Yang; the principal of a local agricultural school and one time classmate of Zhan Wang asked if he could study a unique tree called Shui Sha which was named by the residents of Modaoxi. Zhan Wang studied the tree and believed it looked similar to Shui Song (Glyptotrobus pensilis), a tree found throughout southern China. Wang later realized that it wasn’t Glyptostrobus pensilis because the leaves, twigs, and scales of the cones were different; this was the first scientific examination of a living Metasequoia. Wang still could not identify the species because of the lack of references at his institution. Wang had Wanjun Zheng (a dendrology professor) examine it. After receiving more specimens, Zheng sent the sample to Xiansu Hu, the director of the Fan Memorial Institute of Biology in Beijing. Hu realized it was the same as Shigeru Mikis fossil of the Metasequoia. It was then later published as Metasequoia Glyptostroboides.

All pictures on this page taken from http://taggart.glg.msu.edu/bot335/redwood5.htm

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