Coastal Redwood

''Sequoia sempervirens'' is the sole living species of the genus ''Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae . Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood, and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–2,200 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 115.9 m in height and up to 8.9 m in diameter at breast height. These trees are also among the longest-living organisms on Earth. Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated 810,000 ha along much of coastal California and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States.


The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes ''S. sempervirens'' along with ''Sequoiadendron'' and ''Metasequoia'' . Here, the term redwood on its own refers to the species covered in this article but not to the other two species.