dawn redwood

American  

[dawn red-wood] / ˈdɔn ˈrɛdˌwʊd /

noun

1. an endangered deciduous conifer, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the shortest of the three extant species of subfamily Sequoioideae, reaching a height of 150 feet (45.7 meters): known only as widespread Mesozoic fossils until isolated living specimens were discovered in central China in the 1940s.

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dawn redwood British  

noun

1. a deciduous conifer, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, native to China but planted in other regions as an ornamental tree: family Taxodiaceae. Until the 1940s it was known only as a fossil

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Etymology

Origin of dawn redwood

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

They wondered how a dawn redwood, classified as an evergreen, could lose its needles in the fall.

From Seattle Times • May 24, 2024

Paleobotanists then discovered that millions of years ago, the dawn redwood adapted to its then-warm arctic habitat by dropping its needles in the winter.

From Seattle Times • May 24, 2024

The metasequoia, or dawn redwood, entered a sort of plant limbo in the darkness, neither growing nor showing visible signs of decline.

From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2023

One of the most dramatic tree plantings is an avenue of dawn redwood in a narrow canyon of space between two tall buildings.

From Washington Post • May 24, 2016

That, he e-mailed back, is a dawn redwood, or as botanists call it, a Metasequoia glyptostroboides.

From Washington Post • Apr. 21, 2015