Metasequoia glyptostroboides

Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood, is a fast-growing, endangered deciduous conifer, the sole living species of the genus Metasequoia, one of three species in the subfamily Sequoioideae. It now survives only in wet lower slopes and montane river and stream valleys in the border region of Hubei and Hunan provinces and Chongqing municipality in south-central China, notably in Lichuan county in Hubei. Although shortest of the redwoods, it can grow to at least 165 ft in height.In 1941, the genus Metasequoia was originally reported by palaeobotanist Shigeru Miki as a widely distributed extinct genus based on fossils, before attracting considerable attention a few years later when small populations were found alive in central China.