Officially, the Ed Leuck Louisiana Academic Arboretum is a place for trees and shrubs native to the southeastern United States. From its beginning, one of the primary goals for the arboretum was to plant young trees of the same species that were naturally growing on the college campus. As experimental plantings and for botanical interest, non-native species have been planted in small numbers. One such specimen is featured on the blog today: the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), a tree native to north America, but certainly not the southeast. At this juncture in history, the redwood naturally grows in northern California, near the coast, and up into Oregon.
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During the spring of 1990, Professor Ed Leuck obtained a redwood seedling from Forest Farm Nursery, located in Oregon. It wasn't planted in the ground until January 1996. That means this individual is more than 33 years old.
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| Professor Leuck chose a location on the periphery of the arboretum, in a triangle of grass at the eastern corner of the Student Union Building. The triangle is formed by two sidewalks and the Student Union Building driveway. The redwood is pictured center, partially obscuring the corner of the SUB. It has a straight trunk and it is significantly taller than the building. If you follow the trunk all the way up, you will see why this tree is of special concern this week. |
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The top of the redwood looks dead! What happened here!?! How long has it looked like this? Our forward looking gaze needs to turn upward more often.
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The trunk hasn't shown any signs of distress. It's a thick, handsome trunk, growing next to a busy intersection of sidewalks. Typically, there are fresh green shoots near the base of the trunk. Today was no exception.
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| After the shoots were trimmed back, a white string was tied around the trunk, 3½ feet off the ground. At more than 33 years of age, this redwood measures 5 feet around. This species is known for rapid development, so its large size is no surprise. |
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The bark is reddish-brown, fuzzy, and furrowed. All of the lower limbs have been removed for sidewalk traffic, but upper limbs droop down to showcase pretty green foliage. Can you see a face on the trunk? Several lower branches were trimmed today to clear the sidewalks. The act of trimming branches creates a pleasant aroma in the air; leaves and branches are nicely fragrant, like citrus.
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This is a short branch with numerous leaves. Redwood leaves are very small.
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Leaves have a feathery appearance but aren't soft. Some of the leaves feel rubbery while others feel pointy.
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It's summertime, by the way, season of the cicada.
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Here we have 5 leaves, all narrow and less than an inch in length. All of these leaves were taken from the drooping lower branches. The leaves way up top are alleged to have a slightly different appearance. Of course, the leaves at the top of our redwood look dead!
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Reading online sources about this species confirms the obvious: this non-native tree is out of its element. This redwood could tolerate the hot July weather if it also had some fog to help it replenish its water loss. For 20 years, this specimen thrived in the shadow of the Student Union Building, a nice micro-climate that helped it retain moisture. Now that the redwood has out-grown its sheltered environment, it is suffering. That's one explanation, at least, for the sudden unhappy appearance.
The online literature also tells us that all hope is not lost. Redwoods have an amazing ability to re-sprout: if it loses its crown, it can grow another one! For now, we need to make sure this individual gets extra water during our late-July heatwave, and remember to look up more often.
For information about this very interesting species, consult the following online sources:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station
National Park Service
Virginia Tech
