Six-Way 54 Ancient Trees What is the oldest living thing on earth? If you said “the sequoia tree 加州紅杉樹 ”, you are very right. If you said “the redwood tree,” you would be right too. But let’s take it from the botanists 植物學家. The redwood is in Sequoia family. So sequoia is more correct. The tree is named 被命名 to honor a Cherokee Indian who invented a system of writing.

There are two kinds of sequoia trees. First is the redwood. Second is the giant 巨大的 sequoia. The redwoods are the tallest. The giant sequoia is the biggest. Redwoods grow to more than 300 feet. The trunks 樹幹 of many are more than 10 feet across. Giant sequoias are not so tall as redwoods. But their trunks are much larger. The world’s largest tree overall 全部 is the General Sherman tree.

It is about 275 feet tall. The trunk’s diameter 直徑 is 36.5 feet. But its seeds 種子 are only ¼ inch long.

About seeds weigh one pound. So big from so small! The redwood and the giant sequoia live long. They have no known enemies 敵人. None has died from old age. Disease 疾病 and insect 昆蟲 have no effect. Though lightning 閃電 has hit most tops, the tree just keep on growing. The General Sherman is about 3500 years old. It dates back to 追溯回 1500 B.C. The tree started to grow at the time of the pyramid of Egypt.

Numerous 許多的 fires have swept 橫掃 through forests where redwoods and sequoias grow. Why weren’t these trees burned like the rest 燒成灰燼 ? This is probably the answer. Their back is from 6 to 12 inches thick 厚. The fires have charred 燒焦 the bark 樹皮 over and over again 不斷地. But the flames cannot reach deep enough to burn the live wood. What a coat 大衣 of armor 盔 甲 ! Nature thought of 考慮 everything.