Also called giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, and Wellingtonia.

Despite its similar scientific botanical name, not a sister-species to coast redwood/California redwood  Sequoia sempervirens.

But it is a close cousin, with both trees being in the same sequoia  subfamily Sequoioideae in cypress / juniper / redwood  family Cupressaceae, and in 🌲︎ conifer  order Pinales.

And both trees share being the 🏛🌲︎ state tree of California.


Native to the western slopes of the 🗻︎ Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.

🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48) (color key), 🗺 map (scroll down), 🗺 map (North America, Central America).  Adobe Acrobat Reader file

Planted elsewhere 🌐︎ around the globe:  A giant sequoia tree is thriving in a surprising place:  Northern Michigan.

Said to get much of its annual 💦︎ water needs from the melting of its local  winter snowpack.

Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)

"Dozens of giant sequoias in California are thought to be between old." [1]

A drawing of a giant sequoia appears on the Sierra Club logo logo of Sierra Club, select to visit their website.

16 spectacular facts about giant sequoias

Learn more about giant sequoia Sequoiadendron giganteum

🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Encyclopedia of Life Gymnosperm database Missouri Botanical Garden Flora of North America USDA PLANTS db USFS USFS Silvics Wikipedia