Micropropagation of Coast Redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens)

Sequoia sempervirens (Lamb.) Endl., coast redwood, is a long-lived evergreen gymnosperm belonging to the family Taxodiaceae. This species is endemic to the coastal regions of California and Oregon, USA (Srinivasan & Friis, 1989; Ma et al., 2005). The fossil records of the genus Sequoia can be traced back to the Jurassic Period, in China (Endo, 1951). The tree is characterized by a thick, fibrous, and deeply furrowed bark along with a fire-resistant reddish-brown heartwood. Leaves of S. sempervirens are dimorphic, including linear and scale-like leaves. The linear leaves are spirally arranged or occasionally sub-opposite (Ma et al., 2005). The tree is highly valuable not only for ornamental purposes as trees can grow up to 110 m in length, but also for industrial purposes as it grows quite vigorously, rarely suffers from disease or insect attack, and it is resistant to strong winds and other poor climatic conditions. It is the high longevity and size of Sequoia trees that allow for its substantial biomass accumulation (Busing & Fujimori, 2005). In some stands, it exceeds 3500 metric tons/hectar. Thus, S. sempervirens can be used in the timber industry (plywood), paper industry, as well as pulp industry. It is well suited for short rotation coppicing.