Sequoia

Sequoia is a genus of redwood coniferous trees in the subfamily Sequoioideae of the family Cupressaceae. The only extant species of the genus is Sequoia sempervirens in the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion of Northern California and Southwestern Oregon in the United States. The two other genera in the subfamily Sequoioideae, Sequoiadendron and Metasequoia, are closely related to Sequoia. It includes the tallest trees, as well as the heaviest, in the world. Several extinct species have been named from fossils, including Sequoia affinis (Western North America), Sequoia chinensis (no valid reference, identification uncertain) of China, Sequoia langsdorfii (reclassified as Metasequoia), Sequoia dakotensis (reclassified as Metasequoia) of South Dakota (Maastrichtian), and Sequoia magnifica (petrified wood from the Yellowstone National Park area). Etymology The name Sequoia was first published as a genus name by the Austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher in 1847. However, he left no specific reasons for choosing that name, and there is no record of anyone else speaking to him about its origin. Beginning in the 1860s, it was suggested that the name is a derivation from the Latin word for "sequence", since the species was thought to be a follower or remnant of massive ancient, extinct species, and thus the next in a sequence.