(The tallest individual tree on Earth—discovered in 2006 and measured at 379 feet—is a coast redwood in Redwood National Park, north of Eureka, California.) These evergreen conifers are densely branched and gracefully pyramidal in shape, with flat, feathery needles and reddish-brown, fibrous bark. The coast redwood’s native range is limited to a thin coastal zone, rarely extending more than 20 miles inland, from Monterey County in the south to extreme southwestern Oregon in the north. Fossils of the coast redwood date back 65 million years to the Cretaceous period, when the tree coexisted with the dinosaurs in North America, Europe, and Asia. As Earth’s climate became cooler and drier, the tree gradually retreated to its current range, where the mild Mediterranean climate and coastal fogs provide the humid environment that redwoods prefer. Although not as long-lived as their relatives the giant sequoias, coast redwoods live a long time: many attain 800 years of age, and some last a millennium. Redwood lumber has always been in great demand for timber, as the wood is durable, decay resistant, and easy to work. Most of San Francisco’s Victorian homes were constructed from redwood. The wood has proven so popular over the years that more than 95% of the old-growth redwood forests have been wiped out, with conservationists scrambling to preserve the rest.
Erythrina crista-galli
COCKSPUR CORAL TREE
LOCATION: 366 Cumberland St./Sanchez St. in Dolores Heights
The cockspur coral tree is likely to be better known to readers from Southern California, where it is common. San Francisco is outside the normal range of this warmth-loving tree. In fact, I am aware of only one sizable example of this tree in San Francisco: a large and healthy specimen in a wind-protected spot in Dolores Heights. (The best time to visit this tree is in late June and July, when it is in full bloom.) Cockspur coral trees are native to southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northern Argentina. Crista-galli is Latin for “cock’s comb,” which the distinctive showy, pink flowers resemble, and they are like nothing else you will find in a Bay Area tree. In Argentina, children call the flowers patitos (ducklings), because they float like little ducks when dropped in water.
Quercus suber
CORK OAK
This native of the western Mediterranean is the tree from which natural cork is made, and the species name suber is Latin for “cork.” The tree’s bark is its distinctive feature; if you stick your finger into the fissures on the trunk of a cork oak, you’ll be able to feel the spongy new bark from which cork is made. Cork is formed from multiple layers of strong cell walls that are both airtight and waterproof. This kind of bark protects the tree from two common environmental threats in the Mediterranean region: drought (watertight bark keeps moisture in) and fire (airtight bark acts as a fire retardant, preventing damage to the living layers inside and allowing the tree to rebound quickly after fires).
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