The Guelph Urban Forest Friends is honouring three prehistoric dawn redwood trees in Guelph as part of their Notable Trees of Guelph project by awarding plaques that tell the story of how this majestic prehistoric tree ended up in Guelph.
The dawn redwood was honoured at the Meet the Trees Event in the Arboretum on Sept. 14 and was awarded a Notable Tree Award.
How the deciduous tree currently native to China with distinct red bark and a pyramid shape ended up in Guelph is quite the story.
The tree is said to have initially only been known as a fossil as it was found across northern North American and Asia- indicating that it co-existed with dinosaurs.
As the world assumed it had been extinct for millions of years, a Chinese forester discovered a new Dawn Redwood tree (scientifically known as Metasequoia glyptostroboides) in the remote Sichuan area in China.
One of the Chinese botany academics who studied at Harvard University was so intrigued by this information that Harvard's Arnold Arboretum requested seeds of the tree and distributed them to universities and arbotera around the world in 1948, including Guelph.
A University of Guelph horticulture professor, John Weall, was a member of St. George's Anglican Chuch and was also involved with the Woodlawn Memorial Park Arboretum at the time.
It is believed that he received the seeds and planted them in front of the War Memorial Hall at the University of Guelph, the Woodlawn Memorial Park, and in front of the St. George’s Anglican Chruch.
These are now the largest dawn redwood trees in Guelph.
