Sequoia sempervirens
Redwood
In Redwood National Forest in Northern California, waking up in a misty meadow, hiking into the greenest, calmest, oldest forest. I had seen few birds, animals or insects in the forest as we went along a stream and up along a ridge. I had just remarked about how quiet and still it was. Then I saw something (a bird?) land on a tall stump and when it was still I saw it was squirrel-shaped, then it drove off into the air. A flying squirrel!
That just makes it all worth it, doesn’t it.
A book I really recommend is “The Sweet Breathing of Plants” edited by Linda Hogan and Brenda Peterson. Eileen gave it to me this summer. It is short stories, poems and essays by women about nature. Almost every one of them is worthwhile, both enjoyable and informational. There is a section about trees in particular: one story is about living in a wooden house, another about how incredible it is that old trees are so old.
Some of the trees, as old as they are, show signs of the tree they were before. Redwoods grow burl wood that can sprout up a new tree. When a tree decays the burl around its base grows, sometimes into several trees.
