When botanist Wang Zhan, dodging civil war and foreign invasion, discovered living Metasequoia trees in a remote valley of China in 1943, it was like someone had found a living dinosaur. The villagers who lived near the trees had long revered them as gods, having built shrines beneath them where they left offerings. This ancient tree has existed almost unchanged for 150 million years. Unlike redwood species native to the West Coast, dawn redwood grows so well on the East Coast that there are specimens less than 70 years old that are already over 130 feet tall here. Given another 70 years, these trees may very well become the largest living organisms on this side of the continent.
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