This tree was first discovered in 1941 when a Japanese paleobotanist was reclassifying fossils that had been erroneously identified as
Sequoia and
Taxodium. He determined that not only were they fossils of a different species, they needed to be placed in a new genus. Given the tree’s similarities to the Coast (or California) redwood (
Sequoia sempervirens), he named the new fossil genus
Metasequoia.
Meanwhile, in Modaoqi on the Sichuan-Hubei border, a Chinese forester came across a small population of a tree he had never seen before. It was unknown and left unstudied until after the war. It turned out to be the same tree that was identified in fossil form as
Metasequoia. The tree was given its species name,
glyptostroboides, because of its resemblance to
Glyptostrobus, the Chinese swamp cypress. The common name, dawn redwood, emphasizes the tree's early fossil record.
The dawn redwood was introduced to the United States and Europe around 1948. (It was actually
re-introduced to the United States. There are fossils from California that show it inhabited the continent about 15 million years ago.)
The dawn redwood is a conifer. Here are two unripe cones.
Most conifers are evergreen, but the dawn redwood is deciduous. These leaves will turn reddish-brown and will be shed in the fall.
Fossils indicate that the Ginkgo family is over 200 million years old. Ginkgo biloba is the only species living today in the entire division Ginkgophyta. 
Ginkgoes are dioecious, meaning some trees are male and some are female. This particular group of trees is the product of asexual reproduction. An older gingko was cut down and new shoots came up around the stump. 
As the stump decayed, the strongest shoots survived and grew into trees, forming a ring of ginkgoes.
-looking up from the center-
-cicada shell on ginkgo bark-
The leaves are set in whorls on short, slow-growing shoots.
They're green in the summer...
and turn yellow in the fall.
If you've ever walked by a female ginkgo around this time of year, you know why most cities only allow male ginkgoes to be planted along the streets: the fruit smells pretty bad. Some say rancid butter, but I didn't even know butter could go bad, so consulting my personal odor library, I can only say that it's reminiscent of stomach acid mixed with partially digested food.
This path was covered in fallen leaves and fruit.
a treacherous route...
