The most massive individual trees on Earth, the Giant Sequoia is often confused with its taller and skinnier younger brother, the Coast Redwood. While they share the same home state of California, both trees live in entirely different habitats. The Giant Sequoia prefers to make its home in the high and dry sunny valleys of the western Sierra Nevada mountains.

Reaching the ripe old age of 3,200, enough to witness almost all of recorded human history, the Giant Sequoia has no shortage of time to grow, and grow it certainly does. General Sherman, the largest tree on Earth by volume, stands 83m tall and around 6,200 tonnes, while some individuals can reach 105m tall.

Some Interesting Facts:
– The average Sequoia will produce 60 million seeds in its lifetime, yet only 3-4 seeds will ever make it to maturity. 
– During the summer, a single Sequoia can uptake 3,600 liters of water in a single day, close to a month’s supply of household water for one person in the UK, or 4 whole hours running a hosepipe on full blast.
– The bark and cones are very rich in tannins, an excellent survival strategy to prevent damage from wildfires, insects, and pathogens.