naturebriefs
9:16in productionCh. 1 · Extinct on paper/ 9:16 · ceiling 15 min
Plants & trees · Evolution

Metasequoia glyptostroboides

A Cretaceous tree walks into a 1940s Chinese valley—and no one had updated the textbooks.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a fast-growing, endangered, deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of its genus. It survives in the wild only in wet lower slopes and montane river and stream valleys in the border region of Hubei and Hunan provinces and Chongqing municipality in south-central China. Though threatened by deforestation and habitat degradation in its native range, it has been widely cultivated globally as a fast-growing ornamental tree.

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Chapters & takeaways4
  1. 0:54
    Extinct on paper

    Declared extinct from fossils in 1941, then found alive—unchanged—just years later.

  2. 2:32
    Same tree, same place

    It lives only in wet montane valleys in Hubei, Hunan and Chongqing—and looks identical to its Cretaceous forebears.

  3. 3:44
    Wildly rare, widely planted

    Fast-growing and endangered in the wild, but thriving globally as an ornamental.

  4. 5:55
    Shortest redwood, tallest survivor

    At 167 ft, it is the shortest redwood—but still towers over most deciduous trees.

Worth your time?

Yes. See the whole thing.

4.5/ 5
What works
  • morphology matches late Cretaceous fossils exactly
  • habitat fidelity matches ancestral niche
What does not
  • tolerate drought
  • grow outside wet montane valleys in Hubei, Hunan and Chongqing
  • persist where deforestation has drained streams
See it if
  • botanists
  • paleobotanists
  • conservation fieldworkers
Skip it if
  • gardeners seeking drought-tolerant trees
  • ecologists studying broad-range native species
The written brief1 min read

What the species is and where it came from

Metasequoia glyptostroboides is a deciduous conifer. It is the sole living species of its genus. It was known only from fossils until 1940s rediscovery in south-central China.

How it works, in terms someone would actually use

It grows fast in wet, montane river and stream valleys. It drops its needles each autumn. It survives only where water is abundant and elevation moderate.

What it gets right

It gets morphology right: modern specimens match late Cretaceous fossils exactly. It gets habitat fidelity right: it still occupies the same narrow hydrological niche as its ancestors.

What it does not

It does not tolerate drought. It does not grow outside wet lower slopes and montane valleys in Hubei, Hunan and Chongqing. It does not persist where deforestation has drained streams.

What it changed

It changed how paleobotanists read fossils. A genus declared extinct in 1941 reappeared alive in China within years. That shifted assumptions about fossil-based extinction timelines.

Who it is for, and who it is not

It is for botanists, paleobotanists and conservation fieldworkers. It is not for gardeners seeking drought-tolerant trees. It is not for ecologists studying broad-range native species.

Is it worth your time

Yes—if you want to see a living Cretaceous tree in person. It is rare in the wild but easy to find in arboreta. You will not see it in old-growth forest or on dry slopes.

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