were the same. In other words, the “extinct” fossil tree was living! 
On December 26, 1947, the Missouri Botanical Garden received wild- 
collected seeds of the new discovery. These yielded several young 
metasequoias, which were planted in their present sites in front of the 
Lehmann Building in 1952. The first cones formed about eight years later. 
Exploration in China since the discovery has turned up about 5,000 
dawn redwoods with trunks a foot in diameter, including about 2,000 
seed-producing individuals. All live near Mr. Kan’s original 1941 site. 
The human population is expanding there—to the point that human 
activities and domesticated animals have killed most of the young dawn 
redwoods. Despite this, the future looks promising since the Chinese 
government now protects the species. 
The name Metasequoia glyptostroboides reflects the similarity of dawn 
redwood to its relatives Sequoia and Glyptostrobus. 
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