The Dawn Redwood
Metasequoia glyptostroboides
Reported to have been discovered first of all as a fossil, the Dawn Redwood is a native of China, and a small number were found in an isolated valley in the early 1940s. They were introduced to the UK in the form of seeds in 1947, so if you come across a mature one, it can’t have an age greater than 77 (at the time of writing). In their native environment they will top out at 35 Metres plus.
This Conifer is one of those strange ones, in as much as it is deciduous. So this image is of the freshly emerged new leaves.
I include this image to demonstrate that the ‘axillary bud’ (the bud which usually sits on the branch above the leaf stalk) in the case of the Dawn Redwood, sits below. A good clue for identification purposes.
