![]() ![]() ![]() We could hardly believe that the fossils were from Cenozoic strata that was around fifty millions years old. In the late 1990s, however, Ben LePage and Chris Williams, then working at the University of Pennsylvania, showed us three-dimensionally preserved Metasequoia fossils that they had collected from the Canadian islands of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg, on the northwestern side of Greenland. Imprints are analogous to animal tracks, occurring when plant tissue remains pressed into sediments and subsequently decomposes, while compressions occur when the tissue becomes sandwiched between flattened layers of sedimentary rocks. Scientists (and museumgoers) usually encounter two types of plant fossils: either imprints or compressions. With Metasequoia, which boasts a long fossil record, the implications of this research are especially pronounced given that we can test hypotheses at the molecular level across an enormous timescale. Recent innovations with laboratory instruments, however, have made it possible for researchers, including ourselves, to extract valuable molecular information from so-called rocks. Traditional paleobotanical studies are comparative-drawing links between the anatomy of fossils and their living relatives-while molecular analyses of isotopes and biomolecules (such as lipids, carbohydrates, and lignin) are usually reserved for modern samples of freshly harvested material. Yet the rare discovery of fossils containing exquisitely preserved organic tissues and biomolecules, coupled with new molecular research techniques, has revealed just that. When botanists first learned about the living population more than seventy years ago, no one could have imagined that those plants would provide crucial clues for understanding more than one hundred million years of historic climate change-not to mention changes to come. glyptostroboides, is known as the dawn redwood and is now restricted to a small population in south-central China, around forty-two hundred miles (sixty-eight hundred kilometers) south of this historic distribution. The single remaining species of this genus, M. Fossil records reveal that an extensive forest flourished throughout the early Cenozoic, when the canopy was predominated by Metasequoia and other deciduous conifers. Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Schirrmann's Nordlicht' was one of three plants selected in 2015 for inclusion into the ACS Collectors' Conifer of the Year Program.Around forty-five million years ago, the Arctic was ice free, scarcely the expanse of lichen-encrusted rock and glaciers that we see there today. This practice is in conflict with the proper rules of nomenclature and should not be tolerated in the trade. In the U.S., 'Schirrmann's Nordlicht' is often seen marketed under the name North Lights, which is a translation of the original German name. glyptostroboides 'White Spot' sometime prior to 2005. Its ortet is a witch's broom mutation found by Schirrmann on a specimen of M. Winfried Schirrmann of Schacht-Audorf, Germany is credited with the origin and introduction of this cultivar. ![]() However, since this this is a relatively new cultivar in the nursery trade, long-term performance is not yet known. Left on its own it will assume a more conical shape. This cultivar responds quite well to pruning and shearing so it will prove to be little problem to keep within bounds. Typical rate of growth in most areas in 4 to 6 inches (10 - 15 cm) per year, resulting in a globose specimen, 5 to 6 feet (1.5 - 1.8 m) tall and 3 to 5 feet (90 to 150 cm) wide after 10 years in the garden. In spite of it all, the waxy, fine, ferny foliage makes for quite the impression in the garden. As winter approaches, the foliage will turn a nice russet brown before being shed. In settings with full sun, yellow hues will dominate, while is a shadier area, the variegation will be creamier. Its lush, deciduous foliage is variegated and variable depending on sun exposure. Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Schirrmann's Nordlicht' is a dwarf selection of dawn redwood with bright, cheery colorful foliage on a small scale. Additions to the International Conifer Register.
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