A tree up to 115 ft high in the wild with a trunk about 61⁄2 to 91⁄2 ft in diameter at the base. Bark fissured, dark grey in colour, peeling off in old trees. Branches opposite, glabrous, green in the young state, turning brown later and becoming brownish grey in the second or third year. Lateral shoots deciduous in winter, glabrous, opposite, up to 21⁄4 in. long, arranged distichously, persistent buds at the base. Winter-buds ovoid or obtuse, 1⁄6 in. long, 1⁄8 in. wide, glabrous. Bracts decussate, broadly ovate, yellowish brown, paler and thinner on the margins. Leaves deciduous, opposite, arranged in two ranks, linear, 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 in. long, 1⁄24 to 1⁄12 in. wide, sessile or nearly sessile, blue-green above, light green below. Flowers monoecious, solitary; staminate flowers axillary and terminal about 1⁄5 in. long, in a raceme or panicle; bracts decussate, triangular-ovate or obovate. Pedicels about 1⁄8 in. long. Stamens twenty filaments short. Pistillate flowers solitary, about 1⁄3 in. long; bracts decussate, both sides glabrous, the lower ones triangular-ovate. Peduncles 1⁄8 in. long, leafy. Cones ripening in the first year, pendulous, sub-quadrangular-globose or shortly cylindric, 3⁄4 to 1 in. long, 2⁄3 to 9⁄10 in. wide, dark brown in colour. Seeds five to nine under each scale, winged, compressed, obovate, the apex notched, 1⁄5 in. long, 1⁄6 in. wide. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 716.
The above description is based on that published in the Bulletin of the Fan Memorial Institute of Biology, New Series, Vol. i (1948), No. 2, p. 153.
Native of China in a restricted locality on the borders of W. Hupeh and N.E. Szechwan, where it inhabits ravines and the banks of streams. It was first seen by a Chinese botanist in 1941 but specimens were not taken until about three years later; seeds werecollected in autumn 1947 and sent to the Arnold Arboretum, whence they were distributed to many gardens in America and Europe in 1948. In the second volume of the last edition of this work, published in 1951, it was stated that there were small trees at Kew and in the Royal Horticultural Society Garden at Wisley which, in 1949, at the end of their second season, were 3 to 4 ft high. Now, twenty years later, the tallest of the original trees at Kew measures 47 × 33⁄4 ft (1971) and at Wisley 49 × 21⁄4 ft (1968). Other trees from the original seed are: Savill Gardens, Windsor Great Park, 51 × 23⁄4 ft (1967); Ladhams, Goudhurst, Kent, 46 × 33⁄4 ft (1967); Snowdenham House, Surrey, 40 × 2 ft (1964); Leonardslee, Sussex, 40 × 4 ft, 54 × 21⁄4 ft and 50 × 23⁄4 ft (1968); University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, 44 × 33⁄4 ft (Lake) and 41 × 3 ft (Frameyard) (1969); Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 44 × 33⁄4 ft (1969); Clare College, Cambridge, 46 × 33⁄4 ft (1969).
Metasequoia glyptostroboides is perfectly hardy but is subject to damage by late spring frosts. It thrives best in a deep moderately moist soil and on dry sandy soil or shallow chalk it grows slowly. Although it will, perhaps, never make such a fine specimen tree as Taxodium distichum it is much faster growing and less demanding. The leaves are a pleasant soft green and turn foxy brown or pinkish brown before falling. It is easily propagated by half-ripe cuttings taken June to mid-August and placed in bottom heat, but hardwood cuttings will root in a cold frame (S. A. Pearce, Gard. Chron. (28 July 1956), pp. 86-87). If young plants make multiple leaders, as sometimes happens, the superfluous ones make excellent cutting material. Female cones are borne quite frequently, but there is so far no record of fertile seeds having been produced in Britain or indeed anywhere in the colder parts of Europe. The explanation appears to be that male cones, even if produced, do not ripen, either because the growing season is too short for their complete development, or because they are killed in winter. See further in: D. Wyman, ‘Metasequoia after twenty years in cultivation’, Journ. R.H.S., Vol.95 (1970), pp. 444-451 (reprinted from Arnoldia, Vol. 28 (1968), pp. 113-123).