tree yet unknown to science, but World War II postponed further study. Professors Zheng Wanjun (Cheng Wan-Chun) and Hu Xiansu (Hu Hsien-Hsu) made the pivotal connection between Miki's fossil genus and the living samples in 1946, and provided the specific epithet "glyptostroboides", after its resemblance to the Chinese swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus). In July 1947, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University provided $250 to fund an expedition by Zheng Wanjun's assistant Hua Jingchan (Ching-Shan Hwa 1921- ) to collect seeds for the arboretum from the Metasequoia type tree in Moudao, and trees in the nearby Metasequoia Valley (Shuishaba Valley). Hua's collecting trip returned with several kilos of seed that were distributed over the next few months for growth trials to Chinese institutions; the Arnold Arboretum, Missouri Botanic Garden, and elsewhere in the United States; botanic gardens at Kew, Edinburgh, and other locations in the United Kingdom; as well as botanic gardens in continental Europe and worldwide. Description Metasequoia glyptostroboides leaves are opposite, long, and bright fresh green, turning a foxy reddish brown in autumn. The pollen cones are long, produced on long spikes in early spring; they are produced only on trees growing in regions with hot summers. The cones are globose to ovoid, in diameter with 16-28 scales arranged in opposite pairs in four rows, each pair at right angles to the adjacent pair; they mature in about 8–9 months after pollination. While the bark and foliage are similar to another closely related genus of redwoods, Sequoia, M. glyptostroboides differs from the coast redwood in that it is deciduous, like Taxodium distichum (bald cypress). Similar to T. distichum, older trees may form wide buttresses on the lower trunk. M. glyptostroboides is a fast-growing tree, exceeding in height and in trunk diameter by the age of 50, in cultivation (with the potential to grow to even greater dimensions). The trunk forms a distinctive "armpit" under each branch. The bark is vertically fissured and tends to exfoliate in ribbon-like strips. The largest dawn redwood recorded was an isolated specimen in China about tall and wide. This tree was killed by a lightning strike in 1951. Several dawn redwoods of this height still live in the eastern part of Metasequoia Valley, where the tree was discovered. The tree's true potential size is much larger, as logs up to wide at the base have been discovered in rice paddies. The thickest and tallest dawn