Sequoia

Sequoia is a genus of redwood conifers in the subfamily Sequoioideae of family Cupressaceae, containing a single living species, the coast redwood, along with several species known only from fossils. The genus includes the tallest and the heaviest trees in the world, a result of high water content in their tissues and a greater tracheid diameter that enables their exceptional height. The coast redwood survives today in the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion of Northern California and southwestern Oregon, while the genus fossil record extends back to the Middle Jurassic, with the oldest known member, Sequoia jeholensis, known from formations in China.