This tree (above) is one of six Portland, Oregon Heritage trees of the Giant Sequoia species. It is located on the campus of Western Seminary at 55th and Hawthorne in Southeast Portland. It is over 100 feet tall and has a trunk circumference of 22 feet. In the nearby area around Mt. Tabor there are many more large specimens of the Giant Sequoia tree, some of which are also listed as Portland Heritage trees. They are not difficult to spot as they usually stand quite a bit taller than the trees around them. The ones that are easily accessible try the area around the water reservoirs on the west side of Mt. Tabor park.
The image above shows the “cone” of the Giant Sequoia tree both as a green cone and also what it looks like when it is dried out and falls to the ground. These cones are about 2 inches or 5-6 cm in length.
The leaves of the Giant Sequoia are similar to those of the Western Red Cedar but are thicker and have pointy ends as can be seen in the pictures below. The younger specimens of this tree species usually have a uniform conical shape with branches all the way down to the base of the tree. Very old and large specimens are much more irregular with lower branches a long way up the tree.
The Giant Sequoia is the largest tree species in the world when measured by volume. There are taller trees and trees with wider trunks at the base but there is no other tree species that comes even close to the volume of the Giant Sequoia trees. The champion of this tree species is the General Sherman tree.
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