Trunk reiteration in a Sequoiadendron giganteum

One of the local parks has an absolutely stunning Sequoiadendron giganteum, which I valued (with the Helliwell System) at just under £100,000 in pure amenity value (which I’d say is a conservative estimate – CAVAT would value it much higher, I would suspect). Half way up the main stem however, sits a tree forming within a tree (trunk reiteration). Such a reiteration is really quite awesome, and in their natural range in California such trunk-trunk crotches can support entire mini-ecosystems, and as there may be dozens of these crotches in a single large specimen then one tree can support, in itself, an array of ecosystems (at heights of over 50m above ground). Obviously, the one here isn’t going to do that, though it’s a nice example of trunk reiteration in its earlier stages.

You can see it from here, actually. But this image is really just to give a sense of scale and importance to the tree. It’s literally quite massive.

A zoom-in from the same point as in the first photo.

And here we can really observe the reiterating trunk (half way up on the left). I would love to see how this looks in 50 years time!

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