What is "sequoia sempervirens"

Redwood \Red"wood`\ (-w[oo^]d`), n. (Bot.)

1. A gigantic coniferous tree ( Sequoia sempervirens) of California, and its light and durable reddish timber. See Sequoia.

2. An East Indian dyewood, obtained from Pterocarpus santalinus, C[ae]salpinia Sappan, and several other trees.

   Note: The redwood of Andaman is Pterocarpus dalbergioides; that of some parts of tropical America, several species of Erythoxylum; that of Brazil, the species of Humirium.

Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–1,800 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to in height (without the roots) and up to in diameter at breast height (dbh). These trees are also among the oldest living things on Earth. Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated along much of coastal California (excluding southern California where rainfall is not sufficient) and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States. An estimated 70% or more of ancient old-growth redwood trees have been displaced by environmental changes or cut down.

The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes S. sempervirens along with Sequoiadendron (giant sequoia) and Metasequoia (dawn redwood). On its own, the term redwood usually refers to the coast redwood, which is covered in this article, and not to the other two species.