Sequoia vs. Mountain Ash Tree: 7 Differences Between These Towering Giants

General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park, California
Nick Fox/Shutterstock.com

Written by Arlene Mckanic

Published: August 29, 2023

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1. Bark, Leaves and Seeds

The magnificent sequoia, (Sequoiadendron giganteum) and mountain ash tree (Eucalyptus regnans), are two of the tallest trees on earth. The giant sequoia is one of the tallest gymnosperms and the mountain ash is the tallest angiosperm. By the way, the mountain ash spoken of here isn’t an ash tree or a rowan but a type of eucalyptus. Here are seven differences between the sequoia and the mountain ash.

The Sequoia

The sequoia can stand over 300 feet tall and live more than 3,000 years. This one is General Sherman.

The giant sequoia is an evergreen and a conifer. It has a pyramidal habit, and its bark is reddish brown, fibrous, and full of furrows. The branches of old trees are high up the trunk since their lower branches die from not getting enough sunlight and eventually fall off. The leaves of the giant sequoia are 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch long, scalelike, and grow in spirals on the shoots. Like other conifers, the giant sequoia reproduces through its seed cones, which are only 1.5 to 3 inches long. They’re fertilized by pollen from male cones that grow on the tips of the leaves. It usually takes a seed cone about a year and a half or a bit longer to mature though some have been known to stay green for two decades. Gian sequoia trees are ready to reproduce when they’re about 12 years old.

A Huge Tree With Tiny Seeds

A mature giant sequoia cone is brown and woody and has 30 to 50 scales that spiral around a central axis. Each of the scales has a number of seeds, which adds up to every cone bearing about 230 seeds. A large old tree can have 11,000 cones. The seeds are brown, tiny, and have a yellowish brown wing. This wing allows the seed to be dispersed as far as 590 feet away from its mother.

Douglas Squirrel

The Douglas

squirrel

helps disperse the seeds of the giant sequoia.

Giant sequoias need a bit of bad luck for their cones to release their seeds. Seeds are shed when the cones dry up due to heat and drought, from attack by the longhorn beetle or the Douglas squirrel, or from fire. The trees are usually not badly damaged from fire as their sap has tannic acid, which is fire resistant. Indeed, fires are sometimes started around giant sequoias to get them to release their seeds.

In Australia, mountain ash trees are actually a species of eucalyptus.

The Mountain Ash Tree

The mountain ash is a flowering tree as opposed to the coniferous sequoia. The base of its straight trunk has bark that’s brown and rough and can extend from 16 to 66 feet up the tree. Above that, the bark is smooth and gray. The evergreen leaves are oval when the tree is young, then turn lanceolate or curved as the tree matures. Both young and mature leaves are bright, shiny green. The tree produces clusters of between nine and 15 white flowers. The fruit is cone-shaped and holds tiny, pyramid-shaped seeds. A mountain ash seed has a hilium, which is a scar left over from where it was attached to the ovary.

A Fast Growing Tree

E. regnans is also a very fast growing tree. For their first 20 years, saplings have been known to grow over six and a half feet every year. After that their growth rate slows down, and an old tree might actually lose height as its crown is damaged through fires or rough weather.

Like the sequoia, the mountain ash needs fire to release its seeds, but the tree does not have the sequoia’s fire resistance. It lacks a lignotuber, which is a sort of burl that grows around the crown of the tree and protects it from fire. This makes the mountain ash different from other eucalyptus trees and much more easily killed in wildfires. The good news is that the fire helps the seeds. They need lots of sunlight to germinate, and sunlight reaches them more easily when the older trees are felled by wildfires. The seeds are also nurtured by the ashes left behind by the burnt trees.

Mountain ash trees are ready to reproduce when they’re 11 years old, though some trees as young as seven have been known to produce fruit. Most mountain ash trees are able to reproduce reliably when they’re 21.

2. Another Difference: Lifespan

Not only are giant sequoias some of the tallest trees on earth, they’re also the oldest. At least one of these trees is believed to be between 3,200 to 3,266 years of age. Mountain ash trees don’t live nearly as long, but their lifespan is still impressive. They can live as long as 500 years.

3. Where They’re Found

Giant sequoias are endemic to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains and are only found on the mountain’s western slopes. Though they’re never found in pure stands in the wild, sequoias have been successfully planted in several places in the United States, South America, Africa, Canada, and Europe.

The mountain ash grows on the other side of the world in Tasmania and the Australian state of Victoria. Unlike the sequoia, the mountain ash can be found in pure stands and produces good lumber. Because of this, farmers grow mountain ash plantations, in Australia, southern Africa, Chile, and New Zealand. Its wood is called Tasmanian oak, even though it’s not an oak tree.

4. Conservation Status, Giant Sequoia vs. Mountain Ash Tree

There are less than 80,000 giant sequoias, and the density of the trees has been going down since the arrival of Europeans. Because of this, the giant sequoia is listed as an endangered species. The mountain ash’s status is of least concern.

5. The Climate They Thrive In

Giant sequoias flourish in the humid climate of the Sierra Nevada mountains at elevations that range from 4,600 to 7,050 feet and do best in alluvial soil made largely of granite. They need dry summers and snow in the winters to insulate their roots, which are surprisingly shallow. The mountain ash thrives in wet forests that have rich, loamy soil. It doesn’t do well in droughts and can’t tolerate very cold temperatures. The tree is found in elevations as high as 3,600 feet.

6. Uses

Burning matchstick in the hand.

The wood of the mighty sequoia is often used to make little matchsticks.

Despite being a mighty tree, the wood of the giant sequoia is brittle, and when these trees are felled they tend to simply shatter. Because of this, sequoia wood isn’t used for such objects as furniture but for roof shingles or fence posts. The wood of this enormous tree has even been used to make tiny matchsticks. The giant sequoia is mostly planted as an ornamental tree.

People use the beautiful pale wood of E. regnans for furniture, veneers, panels, flooring, woodchipping, and general construction. The tree is also planted in parks.

7. Threats

Both wildfires and the suppression of wildfires threaten the giant sequoia. The now-discredited practice of putting out every single forest fire kept giant sequoia seeds from escaping their cones to germinate. On the other hand, an intense, out-of-control fire, such as 2020’s Castle Fire can destroy entire groves of sequoias.

The main threats to the mountain ash tree are overlogging, brush fires, and climate change. Conservationists are also worried that the older trees with cavities big enough to provide homes for wildlife are disappearing.

And One Thing That’s a Little Similar: Size

Both the mountain ash and the giant sequoia can grow to great heights, and the mountain ash probably grows a little taller overall. The giant sequoia can grow to over 300 feet tall, though they usually grow between 164 and 279 feet, with trunks that are 20 to 25 feet around. The mountain ash can grow between 230 and 374 feet, but its trunk is usually around 8 feet around. So far, the tallest surviving mountain ash is 334 feet tall.


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About the Author

Arlene Mckanic

Arlene Mckanic is a writer for A-Z Animals whose focus is on plants and animals of all kinds, from ants to elephants. She has a Bachelor's Degree from City College of New York. A resident of South Carolina, she loves gardening and though she doesn't have pets, a black racer snake does live in her kitchen.

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