What does «secoya» mean in Spanish?
- It belongs to the Cupressaceae family, with the scientific name Sequoioideae. It is one of the tallest trees in the world: up to 115 meters high; they live thousands of years, it is estimated that some specimens are up to 3200 years old or maybe more. Incredibly, its seeds are the size of a tomato; to gather one kilo of seeds, more than 200,000 seeds are needed. These trees house their seeds in cones that are the size of a hen's egg. The tree with the largest diameter has been named General Sherman and has a trunk perimeter of 31 meters, its weight has been calculated at 1225 tons and it is 84 meters high. It was so named in 1879 by James Wolverton, a cattleman of the area who had fought in the Civil War under the orders of General William Tecumseh Sherman.