Monoecious trees with spirally arranged or opposite leaves. Microsporophylls bear two to nine microsporangia. Includes both evergreen (Sequoia, Sequoiadendron) and deciduous (Taxodium, Metsequoia) genera. Deciduous members shed whole shoot systems and not just leaves. Seed-scales are fused at the base with the sterile bracts. Each seed scale bears between two to nine ovules. Includes bald cypress, giant and coastal redwoods, and dawn redwood. The three genera of redwood were much more widely distributed in the past. Metasequoia in particular was important in the North American flora in the early Cenozoic, but is now nearly extinct with one extant species. The one surviving population of Metasequoia glyptstroboides was discovered in China in 1940. Decendents from this population are widely planted as ornimentals. The family includes the world's most massive trees (Sequoiadendron) and the tallest (Sequoia).
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