Natural History Wanderings

The San Francisco Chronicle reports

California’s towering redwoods have been around for thousands of years, but the trees are still yielding some surprises about what makes them so resilient.

UC Davis scientists recently discovered that redwoods have two different types of leaves — and those leaves play different roles, but work together to help the trees thrive in both coastal and drier inland areas where they grow.

The trees’ peripheral leaves, like those on most trees, are food producers that convert sunlight into sugar through photosynthesis. But the axial leaves serve an entirely different role, researchers found — absorbing water.

Read more at Scientists have just learned an amazing new fact about California redwood trees-San Francisco Chronicle