August 16. 2017
On a walk in Henry Cowell State Park in Felton, CA, yesterday, we came across an albino redwood. They generally do not grow into a large centralized tree but remain small and shrubby. This one was growing next to the bushy sprouts of normal chlorophyll-filled redwood growth, showing off the distinction between them. Albinos are found in only a few spots in the whole of the coastal redwood territory.
Not surprisingly, the albino redwoods were considered important to the indigenous people here and were used in sacred ceremonies.
For more info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albino_redwood
albinoredwood-1
That is cool that you saw this. It is quite rare. All albino redwood growths are ‘sports’, or mutant growth that is attached to the parent tree in some way. In most cases, they are shoots that come up from the roots of green trees. Redwood is very easy to grow from cuttings, but the albino sports can not survive without chlorophyll. I have tried grafting them onto green redwoods, but to no avail.