A trio of living fossils.(Species Profile)(Metasequoia glyptostroboides )

In these days of cultivars and hybrids, it's important to appreciate nature's unadulterated artistry. Dawn redwood, ginkgo, and sweetgum are among the remarkable tree species that have outlived dinosaurs, survived the Ice Age, and remain unchanged to this day. Call them living fossils.

SWEETGUM

Today there are three existing species of Liquidambar: one in Formosa, one in Turkey, and one native to America. We know of 20 extinct species, the oldest from the Upper Eocene rocks of Greenland, in. an age when that continent had a subtropical climate, some 55 million…