due to World War II, these were not studied further until 1946 and only finally described as a new living species of Metasequoia in 1948 by Wan Chun Cheng and Hu Hsen Hsu.
In 1948 the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University sent an expedition to collect seeds and, soon after, seedling trees were distributed to various universities and arboreta worldwide for growth trials.
There remains one Dawn Redwood forest, consisting of barely 5,000 trees. Since its discovery, the Dawn Redwood has become something of a national point of pride, and it is both protected under Chinese law and planted widely.
As such, it's not likely to go extinct, but Dawn Redwood is critically endangered in the wild.
Though cutting of trees or branches is illegal, the demand for seedlings drives cone collection to the point that natural reproduction is no longer occurring in the dawn redwood forest.
Although the species will continue to live in yards, parks and on roadsides all over China, the Metasequoia forest ecosystem could disappear when its mature trees die.
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