Wellingtonia - Sequoiadendron giganteum

This is a very tall, evergreen, densely foliaged, coniferous tree. It can reach 90m in height when full grown, with the trunk up to 7m in diameter. The crown is narrowly cone-shaped, with down-swept branches. All the leaves are scale-like, usually pressed against the twig and are less than 30mm long, not rigid or sharp. The cones are egg-shaped or ball-shaped, with more than 15 scales meeting edge to edge, not overlapping; the scales don't spread widely apart. Bark is very thick, fibrous and rather soft or spongy.

Coastal Redwood may appear similar from a distance, and also has spongy bark, but has very different foliage

Spongy bark. Leaves arranged spirally and spread around stem, decurrent at base with pointed tip. 

Photo of whole tree if possible, and individual branchlets and cones

Usually the result of historical planting in Britain.

All year round.

Evergreen

Scattered records from across Britain resulting from historical planting.

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.