An extremely tall tree native to California with reddish-brown bark, among the largest and tallest living things on Earth.
From English 'red' (the color of the heartwood and bark) and 'wood' (the material). The name simply describes the tree's most obvious feature, though the wood's redness comes from tannins in the bark.
Redwoods are the tallest living things on the entire planet—some are over 370 feet tall and have been alive for 2,500 years—and their existence wasn't widely known to the outside world until the Gold Rush brought people to California in the 1800s!
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