{{Short description|Extinct genus of redwood trees}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|100|28.4}}<small>Mid Cretaceous – Oligocene</small><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=RS |last2=Jordan |first2=GJ |last3=Carpenter |first3=RJ |date=1993 |title=Taxodiaceous Macrofossils from Tertiary and Quaternary Sediments in Tasmania |url=https://doi.org/10.1071/sb9930237 |journal=Australian Systematic Botany |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=237 |doi=10.1071/sb9930237 |issn=1030-1887|url-access=subscription }}</ref> | image = Austrosequoia ovulate and leaves.jpg | taxon = Austrosequoia | authority = Peters & Christophel 1978 | type_species = '''''Austrosequoia wintonensis''''' | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *{{extinct}}''Austrosequoia wintonensis''
*{{extinct}}''Austrosequoia tasmanica''
*{{extinct}}''Austrosequoia novae-zeelandiae'' }}
'''''Austrosequoia''''' was a genus of redwood that existed from the Cretaceous to Oligocene in what is now Australia and New Zealand.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Peters |first1=M. D. |last2=Christophel |first2=D. C. |date=1978-12-15 |title=Austrosequoia wintonensis, a new taxodiaceous cone from Queensland, Australia |url=https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/b78-374 |journal=Canadian Journal of Botany |volume=56 |issue=24 |pages=3119–3128 |doi=10.1139/b78-374 |issn=0008-4026|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Mays |first1=Chris |last2=Cantrill |first2=David J. |last3=Stilwell |first3=Jeffrey D. |last4=Bevitt |first4=Joseph J. |date=2018-05-28 |title=Neutron tomography of Austrosequoia novae-zeelandiae comb. nov. (Late Cretaceous, Chatham Islands, New Zealand): implications for Sequoioideae phylogeny and biogeography |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14772019.2017.1314898 |journal=Journal of Systematic Palaeontology |volume=16 |issue=7 |pages=551–570 |doi=10.1080/14772019.2017.1314898 |issn=1477-2019|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Fossils are known from the Winton Formation, the Little Rapid River in Tasmania and the Tupuangi Formation. While there have been doubts on its identity as a member of Sequoioideae, it does seem likely based on morphological similarity.<ref name=":0" />
It is not the only evidence of Sequoioideae members in the Southern Hemisphere, as there is some evidence of a species of Sequoia (''Sequoia chilensis'') that once lived in the Miocene of Chile, though these specimens are questionable.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berry |first1=E.W |title=The flora of the Concepcion-Arauco coal measures of Chile |journal=The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Geology |date=1922 |volume=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Carpenter |first1=Raymond J. |last2=Iglesias |first2=Ari |last3=Wilf |first3=Peter |date=February 2018 |title=Early Cenozoic Vegetation in Patagonia: New Insights from Organically Preserved Plant Fossils (Ligorio Márquez Formation, Argentina) |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/695488 |journal=International Journal of Plant Sciences |volume=179 |issue=2 |pages=115–135 |doi=10.1086/695488 |issn=1058-5893|hdl=11336/95634 |hdl-access=free |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
It is not known why ''Austrosequoia'' went extinct with the study that described the last species,''A. tasmanica'', stating that the decline of the conifers in Tasmania was clearly something rather complex which requires extensive study.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=RS |last2=Jordan |first2=GJ |last3=Carpenter |first3=RJ |date=1993 |title=Taxodiaceous Macrofossils from Tertiary and Quaternary Sediments in Tasmania |url=https://doi.org/10.1071/sb9930237 |journal=Australian Systematic Botany |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=237 |doi=10.1071/sb9930237 |issn=1030-1887|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Regardless, modern attempts in Oceania have managed to grow the extant Coastal Redwood (native to California) with remarkable success. A notable example of this is the Whakarewarewa forest in New Zealand. <ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-24 |title=About the forest |url=https://redwoods.co.nz/about/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Redwoods - Whakarewarewa Forest, Rotorua, New Zealand |language=en}}</ref>
== Morphology == ''Austrosequoia'' is known from cones and leaves. The ovulate cones are ellipsoidal with 29-49 scales. The cone axis is rather slender.<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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Category:Sequoioideae Category:Trees Category:Prehistoric gymnosperm genera