Rights and Wrongs on Redwood

Don't feel badly if you think that ,, , California's coast redwoods are the oldest. I largest, scarcest or slowest-growing trees, ., for though you're wrong, you have plentv , of company.

i Common misconceptions about Sequoia sempervirens get the axe in a new booklet, ; 'fQuestions and Answers About the Redwoods", issued by the redwood timber proi ducts industry. Copies are available without charge from California Redwood As- ' sociation, 617 Montgomery St., San Francisco.

The 20-page illustrated publication is , based on questions directed to the industry by students, lumber dealers, teachers and conservationists from across the nation. Most of the queries show a general lack of knowledge about the trees and their future, CRA says.

The redwood found growing from the southwestern tip of Oregon 450 miles down the coast to San Luis Obispo County is a youngster compared with other California species, the publication claims. At 2,200 years, the oldest known specimen of coast redwood is outranked by bristlecome pine at 4,6O0 years, the 3,200-year-old Sierra redwood and western juniper, aged 3,000.

While the tallest living thing is a 367-