Coast redwood tree with periclinal chimeric albinism named ‘Early Snow’

Abstract

‘Early Snow’ is a new and distinct variety of albino coast redwood tree characterized by a non-grafted, periclinal chimera exhibiting stable albino growth from inside the apical meristem dome and with terminal buds exhibiting phenotypic color expressions of green, albino, chimera or non-chimeric variegation with varying hues within these color expressions. The new variety also has dark green short to medium length needles, branches exhibiting horizontal to drooping-like habit and with the shape of branchlets tapering towards a blunt end, and moderate-to-fast growth depending on the amount of albinism. Further, the latent, axillary and/or accessory buds forming between the internode of primary branches, branch axils, leaf axils, and within the branch collar zone, express a higher amount of albinism within the internode. Frequently, axillary and/or accessory buds form in the absence of an existing branch, whether it's primary or secondary in nature.

We claim: 
     
       1. A new and distinct variety of albino chimeric redwood tree, as illustrated and described herein.