Which of these pine cones carries the seeds of the Giant Sequoia tree?

                                                      

I am now just recovering my breath from the sight of my first Giant Sequoia tree.  The anticipation was almost too much while following the winding, mountainous road into Sequoia National Park. I knew it was only a matter of time before the first giant appeared. As we rounded yet another bend, they began to appear. One massive trunk after another.
Giant sequoias can grow to be about 30 feet in diameter and more than 250 feet tall. 
The biggest of these trees is referred to as General Sherman. The General Sherman stands 275 feet tall, has a 102-foot circumference, and weighs an incredible 2.7 million pounds. Giant Sequoias can live to 3,000 years. I stood in front of the General Sherman. This magnificent tree even dropped a green pine cone down at my sons feet.  I told him that he was given a gift like the seed that was given to the fairy Crysta in Ferngully. 
Sequoias grow naturally along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains, between 5,000 and 7,000 feet above sea level (very high up in the mountains!) and far inland. This habitat provides the trees with dry mountain air which is necessary for their cones to open and release seeds. The snow pack from the mountains provides sequoias with the thousands of gallons of water they drink every day.
Their bark is unlike any other bark I have ever seen before. It reminds me of a the bark of a Palm tree but soft. Luckily I was able to find a fabulous piece on the ground that I will share with my students. A beautiful gift from a magical place. How lucky are we to have this mystical habitat here in the the United States.  I feel blessed to have experienced these trees, to have shared that experience with my children. 
Ok....so which pine cone holds the seeds to the Sequoia giant?  If you thought the small one....you are correct. Imagine that such a tiny pine cone bears such an enormous tree.    Here is the lesson:
Many times, in life, the smaller and less significant people make the biggest impact in their  lifetimes. Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King and John Muir were some of those people.

The root system

Notice the soft hairy bark