One of California's rarest trees may be another victim of extreme drought

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I had come to the California Federation of Women's Clubs Grove in Humboldt Redwoods State Park to find an albino redwood known as the Christmas Tree. But as I checked the online directions for the third time, I was starting to lose hope.

The text was straightforward and the photos made it seem like the bone-white foliage would be easy to spot. But I had twice walked up and down the trail where the albino ostensibly stood and had seen nothing but sky-high redwoods with usual green needles. No one else was around to ask.

I walked the trail one more time, very slowly, studying each tree as I passed it. Not an albino. Not an albino. Not an albino. Just as I was about to give up, my eye caught a flash of white from within a tree directly in front of my face. An albino! (PHOTOS at SFGATE.COM)

The reason I had such a hard time noticing it was that many of the needles had died and turned brown. The tree was also smaller than I expected, only about 30 feet high. Still, the needles that remained ivory were amazing to behold.

I wondered if all the dead foliage was normal, so I called up albino redwood researcher Tom Stapleton. He’s been studying them for many years, and his answer — along with a lot of other things he had to say about albino redwoods — was pretty mind-blowing.

https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/California-albino-redwood-forest-drought-16250517.php