Jack Orcutt and Arkyn Harris met near the center of California State Capitol Park to compare their findings following a Sunday morning of exploring.

Inside their brown paper lunch bags, the two 7-year-old boys had bark, leaves and pine cones from several of the more than 800 trees and shrubs planted at the park.

“Whoa! Where did you find that,” exclaimed Orcutt when Harris pulled out a long, spiky cone from a tree native to Australia.

“On the floor over there,” Harris replied proudly, while pointing a few feet away.

The two boys had just finished a morning in the Capitol Junior Rangers program, a statewide initiative for children ages 7 to 12 to learn about California’s biodiversity. Sunday’s lesson focused on the “superpowers” of redwood and oak trees, said Isabel Nguyen, a guide with the California State Capitol Museum.

These species are distinct to California and account for some of the world’s tallest trees.

“It’s important to have opportunities in community parks like this one, so that they better appreciate what trees and what resources we have here,” Nguyen said.

Sunday activities started with the junior ranger pledge from the 14 children in attendance.

“I promise to treat the Earth and all living things with care and respect,” chanted the kids. “Be careful with what I do and how it affects others. Learn about the importance of nature and our heritage.”

The group then walked over to one of the park’s many coast redwood trees. Once there, museum guide Anna Prinzbach explained that these trees absorb water through their barks. The tallest known living tree — at 380 feet — is a coast redwood located in Redwood National Park, Prinzbach added.

The next tree species on the program was a giant sequoia, which Harris quickly noted was not as tall.

“I’ve seen taller trees,” he said.

Prinzbach told him that these trees tend to be larger by width. In some cases, Prinzbach said people will use fallen sequoia trees as dance floors because of their large base.

She later asked the children to measure out the width of the famous General Sherman tree in Sequoia National Park, which boasts a base diameter of more than 36 feet and is the largest living tree by volume on Earth.

“No way,” Orcutt said as children kept stretching the measuring tape.

The children ended the program by plant rubbing on their nature journals. The technique involves placing a textured surface, like a leaf, under a sheet of paper and rubbing it with a crayon to create an imprint.

Harris used the approach on one of his oak leaves, but opted against trying it on his pine cone from a bunya bunya tree. The large, evergreen coniferous tree is known for its spiky appearance.

“It’s cool but too spiky,” he said.

The Capitol Ranger Program continues each Sunday until mid-August. Online pre-registration is required and a parent or guardian must accompany their child.