212 ON THE TAXODIUM SEMPERYIREXS 



found over a vv'ider area, growing in abundance on the moun- 

 tains of Santa Cruz, and indeed all over Upper California. 

 One of tlie iirst discoverers who introduced the Taxodium 

 semjMi^virens to this country was the lamented Douglas, who in 

 1836 forwarded seeds of it to Britain; but it must be admitted 

 that the late Dr Fischer was the first who sent the tree in a 

 living state to Europe, having in 1843 transmitted to St Peters- 

 burg young plants of Taxodium, as well as a substantial certifi- 

 cate of his opinion of the prospective value of the plants as 

 timber-yielding trees, in the shape of a transverse section of an 

 old trunk, which measured above fifteen feet in diameter, and 

 indicated as its a2;e, 1008 annular rinus. This section was not 

 sent from Californian habitats, but from the provinces further to 

 the north-west, where this conifer abounds in quantity, and 

 where it is frequently seen upwards of 200 feet in height, with 

 a trunk in many instances measuring over fifty feet in circum- 

 ference, and with a clear bole of fully seventy feet. Although 

 so well-suited to the north-western seaboard of America, the 

 mildest winters of the ]\Iiddle States almost invariably prove too 

 severe for its existence in those quarters ; but in its native con- 

 tinent, where the Taxodium scmjjervirens does thrive, it makes 

 amazingly rapid annual growths, and is an unusually handsome 

 and striking acquisition to the landscape. Douglas, writing of 

 this conifer in 1836, when all the freshness of novelty and dis- 

 covery were foremost in his thoughts, says in a letter, which is 

 ]3ublished in " Hooker's Companion to Botanical Magazine," vol. 

 ii. p. 150 : — " The great beauty of Californian vegetation is a 

 species of Taxodium, which gives the mountains a most peculiar, 

 I was almost going to say, awful appearance, something which 

 plainly tells us we are not in Europe ; " — may w^e hope that by 

 the successful and extensive introduction of this pine into our 

 own country, such picturesque grandeur and sublimity of the 

 Western landscape may in future ages be reproduced on this side 

 of the Atlantic ! 



Since its introduction into Britain, the Taxodium sem^:)ervircns 

 has been very generally planted in all situations, soils, and alti- 

 tudes ; but has neither been so extensively ado^^ted, nor so 

 favourably received into public favour, as the Wdlingtonia 

 gigantea. One great prejudice against it, is its very frequent 

 liability to become injured by the early spring frosty winds, 

 which are so peculiar to our climate, and which — although, in the 

 whole course of our extended investigations regarding this pine, 

 we have been unable to find any instance of their having inflicted 

 fatal injuries — do undoubtedly so severely affect the foliage, as to 

 render the tree for the earlier months of summer a most unpro- 

 mising specimen in many localities and situations. In common 

 with the Wellingtonia, it acquires a singed and burnt appearance, 

 but its leaves become more brown, and are shed to an extent 



