The Great Trees of California, &c. 



We do not seem to be aware that in calling these trees by the name 

 of "Wellingtonia" we are guilty of a want of courtesy to our 

 American cousins ; yet the American evidently has justice on his 

 side when he complains of the English botanist who so named these 

 largest of existing trees. As they grow only upon American soil, 

 good taste might have dictated the name of " Washingtonia " ; but it 

 was decidedly wrong to name them after a British hero ; and this error 

 becomes the more glaring when it is considered that they were 

 already, in botanical fashion, classified and named. There was a 

 tree, from the same region of California, well enough known before 

 the great trees were discovered, M'hich was commonly called " Eed- 

 wood," from its colour. The American botanists gave it the name 

 of Srqtioia ,sr/»ji?r.';-;-i/r/(.s. This name was derived from a noted half- 

 blood of the Cherokees, called George Guess, but whose Indian name 

 was Sequoiah. When the great trees were discovered, as they were 

 of the same genus, they were naturally classed with the others, 

 and called Sequoia gigantca., a title which we ought always to give 

 them, and we should do all in our power to erase the other name, by 

 which they are most commonly known amongst us. The tree first 

 received the name of Sequoia gigantca so early as 1854, from a French 

 botanist, M. Decalsac, and it is described by him and classified in 

 the "Bulletin de la Socic'te Botanique de France," vol. i., p. 70. At 

 first only two groups of these trees were known, that of Mariposa and 

 that of Calaveros ; but several others have been since described. 

 They are always found in groups, and at ]\Iariposa there are about 

 200 of these trees. There are none of them in the Yosemite Valley, 

 but the Mariposa group is only about sixteen miles due south of the 

 Yosemite, and as they are generally visited on the way to that valley, 

 itis natural to talk of them and of its scenery together. These trees 

 are confined to a region between lat. 30 deg. and 38 deg. 15 min., 

 and their growth is limited to an elevation not lower than 5,000 ft- 

 and never higher than 7,000 ft. They are thus very limited in their 

 geographical range. The INIariposa group is visited from Clarke's 

 lianch, standing on a hill about 1,509 feet higher up, or about 5,500 

 feet above the sea level. The largest tree in this grove is the one 

 known as the " Grizzly (.iiant." It is said tu measure 300 feet iu 



