58 



BOTANY. 



designated as the "mammoth tree." Of all the redwoods which I saw, there was, probably, 

 none greater than fifteen feet in diameter and three hundred feet in height, but I was told that 

 in the vicinity of Humboldt bay individuals existed which were over twenty feet in diameter. 



Fig. 23. 

 Fig. 23. Branch of S. sempervirens, with leaves, cone, and male flower ; natural size. 



The value of the redwood to the people of California is, however, not dependent on its size 

 but on the excellence of its timber and the proximity of forests of it to the ocean. It is spread 

 over the coast mountains, for the most part to the exclusion of other trees, from the line of 42° 

 to the northern line of Mexico, but it is nowhere found at any considerable distance from the 

 sea. 



The form of the tree is considerably like that of the sugar pine and mammoth tree, a straight, 

 cylindrical trunk rising to a great height, festooned and ornamented, rather than loaded, with 

 branches. Young trees, however, do not exhibit so great a disproportion between the trunk 

 and branches. 



The foliage, as is common among its congeners, the junipers, cypress, &c. , is dimorphous on 

 young trees, the leaves being long, linear, spreading, and considerably resembling those of 

 Taxus and Taxodium. In the older trees they are closely appressed. 



The cones are elliptical in form, of a length of two inches, and have a general resemblance 

 to those of the cypresses. 



The wood of the redwood is, as its name implies, dark red in color, and is considerably like 

 that of the red cedar, J. Virginiana. It splits with great facility, and is frequently converted 

 into plank and boards without the aid of a saw. It is said to be very durable, and though 

 somewhat wanting in tenacity is of the greatest value to the inhabitants of California. 



