TALL TREES 



If one realizes all these dangers from insects, animals, and 

 storms, the height to which some trees grow and the age 

 to which they live become matters for astonishment and 

 surprise. 



The tallest trees in the world are probably certain 

 Eucalyptus of Australia, which have obtained a height of 

 495 feet above the ground. 



They are by no means the longest plants, for there are cer- 

 tain rattans or canes, climbing plants belonging to the Palm 

 family, which may be 900 feet long, although their diameter 

 is not more than two inches.^ There are also certain Sea- 

 weeds in the Southern Ocean, off the coast of Chile, which 

 attain a prodigious length of 600 feet {Macrocystis pyriferus^ 

 or "Kelp"). That is not so remarkable, for their weight 

 is supported by other plants in the case of the rattans, 

 and as regards the seaweeds, by the water in which they 

 float. 



The next in order to the Eucalyptus are those well-known 

 Mammoth or Big trees of California {Sequoia giganted). 

 They grow only in certain valleys in the Sierra Nevada, at an 

 altitude of 5000-8000 feet. Their height is usually given as 

 from 250-400 feet, and the diameter sometimes exceeds 

 thirty-five feet. Since they have become a centre of the 

 tourist-industry in the United States, various methods have 

 been adopted to make their size more easily realized. Thus 

 a coach with four horses and covered by passengers is (or 

 used to be) driven through a gateway made in one of them. 

 The trunk of another has been cut off some feet from the 

 ground, and a dancing-saloon has been made on the stump. 



from 0-60 to 0*74 when the surrounding wood has been cut down. Bot. 



Central, vol. xxx, p. 220. 



^ Bonnier, Cours de Botanique. 

 47 



