THE MAMMOTH TREE. 331 



"Nvith numerous laterals ; branchlcts, cylindrical, frequently 

 pendulous, and thickly covered with light-green glaucous 

 foliage, cone-bearing ones slightly thickened, and entirely 

 covered with scale-formed leaves, closely imbricated, the upper 

 ones oval, and broadest at the base. Cones, solitary on the 

 ends of the branchlets, two inches long, and more than one 

 inch in diameter, ovate, blunt-ended, and slightly tapering 

 towards both extremities. Scales, in series, placed nearly at 

 right angles upon the axis of the cone, stipitate, thickened, and 

 enlarged from the point of insertion as far as the summit, which 

 is depressed and wrinkled on the external face, and furnished 

 with a small prickle in the centre of the little hollow. Seeds, 

 from three to five under each scale, but mostly five. Seed- 

 leaves, from three to six in number, but mostly in fours. 



This magnificent evergreen tree was first discovered by 

 Douglas in 1831, and on account of its extraordinary height 

 and dimensions, is called by the American settlers in California 

 the ' Mammoth Tree ;' and, according to Mr. G. L. Trask, who 

 has been exhibiting a portion of the bark set up, so as to show 

 the great size this tree attains in its native state, the follow- 

 ing are the dimensions of one of the largest of eighty trees, 

 growing in a grove, viz : — height, 363 feet ; circumference near 

 the ground, 93 feet; circumference 100 feet from the ground, 

 45 feet ; bark, 18 inches thick ; age, according to annual 

 rings, from 3,000 to 4,000 years. 



It is found growing on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, near 

 the sources of the Stanislaus and San Antonio, in Upper Cali- 

 fornia, in a sheltered valley, at an elevation of about 5,000 feet. 



It is tolerably hardy in favourable situations, but generally 

 gets its foliage more or less browned in winter, and is much 

 injured in severe ones. 



