PINACE^ 495 



Var. pendula. 

 Branches pendulous. 



Var. taxifolia. 

 Leaves broader than in the type. 



S. sempervirens is distinguished from S. gigantea by the 

 pectinate leaf arrangement on the lateral branches, and by 

 the distinct winter buds. 



The redwood gives its name to a belt of humid coast territory 

 about 450 miles long and 20 miles wide, extending from the 

 S.W. corner of Oregon to Monterey County in S. California, 

 where it is the dominant tree amongst other conifers. In Oregon 

 it is known in two isolated groves only. Its greatest develop- 

 ment is attained at its northernmost limit in Humbolt and Del 

 Norte counties, especially on the moist bottom lands of Smith 

 River and the Main Eel. There the forests are most impressive, 

 the trees being of enormous size and in very dense stands. 



The redwood was discovered by Archibald Menzies in 1795, 

 but Hartweg appears to have sent the first seeds to England 

 about 1846. It had, however, been introduced to Europe some 

 three years earlier. 



The wood has well-marked resin-ducts ; the heartwood is red 

 and the sapwood yellowish white. It is soft, fine-grained, easy 

 to work (or in some localities it may be coarse-grained and 

 gritty), is obtainable in long lengths up to 6 ft. or more wide, free 

 from defects. It lasts well when exposed to weather or soil, and 

 has many uses, including general building and carpentry work, 

 boxes, furniture, panelling, railway sleepers, telephone poles, 

 street paving, pipe-lines, piles, shingles, and fence-posts. Curly 

 redwood and burry redwood are obtained from the bases of trees, 

 and from burrs on the trunk respectively. Such wood is finely 

 figured and is used in a polished state for cabinets, furniture, 

 and panelling. The commercial importance of Californian red- 

 wood can be estimated by statistics collected from United States 

 Forest Service literature and other sources by Nelson Courtlandt 

 Brown. ^ Thus in 1909 one hundred billion board feet were 

 available for cutting. Three years later 2,439,000 board ft. 

 were used for boxes. The cut in 1916 was 490,850,000 board ft. 

 In 1915 563,685 railway sleepers were made from the wood, 

 the life of unpreserved sleepers being 8-14 years, or fifth in a 

 test of 26 species. In a pole test it was found to be one of 

 the three best timbers of twelve tried. Redwood shingles last 

 12-25 years against 15-25 years for chestnut. For fence posts 

 redwood is one of the most popular of Californian woods ; posts 

 extracted after being in the ground 35-40 years were found to 



^Forest Prods.: their Manuf. and Use (1919). 



