294 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



are awl-shaped, or flat and sharp pointed, and they 

 are scattered around the branchlets ; in color they are 

 light olive-green. Occasionally the tree is planted in 

 the East, but with little success, as it lives but a few 

 years.* The other Sequoia, called redwood, is not so 

 large, but the average diameter of the older trees is 

 not far from eight feet. The needles are from half 

 an inch to a full inch in length, smooth, sharp 

 pointed, and deep, shiny olive-green above, but 

 covered with a whitish bloom below. The cones 

 are roundish and scarcely an inch in diameter. The 

 ruddy-colored wood is not unlike that of the red 

 cedar, and it is extensively used for interior finish. 

 Unfortunately, it is rather soft. The redwood is not 

 hardy in the Eastern States. 



Arbor vitas. The arbor vitse is a familiar hedge 

 Thuja occidentalis. evergreen, which needs no description 

 for its identification. But we should know how to 

 distinguish it from the common white cedar (Chamce- 

 cyparis sphceroidea). Arbor vitse has a bright-green 

 leaf spray with overlapping scales which are closely 

 pressed together on the extremely flat branchlets ; 

 these have a very aromatic odor when bruised. The 



* There is a remarkably beautiful, conical, but small specimen 

 at Dosoris, Long Island, which still thrives. Prof. Meehan says 

 that the Sequoia is destroyed by a parasitic fungus which was 

 discovered by Mr. J. B. Ellis, of Newfield, N. J. 



