SEQUOIA. 



471 



north of the Tiny of San Francisco. Here it forms ! 

 extensive forests, being, with the exception of its 

 related speries, the largest of the many immense ' 

 trees of t lie Pacific slope region. This species hears 

 small, oval cones, each of tin: wedge-shaped scales 

 usually containing 5 seeds with wing margins. The 

 leaves, unlike those of the cypress, are spirally 

 arranged on the branch, and densely rlothe the twigs 

 with their bright green foliage. The bark of the 

 txquoia is of a peculiar fibrous texture and of 

 great thickness. Externally it is of a rich dark- 

 brown color. S. senipercircns, where it abounds, 

 dors so almost to the exclusion of other trees, mid 

 forms extensive forests. A magnificent spectacle 

 is presented by these forests, extending as far as the 

 eye can reach, of thickly grouped trees 8 to 12 feet 

 in diameter, and 200 to marly 300 feet high, their 

 trunks of arrow-like straightncss, and without a 

 bianch till they reach :i height of 100 to 150 feet, 

 then spreading into a dense canopy of deep green 

 glossy foliage. Individuals have been observed of 

 from 50 to over 75 feet circumference, and 275 teet 

 high, while there are stories of still larger ones. 



The redwood is the most valuable of California 

 timber trees, and is rapidly disappearing before the 

 axe of the woodman. The wood is light 1/ul firm, 

 straight grained, of a handsome red color, and 

 polishes well. It is valuable for interior decoration, 

 and as durable as red cedar lor posts. The tree 

 is very tenacious of life, old stumps long retaining 

 their vitality, and Bending out fresh shoots. It has 

 been tried in the Eastern United States, but does 

 not flourish ; yet it grows well in England, where it 

 forms a handsome park tree. 



The remaining species, S. gignntra, is a tree of 

 surpassing interest, not for its beauty, it being 

 much less attractive in appearance than fi. nnfxr- 

 tircnn, but for its immense size, and its position as 

 the unquestioned giant of the vegetable world. This 

 species is still more contracted in range than the 

 former, being confined to the western slope of the 

 Sierra Nevada, and to a range of 2 or 3- in lati- 

 tude, occurring only between elevations of 4700 to 

 about 7000 feet. It bears small, nwl-.shaped leaves, 

 paler in color and less graceful in arrangement than 

 those of the coast redwood, its branches are short, 

 and its head of foliage lacks the spreading gracr o| 

 the other species. The cones are thrice as large, 

 the color of its bark and wood similar, but the latter 

 a duller red. It is much less abundant, occurring 

 generally in detached groves, mingled with oilier 

 coniferous trees. Its claim to distinction lies in its 

 immense height and bulk. Individuals now stand 

 of :!_!.") feet in height, and there is reason to believe 

 that others known attained from 400 to 450 feet. 

 This height is equalled, and perhaps exceeded, by 

 the giant Ew<il>/i>ti of Australia, but the latter are 

 immensely surpassed in bulk by the " Big trees" 

 of California, some of which are certainly over 90 

 feet, while others are said to have measured over 

 100 feet in circumference at base. 



The most northerly of the Big trees are two groves 

 in Calaveras county. These were the first known, 

 being discovered in 1852 by a hunter named Dowd, 

 who led a party of miners thither. The earliest 

 scientific description was published by Dr. Lindley 

 in 1853, who named the tree Wellinytoniu yiynntea. 

 The California botanists, with patriotic sentiment, 

 changed this name in 1854 to Waxhinylmria yiyantea. 

 Meanwhile Dr. Torrey had obtained some of the 

 flowers, and determined that the tree was of the 

 same genus as the coast redwood, which had been 

 named fiffjunin by Endlicher in 1S47. It there- 

 fore has since borne its proper name of Siquiu 



ground. The stump of one which has been cut down 

 measures 2:J feet diameter, and 24 feet in one direc- 

 tion. Its rings of annual growth indicate an age of 

 about l.'iUO years. One tree, 327 feet high and 90 

 feet circumference at base, was stripped of its hark 

 to the height of 110 feet for the purpose of exhibition. 

 The greatest tree is one which \v:is found prostrated 

 and broken off at a height of 300 feet. At this point 

 it is 18 feet diameter, and is said to have been 112 

 feet in circumference at base. This, as it tapers 

 regularly, would indicate a total height of about 

 450 fuel. 



The most important of the Calaverns groves has 

 still four trees of over 300 feet, the tallest being 325 

 feet high, and 45 feet girth at 6 feet from the 



Sequoia Glgantea. 

 (Stripped of bark to the height of 116 feet.) 



South of this grove are two or three others, but 

 none of special importance till the Mariposa grove 

 is reached, 10 miles south of the Yosemite Valley. 

 There arc two patches here, the lower one at a 

 heii/ht of 5500 feet. This contains 125 trees of over 

 40 fret circumference. One, known as the Grizzly 

 (iiant, is over V3 feet circumference at base, and 



