156 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



cypress of the Florida swamps belongs. Because 

 the California tree was evergreen of leaf, Lambert 

 named it Taxodium sempervirens, meaning the ever- 

 verdant cypress. This specific designation was 

 really more appropriate than its namer knew, for 

 the wood of the Sequoia is about as nearly inde- 

 structible as it is possible for wood to be. Unlike 

 other coniferous trees, the amount of resin which it 

 contains is negligible, in fact almost nil; so that 

 the trees are very slow to ignite and equally slow 

 to burn. They are also remarkably long-lived and 

 free from the insect depredations and fungous dis- 

 eases which are the bane of most arboreal life ; and 

 in the case of the species known as redwood, it fre- 

 quently happens that when one tree is cut down, a 

 score of new trees spring into being from buds of 

 the spreading root system there is no tap root 

 thus forming the so-called "redwood circles," fa- 

 miliar to every one who knows the tranquil aisles of 

 a redwood forest. Even after fire has swept a red- 

 wood forest, the blackened trunks will often reclothe 

 themselves with living green. 



The value of the redwood as timber is so enor- 

 mous that Dr. W. L. Jepson, whose sumptuous work, 

 "The Silva of California," should be consulted by 

 every one interested in the native woods of the 

 State, has well said: "California might have 



