IN CALIFORNIA 163 



very fresh in the public mind. Subsequent examina- 

 tion convinced the French botanist Decaisne that 

 the tree was not a new genus but merely a second 

 species of redwood, which by that time had been 

 transferred from the taxodiums and established as 

 a genus in its own right, called Sequoia. Decaisne 

 accordingly named this Big Tree, on account of its 

 gigantic proportions, Sequoia gigantea. 



Meantime, back in California, Dr. C. E< Winslow, 

 a naturalist of local fame, was making a visit to the 

 Calaveras grove. Consumed with national pride in 

 America's possession of these biggest of big trees, 

 the good doctor considered it a national disgrace 

 that they should bear an Englishman's name, and 

 proceeded to make the American eagle scream in a 

 letter dated August 8, 1854, and written in the shade 

 of the Big Trees themselves. He despatched the 

 letter to a weekly paper called "The California 

 Farmer," in which it was printed. After describ- 

 ing in popular style the characteristics of the spe- 

 cies, he claimed for it as its only proper designation, 

 the name of America's most distinguished son, 

 George Washington. "If the big tree be a taxo- 

 dium, let it be called Taxodium Washingtonianum," 

 he perorates ; " if it be properly ranked a new genus, 

 let it be called until the end of time, WasJiingtonia 

 Calif ornica!" 



