5 1 SEQUOIA SHEPHERDI A 



Californian forests no doubt antedate the Christian era. It is gratifying to 

 know that their relentless destruction, carried on in the early days for the 

 sake of gain, has been stopped by the action of the State. There does not 

 appear to be any fear of the species becoming extinct, as it is numbered by 

 tens of thousands even in a wild state. Still, trees between 250 and 300 ft. 

 high are comparatively few in number. Several varieties have appeared 

 in cultivation, of which the two following only need be mentioned : 



Var. AUREA. A golden-leaved form which originated in the Lough 

 nurseries, Cork, in 1856, from a seedling. 



Var. PENDULA. An extraordinary tree with weeping branches, but an 

 erect leader, forming a tall slender spire. It originated at Nantes in 1863. 

 Perhaps the finest example known is one in the arboretum of Mr Allard, at 

 Angers in France, which is a tapering spire 65 ft. high, 



S. SEMPERVIRENS, Endlicher. REDWOOD. 



(Taxodium sempervirens, Lambert.'] 



An evergreen tree from 200 to over 300 ft. high in nature, and already 

 over TOO ft. high in this country, where healthy isolated trees form slender 

 pyramids, furnished from base to summit with leafy branches. Bark of a 

 rich brown-red, and of a fibrous nature, 6 to 1 2 ins. thick in the giants of 

 Western N. America; young shoots and leaves not downy, arranged in two 

 opposite rows. Leaves linear, ^ to in. long, ^7 to \ in. wide ; terminated by 

 a short abrupt point, very dark lustrous green above, with two broad stripes of 

 white stomata beneath. On leading shoots the leaves are arranged all round 

 the branchlet. Cones roundish oblong, | to i in. long, about in. wide. 



Native of California and S. Oregon in a narrow belt near the coast ; 

 introduced about 1843. Like its fellow species, S. gigantea, this is one of 

 the vegetable wonders of the world, having been measured 340 ft. high, and 

 between 80 and 90 ft. in girth of trunk near the buttressed base. The average 

 girth, however, of big trees is 30 to 50 ft. The age of the largest trees 

 is probably 1300 years. On the tops of adult trees, according to Jepson, 

 the leaves become small (|- to ^ in. long), and the branchlets then much 

 resemble those of S. gigantea. But ordinarily the two are very distinct from 

 each other, the branchlets of the redwood much resembling those of the 

 yew, but with the leaves whiter beneath. On some specimens of redwood 

 the branches are much less leafy than in others, and stand out as slender, 

 drooping, rigid arms, from the lower side of which the branchlets hang. In 

 its finest development in the Californian forests the redwood stands so 

 thickly and attains to so great a size that it yields enormous amounts of 

 saleable wood per acre. Jepson gives 500,000 ft., board measure, as the 

 yield of some limited areas, but three times as much has been recorded. 

 The tree has the faculty of reproducing itself by suckers from the root they 

 are occasionally seen in this country and, as frequently happens with trees 

 of that propensity, the germinating power of the seed is low. 



Redwood timber is highly valued for building ; it is reddish, free from 

 resin, and of a light soft nature; used also for railway sleepers, shingles, 

 wine vats, etc. The wood employed in the building of some Californian cities 

 is almost entirely of this tree. 



Var. ALBO-SPICA. Leaves and tips of the young shoots creamy white. 



SHEPHERDI A. 



Of the three genera constituting this natural order, Shepherdia differs 

 from Hippophae and Elreagnus in its opposite leaves, and in having eight 



