96 SIZE AND LONGEVITY OF TREES. 



Age of the Baobab. Diameter of the Trunk. Height. 



De Candolle has remarked that this longevity of the baobab is 

 made the more surprising by the softness and liability of its wood to 

 decay. But again, it must be considered that the great diameter of 

 the trunk, in relation to the height, gives the tree a stability which 

 is possessed by no other — by enabling it to resist violent gales of 

 wind. 



It strikes me that there may very well be some mistake in Adan- 

 son's estimates of the age of the baobab. When we see such irregu- 

 larity in the growth of trees of the same species planted in the same 

 soil, little reliance can be placed on any deductions drawn from the 

 size of the trunk when the concentric rings cannot be counted. In 

 proof of this I here give the measurements of two baobabs planted in 

 1821 in the Botanical Garden of French Guiana. In 1842 these 

 trees were found : — 



fetu feel- 

 No. 1. Length of .stem from pround Diainotcr of the base 5.41 



to first branches 7.70 IV). at oripin of l)ranches 4.23 



M„ o TV. air Dianirtcr of liaso 2A\3 



"o-^- ^ ^•** Do. at origin of branches 1.48 



In the tree No. 2 the branches were puny and nowise in relation 

 with the size of the trunk. 



The bald cypress {taxodiwn disticfnim) is a tree that is very 

 abundant in Mexico, and in the southern parts of the I'tiitcd States. 

 At Chapultopec there is one of these trees called the cypress of Mon- 

 tezuma, which tradition says flourished in the reign of that prince. 

 In 1831 the tree was still vigorous, and its trunk was 41 feet in cir- 

 cumference. There is another cypress near Oaxaca, under the 

 shade of which Fernando C'ortez is still reported to have rested ; the 

 trunk of this tree is upwards of 39 feet in circumference, and it is 

 105 feet in height. Alichaux measured several taxodiums in the 

 Floridas which approached these two in their dimensions. 



We have only uncertain data in regard to the age which palms 

 may attain to ; their sizes, however, are well known. In Fgypt, 

 according to M. Delille, the date-trees are generally about 65 feel in 

 height. In the Andes of Quindiu several ceroxylons were measured, 

 the trunks of which were from 195 to 230 feet in height ! Martins 

 assigns tho following as the j'Xtreme dimensions of the palms of the 

 Brazils : from 75 to 127 or 128 feet in height, by a diameter of from 

 6 to about 12^ inches. 



•Aniong several palms {arica oleacera) planted in the Botanical 

 (J:irdon of ('avenue in 1821, the tallest twenlv vears afterwards was 



