CHAPTER X: THE BIG TREE AND THE 



REDWOOD 



Genus SEQUOIA, Endl. 



Trees of great size and age, resinous, aromatic. Leaves 

 evergreen, alternate, of two shapes. Flowers in solitary cones, 

 minute, monoecious, axillary. Fruit a pendant woody cone; 

 seeds 5 to 7 under each scale. 



KEY TO SPECIES 



A. Leaves minute, ovate, usually compressed, buds naked; 

 fruit biennial. (S. IV ellingionia) big tree 



AA. Leaves mostly linear, or lanceolate, spreading, 2-ranked; 

 buds scaly; fruit annual. {S. sempervirens) redwood 



The Big Tree {Sequoia IV ellingionia, Seem.) A pyramidal 

 tree when young, becoming round-topped; 275 to 325 feet high; 

 diameter 20 to 35 feet; fluted trunk. Dark reddish brown, 

 fibrous, fluted; i to 2 feet thick. IVood red, soft, coarse, light, 

 weak, durable. Buds naked. Leaves ovate, acuminate, spreading 

 at tips, ^ inch long. Flowers: monoecious, terminal, conical, scaly, 

 profuse in late winter; staminate with broad scales and abundant 

 pollen; pistillate with 25 to 40 needle-tipped scales, with 3 to 7 

 ovules under each. Fruit dark red-brown woody cone, biennial, 

 2 to 3^ inches long, with thickened tips; seeds 3 to 7 under each 

 scale, each 2-winged, small, light, eaten by squirrels. Preferred 

 habitat, rich woodlands. Distribution, narrow area on western 

 slope of Sierras in California. Uses: Most majestic tree in the 

 world. Rare and dwarfed in cultivation. Lumber used for 

 shingles, fencing and in general construction. 



Sir Joseph Hooker and Asa Gray sat with John Muir around 

 a campfire on Mount Shasta, and talked about the great forests 

 of the Sierras they had just visited. Comparing them with Old- 

 World forests, they agreed upon this statement: "In the beauty 

 and grandeur of individual trees, and in number and variety of 



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