86 The Sequoias 



on the twig. The flowers appear in May. The staminate flowers are cylindric, 2 

 to 3 cm. long, yellowish to red. The pistillate flowers are oblong-cylindric, 3 to 4 

 cm. long, and yellowish green. The cones, which are borne on stout scaly stalks 

 about 10 mm. high, are ovoid to ovoid-cylindric, 8 to 10 cm. long, blunt at the 

 apex, smooth, and purplish brown; their scales are about 2 cm. wide, and nearly 

 as long, irregularly eroded, rounded or bluntly pointed at the apex, rounded on 

 the sides to a heart-shaped base and stalked; the body of the yellowish bract is 

 somewhat shorter than the scale, inverted spear-shaped, terminated by a long flat 

 stiff tip 3 to 4 cm. long, erect and closely pressed to the cone in its upper half, 

 but more or less reflexed in the lower portion. The brown oblong seed, 10 mm, 

 long, is almost as long as its thin shining red-brown obovate wing. 



The wood is of medium hardness, coarse-grained, light yellow-brown; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.67. It is not an article of commerce. 



The cultivation of this most beautiful and curious fir tree has not succeeded 

 in the eastern United States, but it is said to do well in Europe. 



VII. THE SEQUOIAS 



GENUS SEQUOIA ENDLICHER 



^T present this genus is represented by two hving species of gigantic 

 evergreen trees, confined to Cahfomia and southern Oregon, although 

 fossils referred to the genus have been found within the Arctic circle, 

 in Europe, and over much of North America. 

 The resinous leaves are linear and spreading or with some appressed ones on 

 some twigs, or both kinds on the same twig, in the one species; ovate, ovate- 

 lanceolate and appressed to the twigs, or their tips spreading, in the other. The 

 flowers are monoecious, very small and solitar}', appearing in early spring or late 

 winter from buds the previous season. The staminate flowers are terminal, or 

 in the axils the upper leaves, ovoid or oblong, stalked, their stalks bearing many 

 overlapping scale-like bracts; the stamens are arranged around a short axis, their 

 filaments short, the connective ovate and sharply pointed, with 2 to 5 globular 

 anthers on its inner surface. The pistillate flowers are terminal, oblong, consist- 

 ing of many spirally arranged ovate, keeled, sharp-pointed scales, under which are 

 5 to 7 ovules. The cones are ovoid or broadly oblong, drooping, ripening and 

 shedding the seed the first or second season, but persisting on the tree for some 

 time; the scales are hard and woody, contracted or stalk-like at the base, enlarged 

 transversely at the apex, which is depressed in the middle and often provided with 

 a short central tip; the seeds are 5 to 7 under each scale, oblong or ovoid, com- 

 pressed, broadly thin-winged; embryo straight; endosperm fleshy; cotyledons 4 to 6. 

 The name is in commemoration of Sequoyah, a talented half-breed Cherokee 

 Indian, also called George Guess (i 770-1843), who devised the first Indian 

 (Cherokee) alphabet, the Redwood, Sequoia sempervirens (Lambert) Endlicher, 

 being the type of the genus : 



