THE SEQUOIAS 



THERE are two species of Sequoias, both of which are 

 indigenous to the Pacific Slope. One is the Big Tree 

 (Sequoia washingtoniana), and the other the Redwood 

 (Sequoia sempervirens). They are the only remaining ones 

 of several species which have come down to us from the 

 days when mammals first appeared on the earth. Their ex- 

 istence in olden times is shown by their remains, which are 

 to be found in the rocks of the Tertiary and Cretaceous 

 periods. Then, as now, they grew in a warm and, doubt- 

 less, moist climate, but the domain in which they then 

 grew now lies near, and in part within, the Arctic Circle. 

 They and the Bald Cypress are distant relatives. They are 

 among the tallest and are the most massive trees in the world ; 

 and some of them, still in life and vigorous, are among the 

 oldest if not the very oldest living things. They are con- 

 fined by climatic conditions to a limited area, and efforts 

 to grow them elsewhere in the United States have not 

 proved successful ; yet they appear to thrive well in some 

 parts of Europe, and our inability to enlarge the area in 

 which they will grow should stimulate a determination that 

 they shall not be sacrificed to a greed of gain, or be the 

 victims of a spirit of vandalism. 



BIG TREE : Sequoia washingtoniana 



THERE has been some dispute over the technical name 

 which this tree should bear, but the weight of evidence is with 

 Sequoia washingtoniana as against Sequoia wellingtonia, 

 and it is in entire harmony with patriotic sentiment. Its 

 natural range is confined to California, and is there limited 

 to the west side of the Sierra from the southern part of 

 Placer County to Tulare County, at an elevation ranging 



