ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



The Sequoia is not 011I3- the oldest living thing 

 on earth, but it is the tallest tree on earth, and 

 we have no reason, so far as our paleo-botanical 

 studies have gone, to believe that there ever 

 existed on earth either individual trees or forests 

 that surpassed in size, in girth, in height or in 

 grandeur, the Sequoias of California. And 

 these are the trees that modern commercialism 

 is cutting for grape stakes, for railroad ties and 

 for shingles. 



The Big Tree of the Sierras. 

 While the purpose of this article is to deal 

 with the Redwoods of the coast rather than the 

 Big Trees of the Sierras, both of the genus 

 Sequoia, a description of the Redwood should 

 be preceded by a few words on the Big Tree. 

 The Big Trees, Sequoia gigantea, are very dif- 

 ferent from the Redwoods and are found on 

 the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas in Cali- 

 fornia, at an altitude of from five to eight thou- 

 sand feet above the sea. with a north and south 

 range of about L'50 miles. They do not consti- 

 tute a solid stand, but occur in more or less 

 isolated groves, and mixed in with them are 

 other huge trees, chiefly white fir, incense cedar. 

 sugar and yellow pine. 



These groves are stated generally to be about 

 thirty-two in number and are much scattered 

 and isolated in the northern part of their range, 

 while in the south they are larger and closer 

 together. This distribution shows that the Big 

 Tree is on the decline, the various groves having 

 lung since Inst touch with each other, while in 

 the north the reproduction is very poor. They 

 all grow in spots sheltered by surrounding for- 

 ests and the slopes of the Sierras are more or 

 less windless, but unless artificially protected in 

 national parks they would soon be destroyed for 

 their valuable lumber. 



They have suffered throughout the ages from 

 ground fires. Their enormously thick bark, 

 which is from one-half to two feet through, is a 

 great protection, and the tree lives on, although 

 its heart has been burned out, so long as this 

 bark and its underlying cambium layer can reach 

 the earth. If protected by human care the Big 

 Tree has remarkable recuperative power, and 

 many of the trees in the Giant Forest show an 

 accelerated growth owing to their immunity 

 from fire even for a few decades. 



These trees are from five to twenty-five feet 

 in diameter at shoulder height above the ground, 

 and in the Giant Forest alone there are said to 

 be 5.000 trees of over ten feet in diameter. 



Map showing the original distribution of the Coast Redwoods, 

 Sequoia sempervirens. (See Page 94) 



