206 A MANUAL OP THE CONIFERS. 



Habitat. — California, on the Sierra Nevada mountains at 5,000 to 

 7,000 feet elevation. 



Introduced by us in 1853, through our collector, Mr. William Lobb. 



Under cultivation the Wellingtonia has shown a tendency to sport 

 into varieties, but none of the forms yet obtained present any striking 

 departure from the usual type. . Some of these varieties are dis- 

 tinguished by Horticulturists by names sufficiently indicative of their 

 character, as glauca, pendula, pygmoza, variegata, &c. 



In the "Wellingtonia Avenue, at Linton Park, one of the trees 

 differs in habit and foliage from all the others ; the branchlets are 

 more elongated, and quite pendulous, and the leaves longer and deeper 

 in colour. There is also a fine specimen near the great conservatory 

 at Chatsworth, which shows a similar peculiarity. 



We subjoin some particulars of special interest connected with 



Wellingtonia gigantea. 



For some time past it has been a moot question : — Do we call 

 it by the right name? To this inquiry men of science give an 

 explicit negative, and assign clear reasons for their answer.* 



As the nomenclature of this- great and popular tree has therefore 

 unfortunately become involved in some confusion, we shall endeavoiir 

 to state, as briefly as the case admits, how it became so, and we 

 shall include in this statement an account of the origin of the names. 



Dr. Lindley named and described the tree from Lobb's specimens, 

 and published his description in the Gardeners' Chronicle for December 

 24th, 1853. In the leading article of the same paper, after stating 

 his reason for believing that the new discovery was quite different 

 from the Eedwood, the Sequoia senvpervirens of Endlicher, he writes : — 

 " The most appropriate name for the most gigantic tree that has 

 been revealed to us by modem discovery, is that of the greatest of 

 modern heroes. "Wellington stands as high aboye his contemporaries 

 as the Californian tree above all the surrounding foresters. Let it 

 then bear henceforward the name of Wellingtonia gigantea." t In his 

 description of the tree, after comparing and noticing the differences 

 between the cones and seeds of "Wellingtonia, Sequoia, and Sciadopitys, 

 he • adds : " "When the male flowers shall have been seen, the Welling- 



* The name "Wellingtonia has never teen generally accepted out of England. From the 

 very first, the propriety of Dr. Lindley's appellative was challenged on scientific grounds, 

 rather assumed than proved, but subsequently strengthened by conclusive evidence. One 

 of the earliest objectors was M. Decaisne, who gave his reasons at a meeting of the 

 "Soeiete Botanique de France," held in June, 1854. He was closely followed by the late 

 Dr. Torrey,' of New York, and Professor Asa Gray, of Cambridge, U.S.A. 



t It will be in the remembrance of many that the public funeral of "Wellington in St. 

 Paul's Cathedral had taken place but little more than a year previous. 



