212 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFER J!. 



Sequoia sempervirens. — The Californian Redwood takes the 

 second place in size among the gigantic Coniferous trees of north- 

 west America, attaining a height of nearly 300 feet,* but this is 

 exceptional; the height of 200 feet with a girth of from 30 to 40 

 feet at 10 feet from the ground is common. The enormous trunk 

 is covered with a very thick spongy bark, tinged with a reddish 

 colour, a hue that also pervades the wood, whence the popular 

 name of the tree. The upper portion only of the trunks of full- 

 grown trees is furnished with branches, and this but sparingly, 

 but the younger trees do not exhibit so great a disproportion 

 between the trunk and the branches. f The foliage is dimorphous; 

 on young trees the leaves are long, linear, flat, spreading, distichously 

 disposed like those of the Tew, and almost as deep in colour; in 

 old trees they are often acicular and closely appressed like those of 

 the Wellingtonia. The cones are ovoid, from 1 to 2 inches long, 

 and differ but little, except in size, from those of the Wellingtonia. 



Habitat. — California, near the Pacific coast, from San Luis Obispo 

 to the Oregon boundary, a narrow belt extending for about 500 

 miles. 



Introduced by Hartweg in 1846. 



Sequoia sempervirens adpressa has its leaves shorter, stouter, 

 and inclined to the branchlets at a much more acute angle than 

 in the usual type. The foliage and young growth ia glaucescent. 



A very distinct variety that originated in the nursery of M. Leroy, 

 at Angers, in France. 



Sequoia sempervirens alba spica is a garden variety, with 



more slender branchlets and smaller leaves than those of the species. 



The foliage is glaucous, and the tips of many of the branchlets 

 creamy-white. 



In its scientific aspect and associations, the Kedwood is one of the 

 most interesting of trees, whether we regard it as a singular surviving 

 representative of the vegetation of a former epoch that has well nigh 

 disappeared, or look upon it simply in its relationship' with existing 

 Coniferee. In the geological system called the Miocene, Sequoia semper- 

 virens, or species closely allied to it, were widely distributed over the 



* Dr. Newberry in Pacific Railway JReport, p. 15. 

 t Like the Velliiigtoiiia, the Redwood swells at the base near the ground, 



