360 DURATION OF THE LIFE OF PLANTS. 



The folio-wing is a notice of the size and age of some trees : — 



Height to which forest trees grow in France . . 120 to 130 feet. 

 Height to which forest trees grow in America . . 150 to 250 „ 

 Height of specimens of Wellingtonia (Sequoia) gigantea . 450 „ 

 Trvmks of some Baobahs (Adansonia) have a girth of . .90 „ 

 Trunli of Dragon-tree (Dracaena) of the Canaries has a girth of 45 „ 

 That of a Maple (Acer) in South Carolina has a girth of . 62 „ 

 In France trees have often a girth of . . . . 25 to 30 „ 

 Oaks in Britain planted before the Conquest, more than . 800 years old. 



Yew at Fountains Abbey, Eipon 1200 ,, 



Yews in churchyard of Crowhurst, Surrey .... 1450 ,, 

 Yew at Fortingal, Perthshire . . . upwards of 2000 , , 

 Yew at Hedsor, Bucks 3200 ,, 



A specimen of the Banyan (Picus indica), -which grew tUl recently on 

 an island in the river Nerbudda, was believed to be identical with one 

 that existed in the time of Alexander the Great, and which, according 

 to Nearchus, was then capable of overshadowing 10,000 men. The 

 chief trunks of this tree greatly exceeded our English Oaks and Elms 

 in thickness, and were above 350 in number. The smaller stems 

 were more than 3000 in number. The Maronites believe that some 

 Cedars near the village of Eden in Lebanon are the remains of the 

 forest which furnished Solomon with timber for the temple, full 

 3000 years ago. They must be of great antiquity, seeing they were 

 counted old 300 years ago. Maundrell mentions the size of some of 

 the Cedars. The largest he measured was 36 feet 6 inches in circum- 

 ference, and 117 feet in the spread of its boughs. 



Decandolle has given a list of the ascertained ages of certain 

 trees : — 



Elm 336 years. 



Cypress, about 350 



Cheirostemon (Hand-tree), about .... 400 

 Ivy- ...... . . 450 



Larch 576 



Sweet Chestnut, about 600 



Orange 630 



Olive 700 



Platanus orientalis (oriental Plane) .... 720 



Cedar 800 



Many tropical trees, according to Humboldt, about . 1000 

 -Wellingtonia, according to Torrey .... 1120 



Lime 1076, 1147 



- Oak 810, 1080, 1500 



Yew 1214, 1458, 2588, 2820 



Taxodium ) , ■ , 



Adansonia \ Probably as old as the Yew. 



Decandolle states that the Yew increases little more than one line 

 in diameter annually, during the first hundred and fifty years, and a 

 little more than one line afterwards, and in very old specimens he cou- 



