134 FAMILIAR TREES 



(Sequoia sempervi'rens Endl.) and of the Douglas 

 Spruce (Pseudotsu'ga Dougla'sii Carr.), which were- 

 described by Aylmer Bourke Lambert in his magnifi- 

 cent work entitled "The ilenus Pinus," the latter 

 in 1803, but the former not till 1824. Lambert, class- 

 ing the Redwood with the Deciduous Cypress of th& 

 Mississippi, named it Taxo'dium sempervirens. In. 

 1831 this species was re-discovered by David Douglas, 

 and some fifteen years later it was introduced into 

 English gardens by his successor, Carl Theodore^ 

 Hartweg. In 1847 the German botanist Endlicher 

 pointed out that the Redwood differs markedly from 

 the Deciduous Cypress, not only in being evergreen, but 

 also in having peltate scales to its cone, each bearing- 

 from five to seven pendulous seeds, instead of two- 

 erect ones. He accordingly founded for it the genus. 

 Sequoia, naming it after a very remarkable man. 

 George Guess was the English name of Sequoia, a. 

 quarter-bred Cherokee born in Georgia about 1770. 

 Without any knowledge of the sounds belonging to 

 the letters of English or any other language, h& 

 invented a phonetic alphabet of eighty-five characters, 

 so simple that it could be learnt in a day. It was- 

 published in 1826, and became generally adopted by 

 his tribe. He died at San Fernando, New Mexico, 

 in 1843. In 1853 William Lobb brought two- 

 living plants, besides many cones and seeds, of this 

 new spegies, home to England; and Dr. Lindlejv 

 mindful of the fame of the great warrior who had. 

 passed away about a year before, wrote : 



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

 been revealed to us by modern discovery is that of the greatest 



