May 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



ON THE FORESTS OP SEQUOIA. 463 



Franje mushk (see Bezr-el-rilian). — Doubtless applied to several 

 Lablatce. Nepeta aqrestis occasionally sold for this. 



Gheznaij. — Kushniz is coriander. Our only carraway is Carum 

 (gracile ?), of which I have recently collected fresh specimens in Kuna- 

 war and in the bazaars, called Zirali sujah, " black cummin." 



Werd Benepsheh. — Banafsha is a favourite remedy in India, the 

 plant of a Viola, probably, generally, Viola serpens, which is common in 

 the Himalayas. 



Zafaran, or more generally Kisar, in India is mostly used as a con- 

 diment, I believe. Supplied from Kashmir, in one part of which it is 

 largely cultivated. 



By the aid of the foregoing notes, corrections and additions may be 

 made to the list of Baghdad Materia Medica already referred to, and the 

 latter applied also to the North-western Provinces of India. Un- 

 doubtedly, there is an almost entire identity between the Materia 

 Medica of the bazaars of Baghdad and those of Lahore, and other parts 

 of Northern India. There are still some interesting points to be settled, 

 to which a botanist in favourable circumstances for acquiring the infor- 

 mation would do well to apply himself. I may name two, which at 

 this moment occur to me. What is the botanical source of the Punjab 

 Saleb misree ? and, Is Red Behen root the produce of Salvia luernatodes, 

 as has recently been affirmed ? 



ON THE FOBESTS OF SEQUOIA {WELLINGTON I A 

 GIGANTEA) OF CALIFOPvNIA. 



BY PROFESSOR W. H. BREWER,* 

 STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Off CALIFORNIA. 



An interesting discovery this year (1864) has been made of the existence 

 of the big trees in great abundance on the western flanks of the Sierra 

 Nevada, in about latitude 36° or 37 p . They are very abundant along a 

 belt, at 5,000 to 7,000 feet altitude, for a distance of more than twenty- 

 five miles, sometimes in groves, at others scattered through the forests 

 in great numbers. You can have no idea of the grandeur they impart 

 to the scenery when at times a hundred trees are in sight at once, 

 15 feet in diameter, their rich foliage contrasting so finely with their 

 bright cinnamon-coloured bark. I found trees larger than they occur 

 further north (in the Calaveras and Maipura groves). The largest tree 

 I saw was 106 feet in circumference, at four feet from the ground. It 

 had lost some buttresses by fire ; it must have been at least 115 feet or 



* In a letter to Sir W. J. Hooker. 

 VOL. V. 3 C 



