CHECK LIST OF FOREST TREES 33 



six scattered groves, each containing from a few hundred to several thousand 

 trees. 



Note on nomenclature. — Formerly designated as Sequoia gigantea Decaisne 

 and at present by some authors as Sequoia wellingtonia Seeman. 



NAMES IN USE 



Sequoia (Calif.). Mammoth-tree (Calif, and in Eng. 



Bigtree (Calif.). cult.). 



Giant Sequoia (Calif, and hort.). 



VARIETIES DISTINGUISHED IN CULTIVATION 



Sequoia washingtoniana pendula Sequoia washingtoniana variegata 



(Beissner) Sudworth. (Gordon) Sudworth. 



Sequoia washingtoniana glauca (Gor- Sequoia washingtoniana holmsi (Beiss- 



don) Sudworth. ner) Sudworth. 



Sequoia washingtoniana aurea (Beiss- Sequoia washingtoniana glaucescens 



ner) Sudworth. ■ pyramido-compacta Sudworth. 



Sequoia washingtoniana argentea Sequoia washingtoniana pygmaea 



(Beissner) Sudworth. (Beissner) Sudworth. 



*Sequoia sempervirens (Lambert) Endlicher. Redwood. 



Range. — From the southern borders of Oregon (on Chetco River, about 6 

 miles from mouth, and on Winchuck River), southward in the coast region 

 (20 to 30 miles inland) through California (to Salmon Creek Canyon, 12 miles 

 south of Punta Gorda, Monterey County). 



NAMES IN USE 



Redwood (Calif, and Am. lit.). Humboldt Redwood (Calif, trade). 



Sequoia (Calif., Eng. trade). California Cedar (Eng. trade). 



Coast Redwood (Calif.). 

 California Redwood (Eng. lit., Am. 

 trade). 



Sequoia gigantea Decaisne (Bull. Bot. Soc. France, I, 70, 1854). The third name is Taxodium Washingtoni- 

 anum Winslow (Cal. Farmer, September, 1854). The fourth name is Sequoia Wellingtonia Seeman (Bon- 

 plandia, III, 27, 1855). 



The Bigtree is now conceded rightly to belong to the genus Sequoia of Endlicher (Syn. Conif., 147, 1847), 

 and the specific term gigantea, being the first applied, the apparently correct name would be Sequoia 

 gigantea, the name applied by Decaisne (1. c, 1854;. But this name being identical with one previously 

 applied by Endlicher in 1847 to the California Redwood must, by reason of being antedated, fall into 

 synonj-my and the next oldest name be sought for the Bigtree. 



' Passing over Winslow's Taxodium Washingtonianum (1. c, 1854) on the ground that it is thought not 

 to be properly published, some botanists would now apply Seeman's Sequoia Wellingtonia (1. c, 1855). 

 It is here maintained, however, that the rightful name should be Sequoia washingtoniana (Winslow) Sud- 

 worth and for the following reasons: 



It has been asserted that Taxodium Washingtonianum Winslow (1- c, 1854) is technically unpublished 

 and therefore to be disregarded. The writer believes this name was tenably published, a conviction which 

 is supported by the following quotation from Winslow's published letter fl. c, 1854): 



"The name that has been applied to this tree by Professor Lindley, an English botanist, is Wellingtonia 

 gigantea. * * * 



"If the tree be a Taxodium, let it be called Taxodium Washingtonianum. If a new genus, Washingtonia 

 California." 



According to Section III, Canon 9, of the American Code of Botanical Nomenclature, Winslow's Tax- 

 odium Washingtonianum is validly published. 



This is a common and expedient method employed by botanists in publishing new names for plants 

 found to have been previously characterized under synonyms, which results in duplicate names in the 

 same genus and therefore often leaves a plant without a tenable name. The method of referring to the 

 previously published species as a type is usually to print such species' name and author in connection 

 with the newly proposed name and in such a way that the two designations are seen to be presented as 

 equivalents, the one to replace the other. 



Now, since Wellingtonia gigantea Llndiey is a recognized previously published species, it would seem 

 undeniable that Winslow's intention was to supplant Lindley's name by Taxodium Washingtonianum— 

 entirely, of course, because his American patriotism preferred that an American monster tree should bear 

 the name of an American rather than that of an English general. It is maintained here that Winslow 

 definitely pointed out the tree he had in mind by stating that Lindley had called it Wellingtonia gigantea 

 (an undisputably published name) and that he effected the publication of Taxodium Washinutomanum 

 for this tree by proposing this name as a substitute for Lindley's name. 



In interpreting the fundamental object of the article cited for the publication of species and applying 

 it to all cases likely to arise, it would seem the duty of the interpreter to abide by the principle involved 

 in the law and to be influenced rather by the actual meaning of a describer's combined words than by his 

 unfortunate lack of technical procedure in description. 



