344 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. VIII, July, 1954 
Herald Job Printing Office, New York. 
Sequoia Wellingtonia Seem., Bonplandia 3: 
27, 1855, Feb. 1. 
Sequoia gigantea (Lindl.)Dcne., Soc. Bot. 
France, Bui. 1: 70-71, 1854 (.^Aug.; ses- 
sion of June 28), not of Endl. (1847) 
which is S. sempervirens (D. Don in Lamb.) 
Endl. 
Taxodium W ashingtonium Winslow, Calif. 
Farmer 2: 58, 1854, Aug. 24; provisional 
name. 
W ashingtonia Californica Winslow, Calif. 
Farmer 2: 58, 1854, Aug. 24; provisional 
name and nomen genericum rejiciendum; 
not W ashingtonia H. Wendl. (1879), Pal- 
mae, nomen genericum conservandum. 
W ashingtonia Americana Hort. Am. ex Gor- 
don, Pinetum Suppl. 106, 1862, pub- 
lished in synonomy. 
Gigantahies Wellingtoniana ] . Nelson, under 
pseudonym Senilis, Pinac. 79-83, 1866. 
Taxodium giganteum (Lindl.) Kellogg & 
Behr, The Pacific, p. 53, 1855, May 7; 
reprinted as Calif. Acad. Sci., Proc. 1: 
ed. 2, 51, 1873. 
Americanus giganteus (Lindl.) Anon, emend. 
Gordon, Pinetum 330, 1858, published 
in synonomy. 
Sequoia washingtoniana (Winslow emend. 
Sudw.) Sudw., U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. 
Forestry, Bui. 14: 61, 1897. 
Steinhauera gigantea (Lindl.) Ktze. in Voss, 
Deut. Dendrol. GeselL,Mitt. 16(1907): 
90, 1908, nomen genericum rejiciendum, 
the name being based on three fossil 
species, known only from the cones. 
The existence of the big tree was known 
first through the narratives of several travelers, 
but as they did not publish any scientific 
names there is no need to give the details of 
their observations. Hunters visited the Cala- 
veras Grove in 1850 and 1852, but their tales 
of the size of the big trees were disbelieved. 
In 1853 Captain Hanford and William Lap- 
ham visited the grove to verify the stories. 
Mr. Lapham foresaw the value of the location 
and the public interest in the trees, so he 
took possession of the area and built a hotel 
there (Anable, 1950: 1-5). 
GENERIC NAME OF THE BIG TREE 
The first generic name of the big tree was 
Wellingtonia, published by Lindley (1853^.* 
819-820; 1853A* 823). These two articles were 
unsigned, but they were a part of the horti- 
cultural section of the Gardeners Chronicle, 
the part edited by Professor John Lindley. In 
the first article he discussed various reputed 
western North American conifers, then men- 
tioned and named the new monotypic genus 
Wellingtonia gigantea. From Sequoia he sepa- 
rated his new genus Wellingtonia and indicated 
that it was distinguished by the large size of 
the trunk, 250-320 feet in height and 10-20 
feet in diameter, by the mature branches being 
round like those of the juniper, and by the 
cones being about IVi inches long, 2 inches 
across. His informal, running account did not 
completely document the genus, and the trunk 
size mentioned was not significant, but the 
characters of branch and cone, listed above, 
were enough to serve as a description, and 
his name Wellingtonia was effectively pub- 
lished. Both the generic and specific names 
were newly coined and were not transfers 
from any previous publication. Lindley ex- 
plained (1853^/ 820) the appropriateness of 
his generic name: ”... and we think that no 
one will differ from us in feeling that the most 
appropriate name to be proposed for the most 
gigantic tree which has been revealed to us 
by modern discovery is that of the greatest 
of modern heroes. Wellington stands as high 
above his contemporaries as the Californian 
tree above all the surrounding foresters [sic]. 
Let it then bear henceforward the name of 
Wellingtonia gigantea.” Professor Lind- 
ley quite misjudged the temper and the pa- 
triotism of the Americans. Numerous protests 
were published at the naming of the American 
big tree as Wellingtonia, and several substitute 
names were proposed by the patriotic Amer- 
icans. 
