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SEQUOIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 660 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEQUOIA , a genus of conifers, allied to Taxodium and See also:

Cryptomeria, forming one of several surviving links between the firs and the cypresses. The two See also:species are See also:evergreen trees of large See also:size, indigenous to the See also:west See also:coast of See also:North See also:America. Both See also:bear their See also:round or ovoid male catkins at the ends of the slenderterminal branchlets; the ovoid cones, either terminal or on See also:short lateral twigs, have thick woody scales dilated at the extremity, with a broad disk depressed in the centre and usually furnished with a short spine; at the See also:base of the scales are from three to seven ovules, which become reversed or partially so by See also:compression, ripening into small angular See also:seed with a narrow wing-like expansion. The redwood of the Californian woodsmen, S. sempervirens, on which the genus was originally founded by See also:Stephan Endlicher, abounds on the Pacific coast from the See also:southern See also:borders of See also:Oregon southward to about 12 M. See also:south of Punta Gorda, See also:Monterey See also:county, See also:California, forming a narrow See also:mountain See also:forest See also:belt, rarely extending more than 20 or 3o m. from the coast or beyond the See also:influence of ocean fogs, or more than 3000 ft. above See also:sea-level (see C. S. See also:Sargent, See also:Silva of North America, vol. x.). It grows to a gigantic size, from 200 to 300 ft. or more in height, with a See also:diameter of from 12 to 15, or rarely 20 to 28 ft. at the much- Sequoia sempervirens—a, See also:Branch with See also:green cones and male catkins; b, See also:Section of See also:cone; c, See also:Scale of cone. All slightly reduced. buttressed base. See also:Professor Sargent refers to it as the tallest See also:American See also:tree, which probably occasionally reaches 400 ft. or more in height. In old See also:age the huge columnar See also:trunk rises to a See also:great height See also:bare of boughs, while on the upper See also:part the branches are short and irregular. The bark is red, like that of the Scots See also:fir, deeply furrowed, with the ridges often much curved and See also:twisted.

When See also:

young the tree is one of the most graceful of. the conifers: the See also:stem rises straight and tapering, with somewhat irregular whorls of drooping branches, the See also:lower ones sweeping the ground—giving an elegant conical outline. The twigs are densely clothed with See also:flat spreading linear leaves of a See also:fine glossy green above and See also:glaucous beneath; in the old trees they become shorter and more rigid and partly lose their distichous See also:habit. The cones, from to 1 in. See also:long, are at first of a bluish-green See also:colour, but when mature See also:change to a reddish See also:brown; the scales are very small at the base, dilating into a broad thick See also:head, with a short curved spine below the deep transverse depression. From the great size of the trunk and the even See also:grain of the red See also:cedar-like See also:wood it is a valuable tree to the See also:farmer and See also:carpenter: it splits readily and evenly, and planes and polishes well; cut radially, the medullary plates give the wood a fine satiny lustre; it is strong and durable, but not so elastic as many of the western pines and firs. Professor Sargent describes it as the most valuable See also:timber tree of the forests of Pacific North America. In See also:England the tree grows well in warm situations, but suffers much in severe winters—its graceful See also:form rendering it ornamental in the See also:park or See also:garden, where it sometimes grows 30 or 40 ft. in height; its success as a timber tree would be doubtful. In the eastern parts of the See also:United States it does not flourish. It was discovered by See also:Archibald Menzies in 1795 and was first described as Taxodium sempervirens, under which name it was known until distinguished by Stephan Endlicher as a new genus in 1847. The only other member of the genus is the See also:giant tree of the Sierra See also:Nevada, S. gigantea, the largest of known conifers; it is confined to the western portion of the great Californian range for a length of about 26o m., at an See also:altitude of from 5000 to 8400 ft. above the sea, and forms extensive forests, or, in the See also:northern part of the See also:area, isolated groves, such as the Calaveras See also:Grove, the Mariposa Grove, and others. The leaves of this species are See also:awl-shaped, short and rigid, with pointed See also:apex; closely adpressed, they completely See also:cover the branchlets. The male catkins are small, solitary, and are See also:borne at the ends of the twigs; the cones are from ri to 3 in. long, ovoid, with scales thicker at the base than those of the redwood, and bearing below the depression a slender prickle. The young tree is more formal and rigid in growth than S. sempervirens, but when old the outline of the head becomes cylindrical, with short branches sparsely clad with foliage sprays.

The bark, of nearly the same tint as that of the redwood, is extremely thick and is channelled towards the base with See also:

vertical furrows; at the See also:root the ridges often stand out in See also:buttress-like projections. The See also:average height is about 275 ft. with a diameter near the ground of 20 ft.; but specimens from 300 to 320 ft. tall, with trunks 25-35 ft. thick, are not rare. The famous See also:group known as the See also:Mammoth Grove of Calaveras in California, containing above ninety large trees, stands in 38° N., about 4370 ft. above the sea, between the See also:San See also:Antonio and See also:Stanislaus See also:rivers. It was discovered by a See also:hunter named Dowd in pursuit of a bear in 1852, but had been visited before by See also:John Bidwill, who crossed the Sierra in 1841. Some trees in the Mariposa Grove See also:rival these in size: one See also:measures ror ft. round the root, and a cut stump is 31 ft. in diameter. Gigantic as these trees are and imposing from their vast columnar trunks, they have little beauty, owing to the scanty foliage of the short rounded boughs; some of the trees stand very See also:close together; they are said to be about four See also:hundred in number. The age of the trees has been greatly overestimated. A few years ago a full-sized tree was felled in See also:Fresno county, California, and contiguous transverse sections have been set up, one in the Museum of Natural See also:History at New See also:York, the other (upper one) in the See also:British Museum of Natural History at South See also:Kensington; the See also:annual rings of the latter section have been carefully counted and found to indicate an age of 1335 years. The growth of the " mammoth tree " is fast when young, but old trees increase with extreme slowness. The timber is not of great value, but the heartwood is dense and of deeper colour than that of S. sempervirens, varying from brownish red to very deep brown; oiled and varnished, it has been used in See also:cabinet See also:work. S. gigantea was brought to England by Lobb in 1853, and received from Dr See also:Lindley the name of Wellingtonia, by which it is still popularly known, though its See also:affinity to the redwood is too marked to admit of generic distinction. In America it is sometimes called Washingtonia.

In the See also:

Atlantic States it does not succeed; and, though nearly See also:hardy in Great See also:Britain, it is planted only as an See also:ornament of the See also:lawn or paddock. In See also:early See also:geological times the sequoias occupied a far more important See also:place in the vegetation of the See also:earth. They occur in the Lower See also:Chalk formations, and in See also:Tertiary times were widely diffused ; the genus is represented in the See also:Eocene See also:flora of Great Britain, and in the succeeding See also:Miocene See also:period was widely distributed in See also:Europe and western See also:Asia. It is presumed that in the Glacial See also:epoch the genus was exterminated except in the areas in western North America where it still persists.

End of Article: SEQUOIA

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