De I. VNER VEW D Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope

FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 139
be split into quarter or half logs before it can be milled. Felling one of these
monster trees requires several days' labor of two or three expert men, and when
the tree goes down its weight is so enormous that not infrequently it is so completely
demolished that not a foot of saw-timber is available. This is true
mainly of the Sierra sequoia, the wood of which, in very old trees, is somewhat
more brittle than that of the coast sequoia.
The longevity of these trees is still unsettled. Claims are made that the
Sierra species attains an age of from 4,000 to 5,000 years. Many of the largest
trees have been wholly or partly destroyed, making it difficult to obtain convincing
records. It is safe to assert, however, that some of the largest trees
are at least 4,000 years old, while most of the average large trees now standing,
like many that have been cut, are about 2,000 to 2,500 years old. Their height
is from 275 to 350 feet, or in very rare instances calculated to be nearly 400 feet,
with diameters of from 10 to 18 feet, or unusually of from 25 to 27 feet.
Two distinct species are known. One is confined practically to the coast
mountains and the other to the Sierras of California. The coast species extends
a few miles into Oregon.
Bigtree.
Sequoia washingtoniana (Whisl.) Sudworth.
DISTINGUISIJING CHARACTERISTICS.
What the technical name of this sequoia should be is still a matter of disagreement
among authors. Sequoia wellingtonia Seeman (1855) was revived
in 1896 by an eminent American tree botanist and again perpetuated in 1905.
Ten years ago a the writer proposed an older name, S. washingtoniana (Winsl.,
1854), later discussing fully the basis of his decision.b The argument given
then has not since been overthrown, nor does it seem likely to be, if the evidence
brought then is justly weighed. The unsupported assertion has, however, been
made that Dr. C. F. Winslow's Taxodiume washingtonianum, upon which
Sequoia washingtoniana is based, was not technically published. But a careful
examination of Doctor Winslow's statement (loc. cit.) should certainly be convincing,
fortunately, that Seqnoia wellingtonia is not entitled to stand for this
grandest of all American forest trees.
Barring actual specific differences which abundantly distinguish the bigtree
from the redwood, it seems in general appearance to be only a more massive
and grander edition of the latter species. Its huge trunk, greatly buttressed
at the base and very deeply and widely furrowed, bears much the same, but
lighter, cinnamon-red bark. Much larger ridges and deeper furrows mark these
trunks than do those of the redwood. The bark is excessively thick at the
base of old trunks, often from 12 to IS inches or more. It is soft, almost
spongy, and composed of fine fibers, which are constantly breaking away
through various agencies-weather, wind, and, not the least, the incessant
climbing of red squirrels. Except where it has been consumed by fire, the
accumulation of ages of this wearing may be seen about the trunks, where it
has fallen in the form of masses of fine red-brown bark. Outer, unbroken,
filmy scales of the bark are a purplish or leaden gray. Young trees from 10
to 20 inches in diameter, probably through the protection of their limbs, retain
this outer film of bark and are therefore of a much grayer tone, which is the
color also of the smooth, unbroken bark of still younger trees. The bark of the
branches of old trees is the same color and exceedingly thin.
- See nulletin 14, Div. For., U. S. Dept. Agr., 61, 1897.
aSee Bulletin 17, Div. For., U. S. Dept. Agr., 28, 1898.