Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: Vol. 6, Pt. 3

BOTANY
designated as the "mammoth tree." Of all the redwoods which I saw, there was, probably,
none greater than fifteen feet in diameter and three hundred feet in height, but I was told that
in the vicinity of Humboldt bay individuals existed which were over twenty feet in diameter.
~;iL
Fig. 23.
Fig. 23. Branch of S. senmervirens, with leaves, cone, and male flower; natural size.
Tne value of the redwood to the people of California is, however, not dependent on its size
but on the excellence of its timber and the proximity of forests of it to the ocean. It is spread
over the coast mountains, for the most part to the exclusion of other trees, from the'line of 42~
to the northern line of Mexico, but it is nowhere found at any considerable distance from the
sea.
The form of the tree is considerably like that of the sugar pine and mammoth tree, a straight,
cylindrical trunk rising to a great height, festooned and ornamented,. rather than loaded, with
branches. Young trees, however, do not exhibit so great a disproportion between the trunk
and branches.
The foliage, as is common among its congeners, the junipers, cypress, &c., is dimorphous on
young trees, the leaves being long, linear, spreading, and considerably resembling those of
Taxus and Taxodiumn. In the older trees they are closely appressed.
The cones are elliptical in form, of a length of two inches, and have a general resemblance
to those of the cypresses.
The wood of the redwood is, as its name implies, dark red in color, and is considerably like
that of the red cedar, J. VTrginiana. It splits with great facility, and is frequently converted
into plank and boards without the aid of a saw. It is said to be very durable, and though
somewhat wanting in tenacity is of the greatest value to the inhabitants of California.
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