Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 87.djvu/28

24 the prevailing winds and storms of their moisture, the normal rainfall is seldom over five inches and often less than two.

With such a complex of climatic conditions it would be futile to attempt an account of the numerous plant associations or formations. We shall rather try to present some of the general features of the most important floral districts or belts.

California possesses the richest and most unique coniferous forests in the world. Nowhere is there the wealth of species and genera, nowhere such giant trees or interesting and rare types. Within the state there are thirteen genera and forty-eight species, twice the number found in the territory covered by Britton and Brown's "Illustrated Flora," an area over six times that of California. But it is not so much the variety of kinds that makes these forests famous as it is the grandeur of the individual trees, and the unique character or scarcity of the species.

The Giant Sequoias or Big Trees are world-renowned for their immense size and great age—the oldest and largest living beings. Here, in their Sierran fastness, these giants stand majestic, vigorous and sound to the heart—trees that were centuries old when Christ was on earth. In the words of their first warden, the venerable Galen Clark, their majestic graceful beauty is unequalled. . . . The bright cinnamon color of their immense fluted trunks, in strong contrast to the green foliage and dark hues of the surrounding forest, make them all the more conspicuous and impressive. In their sublime presence a man is filled with a sense of awe and veneration as if treading on hallowed ground.

They are distributed along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada at middle elevations for a distance of about two hundred and fifty miles. Toward the southern end of their range extensive forests are formed and reproduce freely; but north of Kings River the groves are small and isolated, comprising middle-aged or mature trees with few or no seedlings. These isolated groves are thought to represent the original patches which escaped the destructive onslaught of the ice age. The average height of the large specimens is about two hundred and seventy-five feet, although trees three hundred and twenty-five feet have been measured. The diameter of the trunk averages about twenty feet, but a few trees attain thirty, and the General Grant is said to be forty feet at the much-enlarged base.

The Mariposa Grove and the smaller Tuolumne and Merced groves are within the Yosemite National Park. In addition to these, two other parks have been established by the Federal government for the preservation of the giant sequoia, the General Grant National Park, situated in the Kings River forest and the Sequoia National Park, in the Kaweah River forest.