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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
The Giant Sequoia of the Sierra Nevada |
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CONTENTS
Discovery
Human interest
Sequoia lumbering operations
Public reservation of sequoia lands
Significance of the giant sequoia
Sequoia varietal forms
Nomenclature
Origin of the name sequoia
Chapter 2: THE TREE AS AN INDIVIDUAL
Description
Seedling stage
Sapling stage
The bark
Maturity
Maximum size at maturity
Fused trees and grafted roots
Old age
Cones and seeds
Nature of the wood
Longevity
Sequoia burls
Other large trees
Chapter 3: DISTRIBUTION OF THE GIANT SEQUOIA AND ITS RELATIVES
Origin
Present distribution
Soil moisture availability
Senescence
Stability of groves
Sequoia elsewhere
Chapter 4: ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
Reproduction
Cone and seed production
Beginning age of cone production
Cone abundance
Seed viability
Seed dispersal and code fall
Seed viability loss after dissemination
Effects of animals on seeds upon the ground
Conditions for germination
Conditions for seedling survival
Seedling density
The sapling stage
Maturity
Old age
Death
Decay
Chapter 6: SEQUOIA COMMUNITY INTERRELATIONSHIPS
Structure of sequoia communities
Plant and animal relationships
Vertebrates
The food chain
The role of the chickaree
Invertebrate relationships
Competition within communities
Plant succession
Human impact
Chapter 7: MAN, FIRE, AND THE FUTURE
APPENDIXES
I Sequoia relatives
II Common and scientific names of plants
III Common and scientific names of animals
IV Common and scientific names of insects and other arthropods
V Common and scientific names of Thallophytes
VI Groves of Sequoiadendron giganteum in California
INDEX (omitted from the online edition)
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
The Giant sequoias of the Sierra Nevada.
"NPS 120."
Supt. of Docs. no.: 129.2:Se6/7
1. Sequoia gigantea. 2. Forest ecology—Sierra Nevada Mountains. I. Hartesveldt, Richard.
QK494.5.T3G5 585'.2 74-26690
To the memory of
Richard J. Hartesveldt, Ph.D.
whose life work was devoted to the study of the Giant Sequoia. Perpetuation of these magnificent trees and their environment will serve as a lasting tribute to his dedication and scientific endeavors.
FIGURES
Frontispiece The General Grant Tree, Kings Canyon National Park.
1 Mother of the Forest, Calaveras Grove, showing scaffolding for the removal of the bark.
2 The felling of the Mark Twain Tree, Big Stump Grove.
3 The Boole Tree, Converse Basin.
4 Weeping sequoia, Roath Park, Cardiff, Wales.
5 The Wawona Tunnel Tree, Mariposa Grove.
6 Sequoyah, a Cherokee Indian for whom the giant sequoia may have been named.
7 A portion of the Lord's prayer printed in Sequoyah's Cherokee syllabary.
8 Two-week old sequoia seedling.
9 The awl-shaped leaves of mature sequoia foliage.
10 Shade-killed young sequoias, Mariposa Grove.
11 Young spire-top sequoia.
12 Sequoia bark pattern, showing parallel ridge form.
13 Sequoia bark pattern, showing spiral form.
14 Sequoia bark pattern, reticulate form.
15 Sequoia bark pattern, showing thin, smooth bark.
16 The Alabama Tree, Mariposa Grove, showing classical round-topped form.
17 The General Sherman Tree, Giant Forest, the world's largest tree.
18 Graphic comparison of the world's four largest trees.
19 Living remnant of severed sequoia trunk section
20 Sequoia with buttressed trunk, Giant Forest.
21 Giant sequoia cones.
22 Lichen-encrusted sequoia cone.
23 Sequoia cone illustrating the 3:5 Fibonacci ratio.
24 Giant sequoia seeds.
25 Basal area regression curve, the basis for estimating the age of living specimens.
26 A sequoia burl, Mariposa Grove.
27 Present distribution of the giant sequoia.
28 The Senate Group, Giant Forest.
29 The lowest naturally seeded giant sequoia known, on gravel bar, South Fork of the Kaweah.
30 Giant sequoias in the palace grounds, La Granja, Spain.
31 Cross section of sequoia cone peduncle showing annual rings.
32 Sequoia cone on 11-month-old potted specimen.
33 Cone-load distribution in mature sequoia.
34 Chickaree, or Douglas squirrel.
35 Adult of the long-horned, wood-boring beetle, Phymatodes nitidus.
36 Numerous seedlings of the giant sequoia are to be found in trough of burned logs.
37 Dense sequoia reproduction in area burned by fire of 1955, Cherry Gap, Sequoia National Forest.
38 Snag-top sequoia, typical of old age.
39 The Black Chamber, Giant Forest.
40 Lightning-topped sequoia, Giant Forest.
41 Remains of the Wawona Tunnel Tree following its collapse in 1969.
42 Hypothetical "rotation" of a chickaree territorial use of sequoia trees for cone harvest.
43 Galleries of carpenter ants in the barks of a giant sequoia tree, Giant Forest.
TABLES
2 Germination for sequoia seeds of various ages.
3 The more common birds within a typical giant sequoia grove.
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Last Updated: 06-Mar-2007