Sequoia sempervirens Endl.

Horticultural & Botanical History

Introduced into Britain in 1840.  [Hilliers’].  ‘Our plant is obviously what Douglas alludes to in his Journal (Comp. Bot. Mag. vol. II. p. 150.) in the following words:- “But the great beauty of the Californian vegetation is a species of Taxodium, which gives the mountains a most peculiar, I was almost going to say awful, appearance, something which plainly tells that we are not in Europe.  I have never seen the Taxodium Nootkatense of Née, except some specimens in the Lambertian herbarium, and have no work to refer to; but from recollection, I should say that the present species is distinct from it.  I have repeatedly measured specimens of this tree 270 feet long, and 32 feet round at three feet above the ground.   Some few I saw upwards of 300 feet high, but none in which the thickness was greater than those I have instanced.”  [The Botany of Captain Beechy’s Voyage p.392/1841].

History at Camden Park

Listed in the 1850 and 1857 catalogues [C.83/1850].  Obtained from Veitch’s Nursery, brought out from England by Captain P. P. King in 1849.  Believed by Macarthur to be a new introduction to the colony.  It was also obtained from Kew in the same importation although Macarthur may have had some doubts about the identification of the Kew plant as the entry in the confirmatory list sent to King is annotated with a question mark.  [ML A1980-3].  A very large specimen graced the gardens until a few years ago.  Its stump is now home to a large clump of Dendrobium speciosum.  It has recently been re-introduced.

Notes