Naming of the Redwoods

Abstract

A GENERIC segregation of the two redwoods has recently been proposed by Buchholz¹ on grounds to be referred to later. The coast redwood, with obvious priority claim to the name Sequoia, remains Sequoia sempervirens. A new generic name Sequoiadendron has been proposed for the Sierra redwood, long known as Sequoia gigantea. Buchholz¹ rejects the possible use of Wellingtonia as it was earlier used, though afterwards discarded, for one of the Sabiaceæ and is thus a later homonym. In a later paper Looby and Doyle² expressed a general agreement with the advisability of a segregation, though they were not attracted by the choice of the new generic title. Now in many quarters, especially in California, a body of opinion objects to any change in the name of the Sierra redwood, desiring the retention of Sequoia gigantea. In a discussion of this subject in Science, Jones³quotes extensively from this paper by Looby and Doyle as scientific support for the necessity of a segregation and refers to the authors as botanists "who, presumably, may be safely considered free from any motives ulterior to the spirit of scientific enquiry". Having been thus dragged, as it were, on the arbitration board dealing with this vexed question, a further personal statement may be permitted.