Sequoiadendron

Although long included in Sequoia, S. giganteum differs from it in many respects and was given separate generic rank by Buchholz in 1939. The most important points of difference are the naked winter-buds, the acicular, juniperoid leaves, the cones requiring two years to ripen and remaining alive and green on the tree for some years, their scales with three to nine seeds arranged in two ranks, and the cotyledons of the seedlings usually four in number (two in Sequoia). S. giganteum was in fact originally described by Lindley in the genus Wellingtonia, named in honour of the 1st Duke of Wellington, but unfortunately a few years earlier Meissner thought fit to commemorate the Duke in the same manner, by naming after him an obscure genus allied to Meliosma and since sunk in it.