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The individual species of the conifer forest that grows on these mountain slopes are adapted to a more sever climate than those of the coast. The winters are more severe and the summers more dry. It is in this forest, from elevations of 1370-2440m (4500-8000 feet) that the big tree, Sequoia gigantea, lives. This and the following two slides of the giant sequoia were taken in the small Merced Grove, in Yosemite National Park. The trees are not quite so huge as some others but the place has the advantage of being more untouched; no one has cut holes in trees through which to drive cars! In size, there is not another organism that even comes close. They are not nearly as tall as their coastal relatives, the trees here being only 70 meters high. It is in their girth that their size is appreciated. A typical tree has a diameter of about 6 meters (19 feet). The first branches do not appear until about 45 meters up the trunk.

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