224 TRKES OF NORTH AMERICA 



aments 2'-2^' lonj; and crowded at the ends of tlie bnuiclies; calyx of the stanii- 

 nate Hower coated on the onter snrface with hoary tonientnni, divided into hroiully 

 ovate ronnded h)bes nmcli shorter than tlie slender stamens; calyx of the pistillate 

 flower oblonj^-canipanulate, free from the ovary, clothed with hoary tomentnm, 

 divided at the apex into short ronnded lobes, rather shorter than the minnte abortive 

 stamens, with red anthers; ovary conical, hirsnte, with elongated slightly spreading 

 thick pale stigmas. Fruit : involucres globose, dehiscent, irregularly 4-valved, sessile, 

 solitary or clustered, tomentose and covered on the outer surface by long stout or 

 slender rigid spines I'-l^' in diameter, containing 1 or occasionally 2 nuts; nuts 

 broadly ovate, acute, obtusely 3-angled, light yellow-brown and lustrous; seeds 

 dark purple-red, sweet and edible. 



A tree, 100-150 high, with a massive trunk 5-10 in diameter, frequently free 

 of branches for 80, stout spreading branches forming a broad compact round- 

 topped or conical head, and rigid branchlets coated when they first appear with 

 bright golden-yellow scurfy scales, dark reddish brown and slightly scurfy during 

 their first winter, and gradually growing darker in their second season; generally 

 much smaller and sometimes, especially at high elevations and southward, reduced 

 to a low shrub, with slender diverging stems. Winter-buds fully grown at mid- 

 summer, usually crowded near the end of the branch, ovate or subglobose, with 

 broadly ovate apiculate thin and papery light brown scales slightly puberulous on 

 the back, ciliate on the scarious often reflexed margins, the terminal bud about ^ 

 long and broad and rather larger than the often stipitate axillary buds. Bark l'-2' 

 thick and deeply divided into rounded ridges 2'-3' broad, broken into thick plate- 

 like scales, dark red-brown on the surface and bright red internally. Wood light, 

 soft, close-grained, not strong, light brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored 

 sapwood of 50-60 layers of anntial growth ; occasionally used in the manufacture of 

 ploughs and other agricultural implements. 



Distribution. Valley of the Columbia River, Oregon, southward along the west- 

 ern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, and in California along the western slopes of 

 the Sierra Nevada and through the coast ranges to the elevated valleys of the San 

 Jacinto Mountains, sometimes ascending to elevations of 4000 above the sea; usu- 

 ally shrubby at high elevations and on the California coast ranges south of the 

 Bay of San Francisco; of its largest size in the humid coast valleys of northern 

 California. 



Occasionally cultivated in the gardens of temperate Europe. 



4. PASANIA, Orst. 



Trees, with astringent properties, stellate pubescence, deeply furrowed scaly bark, 

 hard close-grained brittle wood, stout branchlets, and winter-buds covered by few 

 erect or spreading foliaceous scales. Leaves convolute in the bud, petiolate, persist- 

 ent, entire or dentate, with stout midribs, primary veins running obliquely to the 

 points of the teeth, or on entire leaves forked and united near the margins, and retic- 

 ulate veinlets; stipules oblong-obovate to linear- lanceolate, those of the upper leaves 

 persistent and surrounding the buds during the winter. Flowers in erect unisexual 

 and in bisexual tomentose aments from the axils of leaves of the year, from the inner 

 scales of the terminal bud or from separate buds in the axils of leaves of the previous 

 year; staminate in 3-fiowered clusters in the axils of ovate rounded bracts, the lateral 

 flowers subtended by similar but smaller bracts, each flower composed of a 5-lobed 



