254 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



autumn; their petioles coated at first with hoary tomentum, usually pubescent or 

 puberulous at maturity, \' to nearly 1' long. Flo"wers: staminate in hairy aments 

 3'-4' long; calyx tinged with red in the bud, deeply divided into broadly ovate cili- 

 ate glabrous light yellow lobes shorter than the 3-C stamens; pistillate sessile or 

 short-stalked, their involucral scales and peduncle hoary-tomentose. Fruit sessile, 

 short-stalked or occasionally spicate; acorn slender, oblong-oval, abruptly narrowed 

 at the base, pointed and pilose at the apex, |'-1^' long, about ^' wide, light chestnut- 

 brown, often striate, the shell lined with a scanty coat of pale tomentum, more 

 or less inclosed in the thin turbinate sometimes tubular cup ^-1' deep, or rarely 

 cup-shaped and shallow, light green and puberulous within, and covered by oblong- 

 lanceolate light brown closely imbricated thin scales, sometimes towards its base 



thickened and rounded on the back, usually pubescent or puberulous, especially 

 above the middle, and frequently ciliate on the margins. 



A tree, usually 70-80 high, with a short trunk 4-6 in diameter, stout spread- 

 ing branches forming a round-topped head, and slender rigid branchlets coated at 

 first with hoary tomentum or covered with loose scattered stellate pubescence, puber- 

 ulous or glabrous and rather light brown daring their first season, gradually grow- 

 ing darker in their second year; usually much smaller and sometimes reduced to 

 an intricately branched shrub, with numerous stems only a few feet tall. Winter- 

 buds ovate or oval, acute, Y~\' ^^^S^ with closely imbricated light chestnut-brown 

 ciliate scales. Bark on young trees and large branches thin, generally smooth and 

 light-colored, becoming on old trunks 2'-3' thick, and divided into broad rounded 

 often connected ridges separating on the surface into small thick closely appressed 

 dark brown scales slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, very hard, strong, close- 

 grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; sometimes 

 used for fuel. 



Distribution. Lower slopes of Mt. Shasta southward through the coast region of 

 California to the Santa Lucia Mountains, and to Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands, 

 and along the slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the Tejon Pass; as a shrub on the 

 desert slopes of the San Bernardino, San Jacinto and Cuyamaca mountains, and on 

 San Pedro Martir in Lower California; nowhere common as a tree, but most abundant 

 and of its largest size in the valleys of the coast region of central California at some 



