"tree island" of MONTEREY CYPRESS 41 



at times peculiar shapes? In answer to these and many other queries there 

 has grown up a large body of folk-legend as odd and as curious as the 

 trees themselves. Some of the folk-stories insist that the Monterey cypress 

 is the same as the Lebanon cedar of the Lebanon Mountains in Syria (a 

 statement innocent of the botanical fact that the Lebanon cedar belongs 

 to the Pine family and that the Monterey cypress is of the Cypress 

 family) ; that the tree came by the hand of pious pilgrims from the Holy 

 Land as a sign to the devout ; that it was brought across the Pacific Ocean 

 from Japan many centuries ago and planted here by Buddhist monks ; and 

 so on in many tones and variations. 



Nevertheless, the tree has a real history, the beginnings of which are 

 slowly being unfolded with the results of research on the geological history 

 of the California coast and the study of ancient plant migrations. During 

 recent geological periods the eastern part of the North American continent 

 has been relatively stable, but during the same time the coast of California 

 has passed through successive periods of very impressive uplift and cor- 

 respondingly great subsidence. For a long time it has been a theory of 

 the writer that during the Pleistocene epoch an extensive forest filled the 

 south Coast Kange country and extended over the area which at that time 

 united the Santa Barbara Islands with the mainland. The changes which 

 have occurred since, in connection with climatic cycles, are thus made to 

 account for the restriction or localization of many of the forest trees com- 

 posing that ancient forest. 



The Monterey pine {Pinus radiata) occurs in a few small stations along 

 the coast set in the midst of other vegetation — small sharply defined areas 

 in which this species is dominant, and which, hence, are ecologically termed 

 "islands." The Bishop pine (Pinus muricata) is also found only along the 

 seacoast and often in narrow "islands," especially southward. The Cata- 

 lina ironwood {Lyonothamnus florihnndus) is now restricted to three of 

 the islands of the Santa Barbara group. The Torrey pine {Pinus torreyana) 

 is another highly localized species, limited to a small area on the San Diego 

 coast and to the south end of Santa Rosa Island. The Santa Lucia fir 

 {Abies venusta) grows only in the Santa Lucia Mountains. The Gowen 

 cypress {Cupressus goveniana) is a dwarf growing in a few tiny areas near 

 Monterey. As our knowledge of past time increases, we are learning that 

 the coastal species of our native trees once had a much greater range. AYell- 

 borers on the coastal plain at Los Angeles have brought up fragments of 

 redwood, thus extending a long distance southward the present time-range 

 of that species. In the asphalt beds at Carpinteria, Chancy and Mason have 

 uncovered cones of the Monterey pine in excellent preservation, a station 

 far south of the present mainland ranges of that species. Long ago the 

 present writer identified Monterey pine cones from the strata at Bodega 

 Head and at Mussel Kock, localities north of the present living stations. 



It is increasingly evident that we are only at the beginning of this unfold- 

 ing history, and we may confidently say that the Monterey cypress is a relic 

 of the Pleistocene, a reminder of a silva which has been subject to a long 

 series of migrations following upon the succession of profound geological 

 changes which finally made the California coast what it is today. Indeed, 



The history of the Monterey 



cypress suggests that it is o tree which may 



be on the verge of extinction 



