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American Forest Trees 



Madrona is an interesting tree which ranges from British Columbia 

 southward to central California, attaining its greatest development 

 in the redwood forests of northern California, where trees are some- 

 times one hundred feet high and six or seven feet in diameter. It is 

 not only an interesting tree itself, but it has many interesting rela- 

 tives, some of which are trees, others shrubs, and still others only 

 small plants or vines. It may be 

 called a second cousin to the com- 

 mon huckleberry, the mountain laurel, 

 trailing arbutus, the azaleas, the tiny 

 wintergreen, and the great rhododen- 

 dron. It has some poor relations, but 

 many that are highly respectable. It 

 belongs to the heath family, of which 

 there are seventy genera, and more 

 thaji a thousand species ; but less than 

 half of them are in America, the 

 others being scattered widely over 

 the world. 



The madrona, when at its best, is 

 one of the largest members of the 

 family; but it is not always at its 

 best. It sometimes degenerates into 

 a sprawling shrub, where it grows on 

 poor ground and on cold, dry moun- 

 tain tops. It is manifestly not fair 

 to study any tree at its worst, and 

 it is particularly not fair to the ma- 

 drona, which varies so greatly in its 

 appearance. At one place it may be 

 scarcely large enough to shade the 

 lair of a jaekrabbit, and at another 

 it spreads its branches wide enough 

 to shade an army — a small army, 

 however, say, about two thousand 

 men. A tree of that size may be found 

 within a few hours' ride of San 

 Francisco. Its branches cover an 

 area of from eight thousand to ten 

 thousand square feet. 



When madrona grows in the open 

 it throws out wide limbs like a south- 

 ern live oak, though not so large or 

 long. Its crown is rounded and 

 graceful; but when it grows in for- 

 ests, where other trees crowd it, the 

 trunk rises straight up to lift the 

 crown into the sunlight and fresh air. 

 The madrona is seen in all its glory 

 in northwestern California, where it 

 catches some of the warmth and the 

 moist air from the Pacific. It fol- 

 lows the ranges of the Siskiyou moun- 

 tains eastward near the boundary of 

 California and Oregon. It is usually 

 mixed with other forest trees, but sometimes large stands nearly 

 pure are encountered, and there the long trunks, rather gray near 

 the ground, but wine-colored above, rise in imposing beauty and 

 are lost in the evergreen crowns. 



The leaves suggest those of laurel, but are broader. The large 

 clusters of white flowers are among the glories of the vegetable 

 kingdom. George B. Sudworth, dendrologist of the United States 

 Forest Service, who usually describes in strictly prosaic terms, 

 breaks away from that habit long enough to compare madrona 



ONE HUNDRED-TIIIIiD PAPER 

 MADEONA 



(Arbutus Mcuxiesii — Pursh) 



flowers to lilies of the valley, in his "Forest Trees of the Pacific 



Slope. ' ' The flowers appear from March to May, depending on 

 latitude and elevation. 



The brilliant orange-red fruit ripens in the fall, and is often 



borne in great abundance. It renders the crowns of the trees very 



beautiful. The fruit is about half an inch long and contains many 



small angular seeds. The fruit is 



M.VDRONA TREE NEAR THE NORTHERN LIMIT OF ITS 

 RANGE AT SEATTLE, WASH. 



said to contain a substance which 

 puts to sleep wild creatures that feed 

 on it. The claim is probably myth- 

 ical, for birds breakfast extrava- 

 gantly on it in the morning, and 

 apparently do not do any sleeping 

 until after sunset. 



This tree was discovered by and 

 named for Archibold Menzies, a 

 Scotch botanist who traveled in the 

 Northwest more than a hundred 

 years ago. It has several local names, . 

 among them being mandrove, laurel 

 wood, mandrone-tree, laurel, and man- 

 zanita. The last is the proper name 

 of another small tree which is asso- 

 ciated with mandrona and is closely 

 related to it. 



The wood weighs 43.95 pounds per 

 cubic foot. It is a little below east- 

 ern white oak in fuel value, a little 

 above it in strength, and somewhat 

 vinder it in stiffitess. The color is 

 pale reddish brown, resembling apple- 

 wood in tone, but generally not quite 

 so dark. The wood is porous, but 

 the pores are very small. Medullary 

 rays are numerous but thin. On ac- 

 count of the rays being of a little 

 deeper red than the other wood, 

 quarter-sawed stock is handsome and 

 of somewhat peculiar appearance. 

 Tlie figure is much like quarter- 

 sawed beech, but of deeper, more 

 handsome color. The contrast be- 

 tween springwood and summerwood 

 is not strong, though easily seen. 

 Generally, the summerwood consti- 

 tutes about one-fourth of the annual 

 ring. The tree grows slowly, but 

 with much irregularity. The increase 

 in one season may be four or five 

 times as great as in another. The 

 liark exfoliates, and is quite thin. 



Madrona has never been put to 

 much use. DifBculties in seasoning 

 it have stood in the way. The wood 

 warps and checks. Similar difficul- 

 ties with other woods have been overcome, and such troubles should 

 not be unduly discouraging. The beauty of the wood is unques- 

 tioned. It presents a fine appearance when worked into furniture, 

 particularly in small panels and turned work-, like spindles, knobs, 

 and small posts. When made into grills it shows a surprising rich- 

 ness of tone. The wood polishes almost to the smoothness of holly. 

 Small quantities are made into flooring; a little goes to the furni- 

 ture makers; lathes tnrn some of it for novelties and souvenirs; fuel 

 cutters sell it as cordwood; and taukbark peelers cut the trees for 



