yO BIRCH FAMILY 



1. MYRICA. Wax Myrtle. 

 1. M. hartwegii Wats. Sweet Bay. A deciduous pubescent 

 shrub with fragrant foliage. Leaves oblanceolate, acute, V/ 2 

 to 3 in. long, narrowed to a short petiole, toothed. Stamen- 

 bearing flowers in catkins scarcely y 2 in. long, each with 3 or 

 4 stamens. Pistil-bearing flowers in shorter catkins which 

 become berry-like and waxy-coated in fruit. — Rare, but found 

 on Big Creek, below the Mariposa Grove, and in the Merced 

 Canon below the Yosemite. 



BETULACEAE. Birch Family. 

 Deciduous trees and shrubs with alternate simple petioled 

 leaves and deciduous stipules. Flowers mostly in catkins 

 appearing before the leaves. 



Fruit nut-like, in a leafy tube 1. Corylus. 



Fruits small, many, in a woody cone 2. Alnus. 



1. CORYLUS. Hazel. 



1. C. rostrata var. californica DC. California Hazel. 

 Leaves thin, roundish, toothed, V/2 to 4 in. across, glandular- 

 hairy. Nut ovoid, hard, y 2 in. long, enclosed in a hairy tube 

 }i to V/ 2 in. long. 



Although more common in the Coast Ranges, the Hazel is 

 by no means rare from the Tuolumne to the lower end of 

 Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove, ascending to 5500 

 ft. on Moss Creek. It is a loose, spreading shrub, 6 to 10 ft. 

 high. 



2. ALNUS. Alder. 



1. A. rhombifdlia Nutt. White Alder. Leaves oblong- 

 ovate, tapering to each end, irregularly glandular-toothed, 

 2 to 4 in. long. Pistillate catkins erect, becoming woody 

 cones, l /2 to Y\ in. long, bearing margined nutlets. 



The Alder, which is a straight tree 30 to 80 ft. high, with 

 smooth, pale bark, grows along all of the larger streams, but 

 does not ascend above 5000 ft. alt. A characteristic grouping of 

 the trees is shown in our illustration facing page 4. 



A. tenuifolia Nutt., the Mountain or Narrow-leaf Alder, 

 may reach our higher mountains from the north. It is a shrub 

 with doubly toothed leaves. 



Betula occidentalis Hook., the Western Birch, grows on 

 the east slope of the Sierra Nevada. It is a tree with smooth, 

 brown bark and roundish, toothed leaves 1 or 2 in. long. 

 Birches are distinguished from alders by the solitary instead 



