44 PINE FAMILY 



by Mr. H. W. Gleason, of the Sierra Club party of 1909. Its 

 home is along the desert ranges, and it had not been pre- 

 viously known on the westerly slope of the Sierra Nevada 

 except from the Kings River southward. 



2. PSEUDOTSUGA. False Hemlock. 

 1. P. taxifdlia Britt. Douglas Fir. Bark on old trees 1 

 to 6 in. thick, soft, dark-brown, alter- 

 nately red and white inside, fissured (thin 

 and smooth on young trees). Leaves 

 spreading, usually on drooping branch- 

 lets, linear, J^ to V/z in. long. Cones 

 maturing the first autumn, pendent, oval, 

 \y A to 3 in. long, 1% to \y A in. thick, the 

 scales thin, rounded, shorter than the 

 2-lobed bracts which bear a spear-like 

 point in the notch of each. (P. mucronata 

 Sudw. Tsuga douglasii Carr.) 



Next to the Sequoias, this is the most 

 massive tree of the Pacific forests, attain- 

 ing its best development in Oregon and 

 Washington, whence the lumber is mar- 

 keted under the name of Oregon Pine. In the Sierra Nevada 

 it is restricted to middle and lower altitudes, ranging east in 

 our district to Hetch Hetchy, head of Nevada Falls, Glacier 

 Point, Bridal Veil Creek, and Chinquapin. Beautiful speci- 

 mens may be seen scattered along the southerly side of 

 Yosemite Valley, especially near Bridal Veil Falls. 



3. TSUGA. Hemlock. 



1. T. mertensiana Sarg. Alpine Hemlock. Bark brown, 

 red inside, nearly smooth or fissured. Leaves standing out 

 all around the branchlet, linear, % to 1 in. long. Cones 

 maturing the first autumn, solitary on ends of branchlets, 

 pendent, nearly cylindric when open but tapering, V/2 to 3 in. 

 long, 1 to 1% in. wide, the scales thin and spreading. 



The Alpine Hemlock, the most graceful and slender of all 

 our trees, becomes 25 to 100 ft. high, bearing branches nearly 

 to the ground. Above, it narrows to a slender top, with 

 drooping branchlets, the slender whip-like leader pendent. 

 It is restricted to high altitudes near timber-line. 



4. ABIES. Fir. 

 Symmetrical trees, the regularly whorled branches forming 

 flat sprays. Leaves linear, ridged and whitened beneath, not 



