ERICACEAE 



Pacific Madrone 



Arbutus menziesii Pursh 



HABIT. A medium-sized tree 20-100 feet high and 1-4 feet 

 in diameter (max. 125 by 9 feet); rounded crown. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; presistent; 3-6 inches long; 

 oval to oblong; entire or toothed on vigorous growth; leather; 

 glabrous; dark green and lustrous above, glaucous beneath. 



FLOWERS. Regular; perfect; in terminal panicles; white; 

 urn-shaped; H inch long; appearing with or after the leaves. 



FRUIT. A globose, orange, semifleshy, glandular-coated, 

 drupaceous berry Yi-Vi inch long. Seed: several in each cell, 

 small, brown, angled. 



TWIGS. Slender; green to red-brown; glabrous. Winter 

 buds: terminal Vs inch long, ovoid, scaly, bright brown. 



BARK. Thin; distinctive; red-brown; separating into papery 

 scales exposing the light red inner bark. 



WOOD. Unimportant; heavy; hard; diffuse-porous; red- 

 brown. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Moderately tolerant; varied 

 sites; pure or mixed stands; occasionally planted as an orna- 

 mental. 



GENERAL. Two other species are native to the Southwest: 

 Texas madrone, A. texana Buckl., similar to Pacific madrone 

 except for smaller leaves (1-3 inches long) and pubescent ovary, 

 is a small tree on dry sites in southern Texas and New Mexico; 

 Arizona madrone, A. arizonica (Gray) Sarg,, with gray bark and 

 a glabrous ovary, is native to Arizona and Mexico. 



Elliottia, Elliottia racemosa Muhl., is a rare, interesting tree 

 now known only in Georgia. It is characterized by simple, 

 alternate, oblong, entire, deciduous leaves, 3-4 inches long; 

 perfect flowers with 4 straplike petals; and smal' capsular fruit. 



Tree Lyonia, Lyonia ferruginea Nutt., is a small tree of coastal 

 areas from South Carolina to Florida. It is characterized by 

 simple, alternate, persistent, entire, obovate leaves 1-3 inches 

 long and scaly below; by fascicled flowers Vs inch in diameter 

 with a white, globular corolla; and by an ovoid, many-seeded, 

 capsular fruit K inch long. 



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