2l8 



GYMNOSPERMS 



Pscudotsuga taxifolia is often 190 feet high and 6 feet in diameter, 

 with some trees 200 feet high and 10 feet in diameter (tig. 233). A 

 tree 8 feet in diameter will be about 400 years old. 



Pseudolsuga macrocarpa, al- 

 though of little interest as a 

 lumber tree, has a very large 

 cone and a very characteristic 

 spreading of the branches. In 

 Southern California it is asso- 

 ciated with extremely large 

 specimens of Yucca whipplei 



(fig- 234)- 



Pinus ponder osa, the west- 

 ern yellow pine, reaches a 

 height of 61 meters and an 

 age of 500 years. 



Pinus lambertiana,ihe sugar 

 pine, is still larger, sometimes 

 60 meters tall and 2 meters in 

 diameter. One immense tree 

 near Calaveras Grove, in Cali- 



?'/* tL y^wl fornia, is 66 meters tall and 



T^V^wi'' ^M^ nearly 4 meters in diameter, 



probably 600 years old, and 

 the largest pine in the world 



(fig- 235)- 



Abies magnifica, a magnifi- 

 cent fir, deserves its name. It 

 reaches 66 meters in height 

 and an age of 700 years (fig. 

 236). 



The most remarkable of all 

 the conifers is Sequoia, named 

 from an Indian chief, who 

 invented a phonetic alphabet and taught his tribe to read and 

 write (fig. 237). There are two living species, S. sempervirens, 

 mostly north of San Francisco and near the coast, and S. gigantea, 



Fig. 233. — Pseudolsuga taxifolia: "Top- 

 ping a fir." Tops are cut off about 30 meters 

 from the ground, and cables are attached so 

 that logs can be carried high in the air, thus 

 saving young trees. This is in the forest of 

 the Long- Hell Lumber Company, south of 

 Seattle, Washington. 



