98 EESOUKCESOFCALIFOKNIA. 



The leaves are dark green, lustrous, four inches long, one inch 

 wide, sharp at both ends, with smooth edges. The foliage is 

 dense. The wood is grayish in color, very hard, durable, and 

 difficult to spHt. Both leaves and wood have an aromatic 

 odor, which is stronger in the former ; and becomes still 

 stronger when the leaves are bruised. The odor resembles 

 that of bay-rum. It gives the headache to some sensitive 

 persons. 



§ 73. Madrona. — ^The madrona (Arbutus menziesu) is one 

 of the most striking trees of the Californian forest. It is an 

 evergreen, with an open growth, somewhat like that of a 

 maple, bright-green and lustrous leaves, and a bright-red bark. 

 Its height is sometimes fifty feet ; its diameter in the trunk 

 two feet. The leaves are oval in shape, three inches long, 

 pea-green underneath, and dark and shining above. The bark 

 is smooth, and it peels off at regular seasons ; the new bark is 

 a pea-green, which changes to a bright red. The wood is very 

 hard, and is used to some extent in the arts, especially for ma- 

 king the wooden stirrups commonly used in the state. The 

 tree bears a bright-red berry in clusters, of which the birds 

 are fond. 



§ 74. Mcmzanita. — The manzanita [Arctostaphylos glauca), 

 another prominent feature in the Californian forest, is a dense, 

 clump-like shrub, which grows as high as twelve feet, and 

 nearly as broad as it is high. The trunk divides near the 

 ground into several or many branches, and these terminate in 

 a great multitude of twigs, so that the shrub is a dense mass 

 of branches and branchlets, all of which are very crooked. 

 The wood is dense, hard, and dark-red in color. The bark is 

 red and smooth, occasionally peeling off and exposing a new 

 Ught-grcen bark, which soon turns red. The leaves are regu- 

 kirly oval in form, about an inch and a half long, thick and 

 shining, and pea-green in color ; they set vertically upon their 

 stems. The manzanita bears a pinkish-white blossom in clus- 

 ters, and these are replaced by round red berries about half an 

 inch in diameter; they have a pleasant, acidulous taste, and 



