FORESTS OF THE PACIFIC COAST 



water development as well as of timber resource, 

 our forests have come to hold a peculiar place in 

 the minds of the people of the West. Save for the 

 Redwood Belt, the greater portion of still un- 

 exploited forest, that is, virgin timber of high 

 commercial value, lies within the boundaries of 

 national forests and is being administered with 

 reference to yielding a perpetual annual income. 

 It is not, however, primarily the extent of the 

 forest or size of the individual tree, but the number 

 and variety of the species which makes the Pacific 

 Coast the headquarters for conifers, and gives to 

 the area in the matter of distribution of plants on 

 the earth's surface a general as well as a special in- 

 terest. On account of the sharply defined life zones, 

 some of these forest species have an importance as 

 zone indicators, while the number of local species 

 adds to the geographical distinctness of the region. 

 While the forests of the eastern United States are 

 largely deciduous, those of the Pacific Coast are 

 coniferous. It is significant that these areas have 

 only two species in common, namely, the aspen 

 (Populus tremuloides) and the black willow (Salix 

 nigra). The former grows at high altitudes in the 

 mountains; the latter in the Great Valley of Cali- 

 fornia and southward. Both these species belong 

 to the same family and both are furnished with 

 light hairy seeds, which secure wide dispersal. 



REFERENCES 



ABRAMS, L. R 



1910. A phytogeographic and taxonomic study of the south- 

 ern California trees and shrubs. Bull. N. Y. Botan. 

 Garden, 6, pp. 300-485, pis. 

 DUDLEY, W. R., and others. 



1900. A short account of the big trees of California. U. S. 

 Dept. Agric., Div. Forestry, Bull. 28, 30 pp., 17 pis. 

 JEPSON, W. L. 



1909. Trees of California. (Cunningham, Curtiss & Welch, 



San Francisco), 228 pp., 117 figs., illus., pis. 



1910. Silva of California. (Univ. Press, Berkeley), 480 pp., 



85 pis., illus. 

 JEPSON, W. L., and others. 



1911. California tanbark oak. U. S. Dept. Agric., Div. 



Forestry, Bull. 75, 34 pp., 10 pis. 

 KELLOGG, A. 



1882. Forest trees of California. (J. D. Young, Sacra- 

 mento), 148 pp. 

 SARGENT, C. S. 

 1902. Silva of North America. (Houghton, Miffln & Co., 



N. Y.), vols. 1-14, 740 pis., illus. 

 SUDWORTH, G. B. 



1908. Forest trees of the Pacific Coast. U. S. Dept. Agric , 

 Div. Forestry, 441 pp., maps, illus. 



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