362 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



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, es- 

 pecially for making the wooden stirrup commonly used in the 

 State. The tree bears a bright-red berry in clusters, of which 

 the birds are fond. 



289. Manzanita. The manzanita, (Arctostaphylos ylaiica) 

 another prominent feature in the California!! 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 

 light-green bark, which soon turns red. The leaves are regu- 

 larly 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, with a pleasant, acidulous taste. The 

 shrub grows in the coast valleys, and in the Sierra Nevada, 

 up near to the limit of perpetual snow. The name means 

 " little apple," manzana being the Spanish for apple. 



290. Oolss. The California!! white oak, (Quercus lolata) 

 or long-acorned oak, is a very large tree, and the characteristic 

 oak of California. It resembles the white oak of the Atlantic 

 slope in the color of its bark and the shape of its leaves ; but 

 its growth is very different. It seldom reaches a greater 

 height than sixty feet, and is often wider than high, sometimes 



