364 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



The huckleberry-leafed oak (Quercus vaccinifolia) is a shrub, 

 from four to six feet high, which grows on the mountains in 

 the northern part of the State. Its leaves, in size and form, 

 resemble the huckleberry ; the acorn is of the size and shape 

 of a small hazle-nut. 



In the mountains north of Clear Lake a tough deciduous 

 oak is found, with wood fit for staves and wagon timber, but 

 it is so remote from steam transportation that it has no value 

 at present. It is said that the second growth of some of the 

 oaks in the Sacramento bottom is tough enough for plough 

 beams. 



The evergreen oak (Quercus agrifolia) is a low, spreading 

 tree, much like an apple-tree in size and shape. The foliage, 

 however, is darker and denser. The acorns are small, thin, 

 and sharp-pointed. The wood is hard, crooked in grain, and 

 valuable for knees in ship building. 



The Californian chestnut oak (Quercus densiflora) is a low, 

 handsome, evergreen tree, with a leaf like that of the chestnut. 

 The bark is extensively used in tanning. The tree is rare 

 north of latitude 39, and is most abundant in the mountains 

 about Santa Cruz. 



The Western chinquapin, (Gastanea chrysophylla) or golden- 

 leaved chestnut, is an evergreen shrub that grows in the Sierra 

 Nevada. At the height of three feet it bears an edible and 

 palatable fruit, something like the beech-nut in shape, but 

 larger. The flowers and ripe fruit are often found on the same 

 bush. The leaves are dark -green above, and covered with a 

 yellowish powder beneath. The Western chinquapin grows 

 to be a tree thirty feet high in some parts of Oregon. 



291. Sycamore, etc. The Mexican sycamore (Platanus 

 racemosa) exhibits a striking resemblance to the Western 

 sycamore of the Atlantic slope. It has the same straggling, 

 irregular growth; the same smooth, white, scaly bark ; the 

 same large, yellowish leaf: but instead of having only one 

 ball on a stem, like the Atlantic sycamore, it has several, the 



