44 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



boss, the lowermost recurved and those at the apex incurved ; seeds numerous, 

 brown, about 2 lines in length, irregular by mutual compression. 



(The specific name, Macuabiana, is given in compliment to James MacNab, a 

 distinguished Scotch botanist and horticulturist.) 



A low tree rarely 30 ft. (9 in.) in height with bushy top and trunk 

 rarely more than 15 in. (0.38 m.) in diameter, covered with rather thin, 

 reddish-brown bark, which becomes fissured into flat, longitudinal and 

 obliquely connecting ridges and exfoliates in long strip-like scales. 



Often it is hardly more than a shrub in stature, branching from 

 near the ground. Then again trees are found, small in stature, but 

 having the appearance of age in thin, gnarled and distorted trunks 

 similar to the trees dwarfed by the Japanese. It is a tree of striking 

 appearance owing to its numerous slender branchlets and the peculiar 

 grayish tint imparted to its foliage by the many white glands with 

 which it is supplied. Upon closer observation the foliage is found to 

 possess a peculiarly delicious fragrance, described by Miss Alice East- 

 wood* as " somewhat like sandal- wood but sweeter, not so strong and 

 with a flavor of pineapple." This odor is only observable when the 

 leaves are fresh. 



HABITAT. A rare and very local tree being generally known as 

 occurring only in a few localities in Lake, ]N~apa and Mendocino 

 Counties, California, though originally described from specimens 

 collected " at the southern base of Mt. Shasta," in which locality it has 

 not been found since. It is scattered over dry hill-sides and attains its 

 largest dimensions along the banks of the adjacent streams. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; Wood very light, soft, not strong, of very 

 fine grain, easily worked and yielding a satiny surface. It is of a 

 light-brown color with abundant lighter sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 

 0.5575; Percentage of Ash, 0.63; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.5540; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 34.74. 



USES. The Macnab Cypress has been planted to a very limited 

 extent for ornamental purposes in Europe and for this use it deserves 

 far greater popularity than it now has, both in this country and abroad. 



GENUS THUJA, LINNAEUS, f 



Leaves persistent, small, opposite and of two sorts ; those of young, seedling 

 shoots being awl-shaped and spreading ; the other are decussate, imbricated, 

 adnate and closely appressed, rounded or keeled and sometimes, but not always, 

 glandular on the back, compressed and forming a very flat branchlet. Flowers 

 monoecious, appearing in very early spring, solitary, in very small oblong cat- 

 kins, terminating the branchlets ; staminate catkins oblong, subsessile and of 

 from 4-6 decussately apposite anther-scales, which are peltate and bearing on 

 their inner faces each 2-4 pendulous anther-cells opening downward, pollen 

 grains simple; pistillate flowers of about the same size and terminating stronger 



* Zoe V, p. 13. t Also spelled Thuya. 



