104 



The Ground Cypresses 



usually bearing 2 ovules. The cones arc 

 globose, 5 to 7 mm. in diameter, sessile or 

 nearly so, bluish purple and ver}' glaucous 

 when young, turning red-brown; the scales 

 are flattish or somewhat sunken at the top 

 and bear a short conic tip. Seeds i or 2 

 under each fertile scale, ovate, pointed at the 

 apex, obtuse at the base, about 2 mm. long, 

 compressed, their wings as broad as the seed- 

 body or narrower. 



The wood is soft, rather weak, close- 

 grained, hght reddish brown, becoming darker 

 with age; its specific gravity is about 0.33. It 

 is very durable, easily worked, and is much 

 used in cooperage and general carpentn.-, for 

 boats, shingles, posts and railroad ties. This 



durable and valuable wood is dug out of swamps, especially in southern New 



Jersey. 



Fig. 79. White Cedar. 



2. SITKA CYPRESS Chamaec3T)aris nootkatensis (Lambert) Spach 



Cupressus nootkatensis Lambert 



A tall slender tree occurring from Alaska southward through British Co- 

 lumbia and Washington 

 to Oregon. At the north 

 it occurs at sea level, 

 southward it is found at 

 higher elevations up to 

 1200 meters, where it is 

 often reduced to shrub- 

 by forms. Its maximum 

 height is 36 meters, with 

 a trunk diameter of 1.8 

 m. 



The tiTink is tall and 

 straight, its branches 

 spreading, forming a 

 narrowly conic tree. 

 The bark is 1 2 to 18 mm. 

 thick, irregularly fur- 

 rowed into brownish 



Fig. 80. Sitka Cypress. 



gray ridges, their surface separating into thin scales, and exposing a bright brown- 



