760 



The Madronas 



thinner, red-brown, and peels off in thin scales. The twigs are rather stout, round, 

 hairy and bright red, becoming darker and scaly. The leaves are thick and leath- 

 er)', ovate to oblong, 2.5 to 8 cm. long, rounded or pointed at the apex, rounded 

 or narrowed at the base, usually entire on the margin, dark green, smooth and 

 shining above, pale and smooth or slightly hairy and reticulate beneath, the leaf- 

 stalk more or less hairy, 2.5 to 4 cm. long. The flowers appear in March or 

 April, in terminal panicles 5 to 8 cm. across; the pedicels are stout, hairy, about 

 8 mm. long, with a bract at the base. The calyx is shallow, its lobes sharp- 

 pointed; the corolla is white, ovoid, contracted above the middle, about 7 mm. 

 long, the lobes broad and blunt; ovary whitish hairy. The fruit ripens in late 

 summer, is subglobose, glandular, about 8 mm. in diameter, dark red, the flesh 

 thin; stone thick, the 5 cells containing many, slightly hairy seeds. 



Its wood is hard, close-grained, reddish brown; its specific gravity is about 0.75. 

 It is locally used for tool-handles, and by the Mexicans in saddlery. 



ARIZONA MADRONA Arbutus arizonica (A. Gray) Sargent 



Arbutus xalapensis arizonica A. Gray 



MOST beautiful evergreen tree, growing in gravelly soils, at elevations 

 of about 2100 meters, in the mountains of southern Arizona and 

 adjacent Mexico; its maximum height is about 15 meters, with a 

 trunk diameter of 6 dm. 

 The trunk is tall and rather stout, the branches stout and spreading. The 



bark of the trunk is 8 to 12 

 mm. thick, furrowed and 

 scaly, light gray or whitish, 

 that of younger stems thin- 

 ner, smoother and dark red. 

 The twigs are stout,crooked, 

 somewhat hairy, reddish 

 brown, becoming purplish 

 with a bloom, and finally 

 red. The leaves are lanceo- 

 late or oblong, 4 to 8 cm. 

 long, sharp-pointed, wedge- 

 shaped, or seldom rounded 

 at the base, thickened and 



Fig. 695. Arizona Madrona. 



usually entire on the margin, bright green and smooth above, pale and smooth be- 

 neath; the leaf-stalk is slender, somewhat hairy, i to 2.5 cm. long. The flowers 

 appear in May or June in terminal panicles 5 to 6.5 cm. across; pedicels stout, 

 hairy, 6 mm. long, with a bract at the base; calyx-lobes short, white and dry; co- 

 rolla ovoid, abruptly contracted above the middle, about 8 mm. long, its lobes 

 rounded; ovary glabrous, pitted, upon a prominently lo-lobcd disk. The fruit 



