MADRONA 



(Arbutus Menziesii) 



MADRONA is an interesting tree which ranges from British Colum- 

 bia southward to central California, attaining its greatest develop- 

 ment in the redwood forests of northern California, where trees are 

 sometimes one hundred feet high and six or seven feet in diameter. It is 

 not only an interesting tree itself, but it has many interesting relatives, 

 some of which are trees, others shrubs, and still others only small plants 

 or vines. It may be called a second cousin to the common huckleberry, 

 the mountain laurel, trailing arbutus, the azaleas, the tiny wintergreen, 

 and the great rhododendron. It has some poor relations, but many 

 that are highly respectable. It belongs to the heath family, of which 

 there are seventy genera, and more than a thousand species; but less 

 than half of them are in America, the others being scattered widely over 

 the world. 



The madrona, when at its best, is one of the largest members of the 

 family; but it is not always at its best. It sometimes degenerates into 

 a sprawling shrub, where it grows on poor ground and on cold, dry 

 mountain tops. It is manifestly not fair to study any tree at its worst, 

 and it is particularly not fair to the madrona, which varies so greatly hi 

 its appearance. At one place it may be scarcely large enough to shade 

 the lair of a jackrabbit, and at another it spreads its branches wide 

 enough to shade an army a small army, however, say, about two 

 thousand men. A tree of that size may be found within a few hours' ride 

 of San Francisco. Its branches cover an area of from eight thousand 

 to ten thousand square feet. 



When madrona grows in the open it throws out wide limbs like a 

 southern live oak, though not so large or long. Its crown is rounded 

 and graceful; but when it grows in forests, where other trees crowd it, 

 the trunk rises straight up to lift the crown into the sunlight and fresh 

 air. The madrona is seen in all its glory in northwestern California, 

 where it catches some of the warmth and the moist air from the Pacific. 

 It follows the ranges of the Siskiyou mountains eastward near the 

 boundary of California and Oregon. It is usually mixed with other 

 forest trees, but sometimes large stands nearly pure are encountered, 

 and there the long trunks, rather gray near the ground, but wine- 

 colored above, rise in imposing beauty and are lost in the evergreen 

 crowns. 



The leaves suggest those of laurel, but are broader. The large 

 clusters of white flowers are among the glories of the vegetable kingdom. 



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