BROADLEAVED TREES OF YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 



"willow" is usually sufficient and this 

 group is treated in that fashion. 



All willows are deciduous trees or 

 shrubs with simple, alternate leaves. 

 The staminate (male) and pistillate 

 (female) flowers are borne on differ- 

 ent trees in narrow, elongated clust- 

 ers known as catkins. The fruit is a 

 capsule which contains many seeds, 

 each bearing a tuft of hairs at the 

 base, by means of which the seeds 

 are dispersed by the wind. The bark 

 has a bitter, quinine-like flavor. The 

 leaves, which are generally elonga- 

 ted, have a pair of peculiar ear- 

 shaped growths (stipules) at the base 

 of the leaf stems. The buds are dis- 

 tinctive in that they are characterized 

 by a single bud scale. The leaf scars. 



left upon the twigs after the foliage 

 has dropped in the autumn, are U- 

 shaped and narrow with three vas- 

 cular bundle scars upon the surface. 

 The buds, with their single scale, and 

 the leaf scars are particularly good 

 characters for winter identification. 



The twigs of various species of 

 willow were once widely used by 

 the Indians of the Yosemite region in 

 the manufacture of many types of 

 baskets. 



For detailed, specific descriptions 

 of the various species of willows 

 found in this region the reader is 

 referred to the several texts noted in 

 the list of selected references on page 

 40. 



BLACK COTTONWOOD 

 Populus trichocarpa Torr. & Gray — Willow Family (Salicaceae) 



Although not a tree of particular 

 beauty, the black cottonwood is one 

 of the most easily recognized of our 

 broadleaved trees. It is rarely found 

 above 4,500 feet and is common in 

 the Yosemite Valley, Wawona, and 

 Hetch Hetchy areas where it grows 

 along streams or in moist meadows. 

 Numbers of fine specimens can be 

 readily found along the Merced River 

 in Yosemite Valley. Several are 

 growing on the bank of Yosemite 

 Creek which borders the cabin area 

 of Yosemite Lodge. 



Young trees, as well as the bran- 

 ches and upper trunk of mature speci- 

 mens, are characterized by smooth, 

 pale gray bark which assumes a dark 

 gray, heavily ridged and furrowed 

 character on old trunks. In the latter 



case the bark is occasionally as 

 much as two inches thick. The larger 

 trees, which may attain an age of 

 from 60 to 90 years, are 80 to 90 feet 

 tall and from two to three feet in di- 

 ameter. In most instances the trunks 

 are free of branches for a distance 

 of from one-half to two-thirds of their 

 height, with a short, ragged, open 

 crown characterized by heavy, up- 

 right branches. These branches are 

 quite brittle, or "brash," and often 

 snap off during periods of high wind 

 or heavy snow. 



The thick, leathery leaves, finely 

 toothed along the edges, are from two 

 to seven inches long, broad at the 

 base and tapering to an acute point. 

 They are shiny green on the upper 

 side, pale to silvery-white beneath, 



