MOUNTAIN TREES 



or proper leaves of the shoot, which look 

 not at all like foliage, but rather like 

 delicate scales. These soon fall away. 

 Another kind of leaf of pines is the sim- 

 ple juvenile leaf of the sapling. Scien- 

 tifically speaking even the scales of the 

 cones are leaves, modified for the spe- 

 cial work of seed production. So then, 

 we may say that a pine tree has four 

 kinds of leaves juvenile, primary, foli- 

 age and sporophyll. 



The beauty of the shafted trunks and 

 pole-like limbs of the sugar pines is fur- 

 ther enhanced by the finely branched, 

 brilliant yellowish-green tufts ofEvernia 

 vulpina or Wolf Lichen, the most beau- 

 tiful and conspicuous representative of 

 our lichen flora. It generally grows on 

 the shaded side of the tree and goes 

 under the common name of moss, 

 though not a plant of that order at all, 

 but a dual organism composed of an alga 

 and fungus growing in symbiotic union. 

 This lichen is widely distributed and 

 was used by the Indians as a basis for a 



54 



