MOUNTAIN TREES 



Often so great is this difference, caused 

 by environment, that the unwary think 

 they have found two different trees. If 

 you will closely examine the leaves of 

 the fir you will notice that they are 

 striped beneath with two long stripes of 

 white breathing pores, giving the foliage 

 a "glistening sheen of silver" hence 

 the oft-given name SILVER FIR. 



The cones of the firs are never found 

 by looking for them on the ground. Un- 

 like the pine cones they are borne erect 

 near the top of the tree. When ripe each 

 of the paper-like scales falls away sep- 

 arately, leaving the thin, pencil-like 

 axes of the cones standing like candles 

 on a Christmas tree. 



The conspicuous, pendulous, fila- 

 mentose, grayish green "beard moss" 

 found so plentifully on the White Fir, 

 Western Yellow Pine and occasionally 

 on Kellog Oaks in Grass Valley and 

 near Little Bear Lake is Usnea ceratina, 

 an apparently rare lichen. 



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