PART L] MOUNTAIN VEGETATION IN AMERICA 139 



as are the Pines and Cedars (Libocedrus), one is glad they do not 

 monopolise the wood ; the Evergreen Oaks are so glossy, and form 

 such handsome trees. One with large shining leaves, yellowish 

 beneath, and long acorns in thick cups, covered with a dense 

 and brilliant fringe of fur, was the most beautiful Oak I ever 

 saw ; but most of the Evergreen Oaks of California, whether of 

 the plain or hills, are handsome trees. One day, in a deep 

 valley, darkened by the shade of giant specimens of the Libo- 

 cedrus, I was astonished to see an Arbutus, about 60 feet 

 high, quite a forest tree. This is Menzies' Arbutus, commonly 

 known by the old Mexican name of the " Madrona " ; and a 

 handsome tree it is, with a cinnamon-red stem and branches. 

 Here and there, too, the Californian Laurel (Oreodaphne) forms 

 laurel-like bushes, and tends to give a glossy, evergreen 



Mountain Woods of California. 



character to the vegetation. Shrubs abound, the Manzanita 

 (Arctostaphylos glauca) and the Ceanothuses being usually 

 predominant ; while beneath these and all over the bare ground 

 are the dried stems of the numerous handsome bulbs and 

 brilliant annual flowers, that make the now dry earth a living 

 carpet of stars and bells of brilliant hues in spring. 



On the very summit of the Sierra Nevada the vegetation is not 

 luxuriant ; there, as elsewhere on high mountain chains, is the 



