FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 121 



spruce and alpine fir. Owing to great tolerance, it has a close branching habit, and 

 the trunks clean poorly. Young growth survives long suppression under heavy shade 

 (with slow progress) and recovers readily when overhead light is admitted. 



REPRODUCTION. — Fairly prolific seeder. Good seed years occur at irregular intervals 

 (two to three years or more), but some seed is produced every year. Seed of only mod- 

 erately high rate of germination, often under 40 per cent, and with only transient 

 vitality. Seed production begins mainly at fairly advanced age; in dense stands pole- 

 wood trees seed when leaders have reached full light. Seed production continues for 

 many years, but is more abundant (luring rapid height growth than at maturity. Char- 

 acter of seed bed apparently of little importance, germination taking place on heavy 

 litter and humus, as well as in mineral soil ; but fairly abundant soil moisture is essen- 

 tial for establishing seedlings. Indifference to kind of seed bed renders It aggressive, for 

 reproduction occurs over denuded lands as well as under its own shade. 



Bristlecone Fir. 



Ibies venusta (Dougl.) Koch. 



DISTINGU1SHI NG C 1 1 ARA( TERISTK'S. 



Bristlecone fir. which is rare and little known, is unique in all of its charac- 

 ters, the most striking of which is, perhaps, its flense Indian-club-shaped crown. 

 which very often extends to the ground, and ends in a long, exceedingly narrow, 

 Sharp point. The sharp spires and deep lustrous green foliage are so distinctive 

 that the tree can be recognized among its associates several miles away. It is 

 ordinarily from •'><> to 100 feet high, or occasionally somewhat taller, and from 20 

 to 30 inches in diameter. The trunk, rarely clear of branches for more than a 

 few feet, tapers rapidly to the slender, erect leader. All of the branches, which 

 grow from the trunk in irregular circles, droop conspicuously, while their ex- 

 tremely long, whip-like side hranchlets hang like tasseled cords among the 

 branches. The hark of young trees is thin, smooth, and a leaden gray. On older 

 trees it is comparatively thin, at most seven-eighths inch thick, and is irregu- 

 larly broken by shallow vertical seams into fiat plates, which are hard and linn. 

 The bark of old trunks is light russet brown on the outside and clear red-brown 

 within. The dense bright foliage is deep yellow-green. The long flat leaves (fig. 

 45), while-lined underneath, with their keen points are very characteristic. By 

 a twist in their stems, leaves of lower branches (which are less densely leaved 

 than upper ones I appear to grow from two opposite sides of the branches, while 

 leaves from the middle and upper crown branches are rather densely arranged, 

 mainly on the tops of the branches. The thinly scattered leaves of leaders (fig. 

 46 ) stand out straight, in strong contrast to the much less spreading habit of 

 the other leaves. Leaves vary in length from about If to 2 inches. Lower 

 branch leaves are usually longer than those from the upper crown branches. 

 The large conspicuously pointed winter leaf buds are bright light chestnut-color, 

 and without resin. The cones (fig. 47), which ripen late in August and break 

 up iii September, are one of the remarkably distinct features of this fir. par- 

 ticularly in the long needle-like points of their scale-bracts, which protrude from 

 among the cone-scales. Cones are from 2% to '.U inches long, and have at ma- 

 turity a faint purplish brown color. Seeds are deep chestnut-brown with shiny, 

 light, purplish tinged, brown wings (fig. 47, c). Seed leaves, 7. Wood of 

 this fir is heavier than that of any other of our firs. It is light yellowish brown. 

 moderately soft, but very firm, and usually coarse-grained. It is least like any 

 of the soft, light fir woods. There is nothing to commend it for commercial uses, 

 for which at present it is barred on account of the exceedingly small number 

 of trees in existence. The tree is, ho\vevei\ of the greatest importance in form- 

 ing much needed protective cover for the scantily wooded slopes and dry canyons 

 which it naturally inhabits. For this reason, and on account of Its extreme 



