FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 159 



high and IS or 20 inches or more in diameter. Later, the height growth, rarely 

 more than 60 feet, ceases, and if the trees have room the branches develop into 

 long, massive limbs, finally reaching up to the heighl of the leader and spread- 

 ing Out into a very wide, flat-topped or umbrella-shaped crown. The trunks 

 are then short, and the large limbs often near to the ground. The crown of 

 crowded old trees is similar, but much less broad. Exposed to the sea winds, 

 some trunks and their enormously developed limbs sprawl on the ground, and 

 are grotesquely bent and gnarled. The violent swaying of branches in the wind 

 produces, in some trees, most curious enlargements at the bases of the branches 

 (obviously serving as braces) remotely resembling the pahnated divisions in 

 the horns of a moose. Hark of mature trunks is about sex -en-eight lis of an inch 

 thick. Outwardly it is weathered to an ashy white, but breaking it exposes a 

 deep red-brown beneath, the same color as that of the protected bark of limbs 

 and young trees. Old bark is firm, and narrowly seamed, with a network of 

 narrow, vertical ridges and smaller diagonal ones. The bark is too thin to 

 protect the tree from severe tires. The foliage is dark yellow-green. The 

 minute leaves (fig. (»1 ) are closely attached to the hranchlets, their sharp points 

 sometimes standing out slightly from the twigs. Leaves of a season's growth 

 persist about three years, usually dying the second year. They are commonly 

 marked on the back with a minute pit and two shallow grooves. The cones 

 (fig. 61) mature by August of the second season, when they are ashy brown. 

 They open sloxvly. shedding their russet-brown seeds during autumn, after which 

 they may remain on the trees for several or many seasons. From 18 to 20 angled 

 seeds (fig. 61, o) are borne under each perfect cone-scale. They are rather 

 heavy, and usually fall near the parent tree. Seed-leaves, 3; about three- 

 eighths of an inch long, narrow and pointed. Similar seedling leaves, about 4 of 

 which stand out from the slender stem at regular intervals, succeed these. 

 During the second season the spreading leaves are followed by shorter, pointed, 

 less spreading leaves, from one-eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch long. Later 

 hranchlets (second and third seasons) begin to have adult foliage. 



Wood, very fine-grained, rather heavy (very much heavier than any of the 

 other native cypress woods), and clear yellow-brown, with streaks of rose-red 

 and dull yellow, it has a faint, aromatic, "cedar-like" odor. Great dura- 

 bility without protection is a marked feature of this wood. The poor timber 

 form of the tree and its very limited available supply prevent the wood from 

 becoming commercially important. It is most important, however, as one of 

 the rare forest trees capable of forming a cover on the wind-swept coast, even 

 down to the water's edge. In dry situations elsewhere it is most worthy of use 

 for protective planting. Its vigorous, rather rapid height growth in early life 

 makes it exceedingly useful for windbreaks. The full extent to which it can 

 be used in forest planting for cover has not been determined. 



Longevity. — Little is known of the longevity of this tree. It is believed to 

 be long-lived. Trees from 14 to 19 inches in diameter are from 60 to 85 years 

 old. Some of the larger trees are doubtless over 200 years old. 



RANGE. 



Central California coast, for a few miles on peninsula between Monterey Bay and Car- 

 mel Ray from Point Cypress nearly to Carmel River, and on Point Lobos south of Car- 

 mel Ray; mostly in a belt a few hundred feet wide along immediate coast, but also 

 scattered farther inland on ridge of peninsula. Extensively cultivated elsewhere in Cali- 

 fornia for windbreaks. 



OCCURRENCE. 



Rocky sea cliffs, on clay loam soil with dry leaf litter when shaded and with grass 

 and other herbs in openings. Soils always fresh and porous in shade, but baked, cracked, 



