FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 189 



the first of September of the second year, are in sharp contrast with the bluish 

 black, white-coated fruit of western juniper. The loose, exceedingly thin, pa- 

 pery skin of the fruit, though covered with a white bloom like that of the 

 western juniper, is readily distinguished from the tough, thick covering of the 

 "berries" of the latter tree. The berries are smooth except at the top end. 

 where the tips of the female flower scales project slightly. The dry, mealy 

 pulp, sweet and somewhat fibrous, is without resin-cells, which are a promi- 

 nent feature of the other juniper's fruit. Seeds, from 1 to 2, are more or less 

 angular and often irregularly grooved and ridged (fig. 74, a), but lacking the 

 minute pits of western juniper. The minute, scale-like leaves have a glandular 

 pit on their back and are arranged 3 in a group on the roundish stout twigs 

 (fig. 74 I. The leaves of young, thrifty shoots and young seedlings, very keenly 

 pointed and spreading, are distinctly whitened on their top side. The 4, 5, or 

 6 seed-leaves common to this juniper distinguish it from western juniper, 

 which has only 2 seed-leaves. They are bristle-like, sharp-pointed, and rather 

 rigid. The later growth of the seedling and the form and arrangement of its 

 leaves are as described for the western juniper. Wood, hardly to be distin- 

 guished from that of western juniper. Economically, its field of usefulness is 

 practically the same, while as a forest tree it merits special attention for its 

 remarkable ability to thrive on low, desert slopes and plains, where, with little 

 else but yuccas, pifion, and Sabine pines, it helps to form the only tree growth. 

 Longevity. — No records of its age are available. It is believed, however, 

 that it attains an age of about 200 or 250 years. A thorough study of its 

 longevity is required. 



BANQE. 



Central California to northern Lower California. Tuner California eoast ranges south** 

 ward from lower Sacramento River Valley to Tehachapi Mountains; thence up western 

 foothills of Sierras a short distance northward to Kern River Valley, and eastward 

 through southern coast mountains to their desert slopes ; southward to Cuyamaca Moun- 

 tains, and into northern Lower California ; generally at 2,000 to 1,000 feei elevation. 



CALIFORNIA. — North limit in Sacramento Valley unknown, hut reported in Glenn 

 County (Stony Creek National Forest) on east slope of inner Coast Range along foothills 

 up to 4,000 feet ; probably extends into Lake County. Locally noted on St. Johns and 

 Snow mountains and Copper Buttes, at 4,000 feet; Elk Creek foothills (northwest Colusa 

 County i from Sites to Stony Ford, and west of Font Springs (base of Snow Mountain* 

 northward into Glenn County. Much more ahundant south of San Francisco Lay 

 throughout coast ranges from Moraga Tass and Monte Diablo southward. Locally noted 

 as follows: Ban Benito County: On divide between Topa Valley and San Benito, at Her- 

 nandez southward and eastward to New Idria Mine; Fresno County: Mountains of south- 

 western boundary between Coalings and Priest Valley: bills about Priest Valley (Moil 

 terey County). Ban Luis Obispo County: On hills west of Carrizo Plain and along San 

 Juan Creek; Santa Barbara National Forest, in Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, Santa Bar- 

 bara. Matilija. Piru-Sespe, Newhall, and Elizabeth river basins; most abundant on 

 desert (north i slopes, where, with pifion pine, it forms a belt around base and lower 

 ridges of mountains up to 5,000 feet. Occurs similarly in canyons of Tehachapi Moun- 

 tains, as in Tejon Canyon. Northward sparingly in chaparral and oak belts of Sierras to 

 Kern River Valley, where its northern limit is the vicinity of Kernville, or possibly Trout 

 Meadow, just south of Kern Lakes, on Kern River: southward on South Fork of Kern 

 River from point 7 miles south of Monache Meadow down to region of Walker Pass, at 

 elevations between 2,500 and about 5,100 feet. Reported in the Sabine pine belt of 

 western Sierras foothills in Mariposa County, at point about 3 miles north of Coulter- 

 ville at to]> of Merced River Canyon along road from Coulterville to Mariposa, and near 

 mouth of Colton Creek. Locally noted on west slope of Piute Mountain just south of 

 Kern Liver gap, at 3,000 to 4,000 feet ; at Ilavilah on Clear Creek (6 miles south of 

 Palmer Ranch): Caliente Creek to Piute post-office, at 2,000 to 5,000 feet; Walker 

 Basin. More abundant on desert slopes of San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, 

 here, with pifion pine, forming a belt around base of mountains at 3,500 to 4,000 feel 

 elevation, extending down among tree yuccas of Mohave Desert, and southward to Ban 

 Gorgonio Tass (south of San Bernardino Mountains). On north slope of Sierra Liebre 



1.-.1S8— OS 13 



