202 



FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



ers, which is commonly at a height of from 8 to 12 feet. Usually two branches 

 are then formed at the top of the single stem and, in succession, each of these 

 forms two or more, until a broad, low-branched crown results at maturity. When 

 from 3 to 6 feet high the trunks are often set with bristling leaves down to the 



Fig. 79. — Yucca arborescens : a, leaves; b, fruit; c, sections of fruit; d, seed. 



ground (fig. 80, a). No living thing intrudes upon the ground they occupy. 

 The topmost leaves are upright in position, but as the stem increases in height 

 the first leaves grown begin, during about their second year, to droop, finally 

 dying and becoming closely pressed down upon the trunk in a thatch-like cover. 



