FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 2tf3 



to 18 feet high and from G to 10 inches in diameter ; rarely single trees are 25 or 

 30 feet high. The thin, scaly bark is pale reddish-brown, and indistinctly and 

 irregularly seamed. Mature twigs of the season are densely coated with whit- 

 ish woolly hairs, a thinner covering of which remains during another year, 

 showing the clear red-brown bark beneath. Mature leaves (fig. 98), 3 to 6 

 inches long, clear, rather shiny, yellowish green and usually smooth on their 

 top sides, except along the midveins, which are hairy ; sometimes entirely cov- 

 ered with a hairy coat, which is always present on young leaves. The under sur- 

 face of the leaves has whitish, dense wool or minute, close hairs, particularly on 

 the large midveins and their branches. 



Wood: A large proportion of the stem is heartwood, which is pale reddish- 

 brown. Not used commercially. 



Longevity. — Not fully determined. Stems from 4 to 7 inches in diameter are 

 from 18 to 35 years old. 



RANGE. 



Vancouver Island to southern Oregon — coast region. 



OCCURRENCE. 



Commonly near tide-water streams, sloughs, ponds, and salt marshes, but also about 

 other wet places, in sandy, gravelly, or mucky soil ; sometimes in dryish situations. Scat- 

 tered singly and in groups. 



Climatic Conditions. — Similar to those of Sitka spruce. 



Tolerance. — Undetermined, but appears little tolerant of shade. 



Reproduction. — Abundant seeder. Young plants are frequent, especially in sand and 

 muck. 



Silky Willow. 



Salix sitchensis Sanson in Bougard. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERINTK S. 



Silky willow ordinarily has slender shrubby stems from 8 to 12 feet high. 

 As a tree (rarely over 20 or 25 feet in height), it is greatly branched, with a 

 crooked or variously bowed or leaning trunk from 8 to 10 inches in diameter. 

 The thin, scaly bark is faintly reddish-brown. Mature twigs of the y^ar are 

 deep reddish-yellow to reddish-brown, minutely hairy ; a season later they 

 become nearly or quite smooth, but occasionally with a whitish coating. The 

 leaves (figs. 99, 100), from 3 to 5 inches long, are clearly distinguished by their 

 dense covering of shiny, white, silky hairs on their under surfaces, while on 

 their top sides they are very deep grass-green, smooth, and shiny. The mid- 

 veins, as well as the thick leaf-stems, are hairy. 



Wood: The heartwood. pale cherry red, forms only a small proportion of the 

 stem. Not used commercially. 



Longevity. — Not fully determined. Trees from 5 to 9 inches in diameter are 

 from 10 to 30 years old. 



RANGE. 



Alaska (Cook Inlet and Kodiak Island) to southern California (Santa Barbara — coast 

 region — and up to higher timber belt in mountains) and east to Blue Mountains, Oregon. 



OCCURRENCE. 



Borders of streams, meadows, and moist depressions ; often in rich, mucky soil. 



It to be cited as Barratt's species, since no author would deliberately name a species In 

 honor of himself, necessitating the citation of a patronymic from his name, and his name 

 also as its author, side by side. 



