FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 283 



Climatic Conditions. — Similar to those in range of western yellow pine. 



Tolerance. — Slender, clean stems indicate decided intolerance of shade ; small crowns 

 always in full light. SeedMngs endure slight shade. Seeding habits undetermined. 



Reproduction. — A prolific, but apparently an irregular seeder. Reproduced exten- 

 sively from root sprouts. 



Garry Oak. 



Quercus garryana Hooker. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



Next to valley oak, Garry oak, known most commonly as " white oak," is the 

 largest oak in the Pacific coast region. Occasionally from 75 to 90 feet high, but 

 usually from 50 to GO feet high and from 18 to 30 inches in diameter, with a 

 short, clear trunk and a broad, round-topped crown; the large limbs tend up- 

 ward ; the lower ones, however, stand out straight and the sprays droop some- 

 what. On high mountain slopes it is a small, shrubby tree and on exposed situa- 

 tions along the seacoast a very low shrub. The light grayish-brown bark of 

 large trunks has wide ridges and shallow, narrow furrows. Year-old twigs are 

 conspicuously hairy — very much so when young — while the large buds, from 

 three-eighths to one-half inch long, are thickly coated with pale rust-colored hairs. 

 Mature leaves (fig. 125), shed in autumn, are thick and somewhat leathery, 

 very deep, shiny green and smooth on their top sides, and pale green and usu- 

 ally decidedly hairy, but sometimes only very slightly so, beneath; leaf steins 

 hairy. Leaves of some small tree or shrubby forms are thinner than those of 

 large trees, but their twigs and buds are the same. Leaves range from Si to (H 

 inches in length. Acorns (fig. 125), sweet; matured in one season. Wood pale 

 yellowish brown, hard, fine-grained, strong, rather tough, and durable. Similar 

 in quality to that of eastern white oaks. Young open-grown trees supply ex- 

 ceedingly tough, stiff wood, suitable for wagon tongues and other similar pur- 

 poses : larger trees yield wood suitable for the same purposes as those for 

 which standard grades of white oak are employed. Garry oak is the only 

 timber oak of the northwest coast country, and for this reason it deserves the 

 forester's careful attention. 



Longevity. — Little is known of the age limits, but it is undoubtedly a long- 

 lived tree, probably attaining an age of from 250 to 350 years or more. Two 

 trees, respectively T0J and 27 inches through (inside of bark), were 1S3 and 251 

 years old. 



RANGE. 



Valleys and dry, gravelly slopes and table lands from Vancouver Island southward 

 through western Washington and Oregon into coast ranges of northern and central Cali- 

 fornia ; generally at elevations from near sea-level to 3,000 or 4,000 feet. 



British Columbia. — Only on southeastern coast of Vancouver Island, where it is large 

 but rare and local. From Straits of Fuca, at some distance west of Victoria, northward 

 over about one-fourth of east coast to Nanaimo, extending inward about 30 miles : on 

 islands of Gulf of Georgia; an isolated grove on northwest end of Vancouver Island, on 

 Quatsino Sound, and another on Fraser River (mainland) li miles alxjve Yale. Described 

 originally from plains around Vancouver, on mainland, but not seen there since. 



Washington. — Occasional slopes and prairies, in Puget Sound and Columbia River 

 basins, also ascending west slope of Cascades to considerable elevations and extending to 

 east slope in the Columbia and Yakima River valleys ; generally below 3,800 feet. 

 Locally noted as follows: Islands of Puget Sound; Fairhaven i Whatcom County) ; vicin- 

 ity of Seattle; Steilacoom, and Roy (south end of Pugel Sound. Pierce County), and 

 farther south at Winlock (Lewis County); Batsop (Chehalis County); west base of 

 Mount Rainier; near Mount Adams: Columbia River Valley east ward to The Dalles; 

 White Salmon and Bingen (southwest Klickitat County); Tampico (central western 

 Yakima County) ; Klickitat River near Hellroaring Canyon. 



