SUGAR PINE. 3 



occuiTence and poor form on tlie eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. 

 The best commercial forests occur where there is an annual precipita- 

 tion of 40 inches or more, although the species is found between 

 precipitation limits of from 20 to 80 inches. Where the rainfall is 

 below 30 inches, however, the trees are scattered and scrubby in 

 form. The average snowfall in the sugar-pine belt is about 8 feet, 

 with a range of from 3 to 20 feet. 



HABIT AND ROOT SYSTEM. 



Mature sugar pines have a striking individuality which enables one 

 to indentify them at considerable distances. They generally rise 

 above associated species and send out long, straight branches at right 

 angles to the main stem. 



The bole of sugar pine is sturdy, straight, and symmetrical. The 

 taper is quite marked in young trees, but decreases from the fiftieth 

 year until at maturity the trunk is well rounded out and the taper is 

 very shght, except in the stump section. The tops of very old trees 

 are often broken or flat, and the branches are irregular and have the 

 appearance of being sparsely clothed with leaves. Young trees are 

 symmetrical and branch regularly. 



Seedlings have a weU-developed taproot. This does not keep pace 

 with the general development of the tree, however, and in later years 

 the lateral root system is far more important, sometimes spreading 

 over a radius of 40 feet and rendering the tree very resistant to wind. 



BARK, LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND SEED. 



The rich purple-brown or cinnamon-red bark of this tree is a dis- 

 tinguishing characteristic. In trees of above middle age it is deeply 

 and irregularly divided into long, thick, platelike ridges. The bark 

 of young trees is thin, quite smooth, and of a grayish color. 



The fohage is dark green and composed of rigid needles from 2-^- to 

 4 inches in length, occurring in clusters of 5, except on seedlings, 

 which bear clusters of 12 to 15 seed leaves. 



During the spring flowering season the eye is attracted by the con- 

 spicuous light-yellow male flowers, oblong in shape, and from ^- to 1 

 inch in length. The female flowers are of a less attractive pale green 

 color, borne terminally on the branches in groups of two or more. 



The cones of sugar pine are unique and serve to identify the species 

 absolutely, mainly because of their great length, which averages from 

 13 to 18 inches and not uncommonly reaches 23 inches. They mature 

 in late August of the second year, and are then from 2^ to 3^ inches 

 ill diameter when closed, with blunt scales, slightly thickened at the 

 tip. They are suspended on stalks at the very tips of the long 

 branches, and wiicn filled with their ])lump, })lackish-brown seeds, 

 from one-quarter to one-lialf inch in length, their weight imparts a 



