THE FORESTS OF THE YOSEMITE PARK 117 



in diameter, with cinnamon-colored bark and 

 warm yellow-green foliage, and in general ap- 

 pearance like an arbor vitae. It is distributed 

 through the main forest from an elevation of 

 three to six thousand feet, and in sheltered por- 

 tions of canons on the warm sides to seven thou- 

 sand five hundred. In midwinter, when most 

 trees are asleep, it puts forth its flowers. The 

 pistillate are pale green and inconspicuous ; but 

 the staminate are yellow, about one fourth of an 

 inch long, and are produced in myriads, tingeing 

 all the branches with gold, and making the tree 

 as it stands in the snow look like a gigantic 

 goldenrod. Though scattered rather sparsely 

 amongst its companions in the open woods, it is 

 seldom out of sight, and its bright brown shafts 

 and warm masses of plumy foliage make a strik- 

 ing feature of the landscape. While young and 

 growing fast in an open situation no other tree 

 of its size in the park forms so exactly tapered a 

 pyramid. The branches, outspread in flat 

 plumes and beautifully fronded, sweep grace- 

 fully downward and outward, except those near 

 the top, which aspire ; the lowest droop to the 

 ground, overlapping one another, shedding off 

 rain and snow, and making fine tents for storm- 

 bound mountaineers and birds. In old age it 

 becomes irregular and picturesque, mostly from 

 accidents : running fires, heavy wet snow break- 

 ing the branches, lightning shattering the top, 



