CHAPTER XX. 133 



FOREST GROWTHS. 



For the purposes of the forester, it is only essential to present at 

 first the most important forest growths, with the expectation that the 

 student will finally know all the forest growths by mountain study. 

 Nor will we now go beyond the reserves themselves in our tree exam- 

 ination. 



The forests of the reserves in California are predominantly ever- 

 green. While there are a few deciduous trees, the black oak, "Quercus 

 Californica," and the hickory oak, "Q. chrysolepis," are about the only 

 ones of general importance. Speaking in a broad way, our reserve 

 forests are evergreens and belong to the order of the Coniferae. That 

 i?, the trees are cone bearers. Our California conifers are divided into 

 three tribes, the Cupressineae, Taxodineae and Abietineae, with char- 

 acters us followst 



Tribe I. Cupressineae: 



Scales of fertile aments, opposite, in pairs, becoming a small dry 

 cone, or a drupe-like berry in juniper; leaves opposite or ternate, often 

 dimorphous, a large tribe of four genera: Juniperus, the junipers; 

 Cupressurs, the cypresses; Thuja, white cedar; Libocedrus, incense 

 cedar. 



Tribe II. Taxodineae: 



One genus only; Sequoia, the big trees. 



TRIBE III. Abietineae. 



A large tribe of five genera: 



No. 1 — Abies, the firs: leaves sessile, leaving circular scars when 

 they fall; cones erect on the upper limbs, their scales deciduous from 

 the axis; seeds with resin vesicles. 



No. 2 — Pseudo-tsuga, Douglas spruce; leaves petioled (stalked), the 

 scars transversely oval; cones pendulous; scales persistent: seeds with- 

 out resin vesicles. 



No. 3 — Tsuga, hemlock; branchlets rough from ihe prominent per- 

 sistent leaf bases; bracts of the cone smaller than the scales; conefe 

 pendulous; seeds with resin vesicles. 



No. 4 — Picea, spruces; tre3s having also character of the last, ex- 

 cept leaves sessile; seeds without resin vesicles. 



No. 5 — Pinus, pines; cones requiring two years to complete their 

 growth (three years in two American and one European species), their 

 bracts becoming corky and thickened, leaves (the conspicuous foliage) 

 ir, fasciles of two, three or five (solitary in one species), and surrounded 

 at base by a sheath of scarious bud-scales; pollen two lobed. 



