108 PRACTICAL FOKBSTBY. 



AEBUTTTS TREE. — Madrono. 



A genus of trees or shiirbs containing but five species, prin- 

 cipally belonging to the temperate regions of the Old World, 

 the most familiar of these is the Strawberry-tree (A. Unedo) of 

 ■which there are several varieties. There are also two or three 

 species found in Mexico, and one or two Asiatic species, but 

 the one of the most interest to the arboriculturists is the 

 Madrono, found on the west coast, or 



ArbntDS Menzeiesli. — Menzies' Arbutus. — Its synonyms are A. 

 laurifola, Lindley. A. procera, Douglass. A. Texana, Buckley. 

 Leaves oval or oblong, either entire or serrulate, pale beneath, 

 bright green above. Flowers white, in dense racemes. Fruit a 

 berry, dry, orange colored with a rough surface, not edible. 

 A splendid, large tree, eighty to one hundred feet high, with 

 a stem two to three feet in diameter in Northern California, 

 but smaller southward. Wood white, very hard, but brittle. 

 A tree is mentioned in Geological Survey of California, Botany, 

 Vol. I., found in Marin County, measured twenty-three 

 feet in circumference at the smallest part of the stem below 

 the branches, and some of the branches were three feet in 

 diameter. South of San Francisco Bay it is usually a small, 

 spreading tree or shi-ub. From Paget Sound southward to 

 Arizona, and eastward to Texas, As this tree appears to thrive 

 best in cool climates — at least it grows larger in Northern Cali- 

 fornia than anywhere south — it may prove of value as an orna- 

 mental tree in our Atlantic States. 



ARCTOSTAPHYLOS. — Maiizanita. 



Shrubs or small trees, with alternate leaves of a leathery tex- 

 ture, nearly entire or with fine irregular teeth. Flowers white, 

 or rose-colored in terminal racemes, succeeded by small, plum 

 like fruits, containing five to ten separate or separable long 

 seed-like stones. In propagating these plants, the seed should 

 not be permitted to get thoroughly dry. The fruit may be 

 placed in heaps or in masses, until the pulp becomes softened, 

 then the seed washed out and either sown immediately, or put 

 away in moist earth or sand, until the time arrives for sowing 

 in spring or fall. 



The following seven species are only shrubs : A. Andersonii, 

 six to ten feet high. Fruit reddish, Santa Cruz, Cal. A. tomen- 

 tosa, two to six feet. Fruit red, smooth. Used for making a 

 cooling sub-acid drink. From Puget Sound to Southern Califor- 



