CALIFORNIA LAUREL OR BAY TREK. 137 



and elsewhere; with much variation the leaves are similar, 

 v. e.j at least always finely pit-net-veined on both sides, blade 

 flat, smooth, and clean throughout, etc.; found throughout 

 the State from near the southern boundary along the whole 

 Coast Range, mainly in the hills and highlands and partly 

 -ascends the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 



CALIFORNIA LAUREL OR BAY TREE. 



(Umbelularia [Oreodaphne] Californiea.) 



* * * * "Girted bards 



Have ever loved the calm and quiet shades; 



For them there was an eloquent voice in all 

 The sylvan pomp of woods." * * * 



— Longfelloio. 



IN the young state the California Bay Tree is of strictly 

 erect habit; in rich, moist soils, with abundant room for 

 display, as seen by mountain springs and margins of liv- 

 ing streams, or larger rivers and favorite rural residences, it 

 becomes a regal tree, sixty to one hundred and fifty feet high, 

 four to six or seven feet or more in diameter; clean trunk 

 twenty to eighty feet. The upwardly spreading top, densely 

 branched in mature age, arches gracefully, and the long, 

 slender, pendant boughs sway stilly as "phantom clouds 

 with moving shadows o'er the meadow." But first, let us 

 •consider well some of the natural characteristics of this tree, 

 that it furnish a better scientific basis for the artistic and the 

 ideal, for even Pegasus' foot we know must touch the earth, 

 high on the mount though it be, ere the immortal Nine 

 sweetly sing by the fountains! On a nearer approach the 

 universal yellowish-lucent, green-bronzy hue of the leaves 

 -and twigs strike you as peculiar, especially if seen in hori- 

 zontal semi-translucent sunlight; altogether under the spell 

 of its ever-vernal drapery, you naturally inquire why it is so 

 still, serene, and congenial to revery, to poetry, and to song! 

 Lo, too, the bosom of the great mother is always bare, here 

 beneath her shade, however adorned she may be round 

 about. No man is denied a welcome to rest on his laurels; 

 no animal ever lacks shelter under her shadow, nor wander- 

 ing bird a home in her boughs; so smooth, soft, and pliant 

 are the deerskin-like leaves, they never rustle harshly, nor 

 startle the listener by sudden commotion, as oak and other 

 similar leaves are liable to do, for their voice is ever "low 

 and still," and, living, dying, or dead, they continually ex- 

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