Let's Know Some Trees 



is dark brown. The needles, in 

 bundles of five, grow in close masses 

 and are from 1% to 3 inches long on 

 the flexible, trailing branches. The 

 green twigs are so limber that they 

 can almost be tied into knots without 

 breaking. These trees may be found 

 on Mono Pass. The cones, fom 4 to 10 



Fig. 3.— White-bark Pine (Pinus 

 albicaulis) 



inches long, take two years to mature — 

 as is the case with most pines — and by 

 early winter of their second year have 

 fallen from the tree. 



The Foxtail Pine, or Balfour Pine, 

 grows at or near timber line, occur- 

 ring in small, isolated groups, mainly 

 in the Sierras. The needles occur in 

 bundles of five and are massed in " fox- 

 tails " near the ends of the branches. 



A very beautiful tree is the Western 

 White Pine, sometimes called " Silver 

 Pine," " Mountain White Pine," or 

 " Little Sugar Pine," which grows 

 above the true Sugar Pine belt. Its 



cinnamon-red bark is only about an 

 inch thick ; its needles, in bundles of 

 five, are shorter than those of the 

 Sugar Pine and its cones are like min- 

 iature Sugar Pine cones. 



The so-called " Tamarack " of the 

 California mountains, properly named 

 Lodgepole Pine, sometimes forms 

 rather large forests, as it once did on 

 the mountain ridges between Lakes 

 Tahoe and Carson, but most often 

 straggles along the edges of mountain 

 meadows. The needles are in twos; 

 the bark is gray or brownish, some- 

 what soft, and full of resin. Woe to 

 the thoughtless boy who cuts his in- 

 itials in that temptingly soft bark. In 

 a short time the incision is dripping 

 pitch, which will get on his hands and 

 clothes, on those of his fellow campers, 

 and of anyone who follows his party 

 for months. The cones are seldom 

 over 2 inches long. The tree is at its 

 best from 6,000 to 8,000 feet above sea 

 level. 



The bushy little alpine pine known as 

 White-Bark Pine (fig. 3) or "Dwarf 

 Pine," which interests all who cross 

 the high Sierra passes, has thin, sil- 

 very bark, leaves in clusters of five, 

 and cones a deep purple when growing 

 on the tree, brown when dry, and from 

 1% to 3 inches long. While the trees 

 are truly dwarfed into shapeless 

 shrubs on the highest elevations where 





i* * > 





*& \r, > 



t. yid 



^ll^ r# 





IhIE^X * - 



' ■ ' vll^j^llSI 



jKp^V;:;- 



.4S5? 



Pe^t" -^-j^z 



t ^pg — ^.*£*5§39W 





' *- *&Siiftfl* tr ^-i 



f<m_ jr5t.*&.& «#£* 



^ ■^^^p9lP^^? K %g 





^^^^^S 



f\ j£ { CuHr"^ ^^ 









~*?j 



Fig. 4.— Torrey Pine (Pinus 

 torreyana) 



they occur, in more sheltered spots of 

 deep, rich soil they have been found 

 50 feet high and almost 2 feet in 

 diameter. 



The Knobcone Pine or " Scrub 

 Pine," is a small tree 20 to 40 feet 

 in height, and seldom as much as 18 

 inches through. In slightly different 



