6 Miscellaneous Circular 31, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 



dicating an age of about 1,400 years. 

 The cones of this species are even 

 smaller than those of the Bigtree, be- 

 ing an inch or less in leftgth ; the seed 

 is very similar. 











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v " " >~"' v.~ * -.-* -# 



-M 



{Mb, 





i%--) 



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Fig. 8— Redwood (Sequoia 

 sempervirens) 



OTHER CALIFORNIA CONE-BEARERS 



A small and useful tree of the high 

 ranges, the Western or Sierra Juni- 

 per, of which four different species 

 occur, lives for hundreds of years and 

 yields fragrant, cedarlike wood. Its 

 small, blue-black berries are tech- 

 nically " cones " ; the brown-red bark 

 is soft and fibrous. The junipers are 

 usually small bushy trees growing in 

 high places and desert borders. 



Other conifers occur in California 

 in comparatively limited areas. There 

 is the Monterey Cypress (fig. 9), for 

 instance, with its gnarled and twisted, 

 moss-hung grotesqueries ; the Gowen 

 Cypress, a finer foliaged but smaller 

 tree which grows along the coast, in 

 scattered locations from Mendocino 

 County to San Diego ; the Pygmy 

 Cypress, found only on the coast bar- 

 rens of Mendocino County ; and the 



McNab Cypress, found in Shasta 

 County and the Siskiyous and south to 

 Napa County, in isolated groups. To 

 most of us there is little difference 

 between these cypresses except in size. 

 The round cones in rows or groups 

 along the branchlets mark them as 

 cypresses, as does the foliage, with 

 which we are all familiar in wind- 

 breaks and garden hedges. 



The Port Orford Cedar (Lawson 

 Cypress) is one of the most beautiful 

 evergreen trees to be found in the 

 State. In California it is confined 

 almost entirely to Humboldt County, 

 although it occurs occasionally as far 

 inland as the west base of Mount 

 Shasta. The tiny leaves of its pecu- 

 liarly flat branchlets are soft to the 

 touch as compared with the leaves of 

 the true cypresses. The tree is from 

 125 to 180 feet high, 3% to 6 feet 

 through, and is an excellent timber 

 tree, but occurs in such limited areas 

 and in such small groups that it is 

 not a large factor in the lumber busi- 

 ness of the State. 



Then there are the spruces: The 

 glorious Sitka Spruce in low valleys 



Fig. 9.— Monterey Cypress 

 (cupressus macrocarpa) 



facing the ocean, from the northwest 

 borders of the State as far south as 

 Mendocino, and the Weeping Spruce 

 in about the same regions of moisture- 

 laden air. These are both in a man- 

 ner spilled over from Oregon, where 

 they are at their best. We have the 



