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



Contra Costa County, for example — its 

 rich green marks the course of the 

 stream for long distances, the trees 

 growing from 20 to 50 feet high. 



The leaves are what are called 

 " compound " — that is, they are formed 

 of leaflets in pairs along a central 

 axis or leaf stem, each leaflet looking 

 like a complete leaf. The walnut 

 leaves and the green bark of the small 

 branchlets have a sharp pungent odor. 

 The old bark of the main trunk is 

 very dark and cut into deep ridges, 

 while the newer bark of the main 

 branches is gray. The bark is charac- 

 teristic and aids one to identify the 

 tree, although the little leaf scars in 

 groups on the younger wood also help. 



THE CALIFORNIA SYCAMORE 



Along certain creeks in either coast 

 or Sierra canyons, one finds the Cali- 

 fornia Sycamore (fig. 13) , white- 

 barked and, except when growing in a 

 deep canyon, sprawling lazily over the 

 landscape. The wood is rather brittle 

 and under weight of leaves or in heavy 

 storms, branches break off, leaving 

 the sturdy trunk to send out new 

 sprouts. Then in the spring, on these 

 new shoots and the branches that did 

 not break come the large leaves sug- 

 gestive of grape leaves, only cut 

 slightly deeper. A fungous growth 

 promptly attacks these first leaves, 

 killing almost every one and forcing a 

 second leaf crop. This forms a good 

 shade, not too heavy, the joy of the 

 camper because not as cold as a denser 

 shade and yet not hot like th open. 

 Children, too, love the Sycamores — 

 " dandy climbers," as they call them. 

 The bloom is different from that of 

 any other tree, being an open cluster 

 of three or more balls about three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter. 



THE ASH 



There is just one timber ash in Cali- 

 fornia, commonly known as the Ore- 

 gon Ash, though found from Puget 

 Sound to San Bernardino, in both 

 Coast Range and western Sierra can- 

 yons, along streams, and in the open. 

 The leaves are compound, with five to 

 seven yellow T -green leaflets, fuzzy un- 

 derneath. The two sorts of bloom 

 (male and female) occur on separate 

 trees, only one forming the hanging 

 clusters of winged seeds. 



Like the eastern ashes this tree 

 forms in its rapid-growing new shoots 

 a tough elastic timber, highly valued 



by woodworkers and once much sought j£ 

 for wagon tongues. w 



THE CALIFORNIA LAUREL 



The California Laurel, a sharply- 

 fragrant, broad-leaf evergreen tree, is 

 found along streams in the coast hills 

 from southern Oregon to Los Angeles 

 and in canyons of the west slopes of 

 the Sierras from Shasta to Tulare 

 County. Where conditions are favor- 

 able, as on certain rich bottoms in 

 Sonoma and Mendocino Counties, it 

 makes a tree 60 to 80 feet high and 2 

 to 3 feet in diameter. On a sandy 

 Sierra foothill slope it grows into a 

 many-stemmed shrub 4 to 10 feet high. 





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Fig. 



13.— California Sycamore 

 (Platanus RACEMOSA) 



In either case the leaves are a rich, 

 shining green from 3 to 6 inches long 

 and from one-third to 1% inches wide. 

 Dried, these form a perfectly good sub- 

 stitute for the bay leaves of the 

 French cooks, giving an indescribable 

 flavor to soups, stews, and pot roasts 

 but not to be left in pot or kettle more 

 than five minutes, it is advised. 



The seed is a solitary nut, or a 

 cluster of two or more, with a pale- 

 green skin that eventually turns black 

 and in both stages suggests an olive. 

 But don't follow the suggestion and 



