8 CHAPARRAL. 
isolated regions in the Sierras Nevada. This species, which is exceed- 
ingly erratic in its forms of fruit and foliage, as well as in size, 
shape, and tolerance, may form a beautiful open woodland in which 
the trees are as high as 25 feet, with spreading crowns and stems a 
foot in diameter. On the other hand, in its maturity it may go to 
form a dense thicket only 8 or 10 feet high, which was originally 
termed * chaparral.” 
But * chaparral” has now become an Americanized term for a dis- 
tinctive type of growth embracing a large number of species, just as 
do the terms “timberland” and “woodland.” It is a general name 
for the mixed forest of stunted trees under discussion in this paper 
even though its dominant species differ on adjacent watersheds, as 
they frequently do. The name, as thus applied, is in common use in 
southern California, and has unquestionably come to stay. It is ree- 
ognized that chaparral creates a distinct land type, occupying an 
intermediate position between timberland and desert. This will be 
clear from the following classification of wild lands, in which the 
first three, and part of the fourth, are tree-bearing areas, the balance 
treeless. 
TIMBERLAND.—An area whose principal trees may furnish saw logs, ties, tele- 
graph poles, etc. In the western United States the stand is mostly pine, fir, 
spruce, cedar, and other conifers, but includes some of the larger broadleafs. 
WoopDLAND.—An area whose principal mature trees may furnish only cord- 
wood, fence rails, and posts. In the western United States the stand is mostly 
small oak, maple, cottonwood, and other broadleafs, but includes some pinion, 
juniper, and other small conifers. 
CHAPARRAL.—An area whose permanent and mature crop is a mixed forest 
of stunted trees, resulting from certain climatic conditions which produce 
sclerophyllous or hard-leafed dwarfs. In the United States it is found in 
southern California. The type corresponds to the scrub, elfin wood, bush forest, 
heath scrub, maqui, shrub steppe, etc., which are peculiar to sclerophyllous 
woodland regions in other countries. 
BRUSHLAND.—ANn area whose crop is low trees or shrubs having no commercial 
value. The occurrence of brush creates a distinct land type, but all land sup- 
porting brush does not belong to the type. When brush occurs under a cover 
of large trees in the form of undergrowth, underbrush, or thicket, the classi- 
fication is either timberland or woodland. Brush may temporarily form an 
exclusive cover, owing to the removal of large trees from an area, but such a 
temporary cover of brush does not remove the land from the type to which 
it previously belonged. When this temporary cover includes some of the species 
which are found in true chaparral, its form may be termed mock chaparral. 
SAGEBRUSH.—Some few areas of this type have a heavy growth and merge 
with the chaparral. Its individuals have the tree form, but they are so small 
and so clearly distinctive in habitat that they are by common consent classed 
with the treeless types. 
GRASSLAND.—Parks, etc. 
BaRREN.—Generally above “ timber line.” 
DESERT,—Arid areas. 
