INCENSE CEDAR. 
17 
until the second season. With the appearance of the true leaves the 
fanlike arrangement of the sprays is first apparent, the seedlings 
usually developing in one plane for several years. 
The branchlets occur alternately, and in one plane, forming an 
open fan-shaped spray, the smaller side branches of which are often 
shed about the second year, as is the case with arborvitse and related 
species. 
The main branches on younger trees are slender and taper gradu- 
ally, the lower limbs slightly drooping but with upturned tips. 
Higher up they are more erect, especially as they approach the top. 
In old age the limbs become thick and angular, tapering rapidly and 
turning up sharply at 
the ends, assuming a 
more or less candela- 
bralike formation. 
This is particularly 
true of trees grown 
on poor sites. 
FLOWERS, FRUIT, AND >&>^ ^\--- b 
SEED. <3- 
Incense cedar has 
male and female flow- 
ers, which are borne 
singly at the tips of 
the twigs of the pre- 
vious season, usually 
on separate trees, but 
occasionally on the 
same tree and even 
the same branch. 
The male or pollen-bearing flowers appear in January as small oblong 
conelike bodies about one-fourth inch long, and are conspicuous for 
their golden-yellow color, which often tinges the whole tree during the 
winter and early spring. The cones or female flowers, at first dark 
green in color, are usually not noticable until somewhat later. In the 
summer and fall, however, they turn a yellowish brown and in good 
seed years are conspicuous by their abundance. Trees standing in 
the open, even though small, are particularly noticable in this respect, 
the entire crown frequently being covered with cones. In the fall 
the cones turn to a russet brown, maturing about September. By 
October they open and the seeds are distributed, the cones remain- 
ing on the trees until the following spring or summer. 
11919°— 18— Bull. 604 3 
Fig. 2. — Cross section of a mature incense cedar 
(taken 42 inches above the ground), a, old Are 
scars ; 5, bark. 
