INCENSE CEDAR. 13 
This impression is further strengthened by the appearance of the bark 
on the younger trees, which is flaky rather than shreddy, and by the 
crown, which is characteristically conical and compact in early life. 
The pendulous, blunt-pointed cones, 1 however, are unlike those of any 
other genus, and serve as a ready means of indentification. 
As stated, the tree in early life has a compact, sharply conical 
crown reaching nearly to the ground. The stem is single and erect, 
tapering more or less sharply to a slender, gracefully flexible tip. 
The bark on seedlings is usually smooth and dark green or brown, 
but in the sapling and pole stage it becomes flaky, more or less 
tinged with red, and shows a lighter yellowish underbark where it 
has scaled off. In middle life the tree loses somewhat its conical 
form of crown, although usually retaining it at the top throughout 
the period of height growth, unless damaged or badly suppressed. 
The bark, too, at this stage becomes shreddy and takes on the char- 
acteristic yellowish-brown color peculiar to this species, or in some 
localities a decidedly reddish tinge, which it retains throughout 
its life. At maturity the tree loses most of its symmetry of form, 
becomes buttressed, swell-butted, and flat-topped. At this period, 
too, the crown is usually more or less open and irregular, consist- 
ing of a few large scraggly limbs, often deformed by mistletoe and 
witches' brooms — a condition typical of incense cedar in virgin 
stands. 
SIZE. 
Incense cedar varies greatly in size. At maturity, under ordinary 
conditions, it may be said to average from 75 to 110 feet in height 
and from 30 to 10 inches in diameter breasthigh. Much larger trees, 
however, frequently occur. The largest of which there is any record 
is located near Morgan Springs, Tehama County, Cal., and measures 
96 inches in diameter at breastheight, 120 feet in height, and contains 
approximately 9,700 board feet. Trees 150 feet in height occur in 
several localities throughout the Sierras, and in Tuolumne County 
a tree 186 feet high was cut recently. Under less favorable conditions 
for growth, average diameters and heights, particularly heights, are 
appreciably less. Thus, in the coast ranges and in southern California 
cedars from 60 to 80 feet high are the rule, though in the Sierras trees 
from 100 to 125 are not unusual. At high elevations and on poor 
sites generally the trees are smaller and scrubbier. On good sites at 
moderate elevations they make their best growth. Table 10 gives, 
for several localities, the average merchantable length of trees by 
diameters, the average number of logs, the maximum and minimum 
heights, and the average top diameters to which the trees can be cut. 
1 Described fully on p. 17. 
