28 
BOTANY OF THE ROUTE. 
localities when not much shaded. They are thus, like the spruces, much limited by natural 
boundaries to particular districts. 
The same oak (QuERCUS G-arryana) which I have mentioned as found in small numbers east 
of the Cascade range, is more abundant in the valley between it and the Coast range, west of 
which I do not think there is a single oak tree. On the Columbia, Oak Point is its lowest 
locality, and a corresponding point on the Chehalis is near the mouth of Black river, where a 
few stunted oaks occur, covered with long moss, and evidently suffering from the excess of 
moisture in the vicinity of the coast. At the same place, and from the same cause, the 
“black spruce” begins to grow, and the “yellow fir” disappears. 
The wood of this oak, though inferior to some kinds of the Atlantic States, is useful for 
many purposes to which oak wood is applied. It rarely grows more than fifty feet high and 
two in diameter, branching low like an apple tree, so that at a distance groves of it look 
much like orchards, giving to the prairies where it grows a rural and home-like aspect. It is 
rare on the prairies near the Straits of Fuca, but is said to extend further north. It is, 
however, one of the more southern group of plants which I have mentioned as belonging 
to the prairies , and is crowded out by the extension of the spruces over them. In the partial 
shade of these it sometimes grows slender and tall, like the oak of our eastern forests. 
The “white maple,” (Acer macrophyllum,) quite different from any eastern species, is the 
most beautiful of its family in North America. It is frequently eighty feet in height, and 
attains a diameter of six feet, with smooth, white bark and pale green leaves from six to 
twelve inches in breadth. Its long racemes of yellow flowers appear with the young leaves in 
May, giving the tree an elegant appearance. Its wood is superior in beauty of veining to 
either the “curled” or “birdseye” varieties, and is capable of a high polish. Sugar has 
been made from its sap at the Cascades, and may yet become an important product. This 
maple grows from a high elevation on the mountains to the ocean; but I did not see it east of 
the Cascade range, where it seems to be replaced by the third species of the Catalogue, (A. 
glabrum,) a species of the Rocky mountain forests. 
The “vine maple,” (A. circinatum,) so called from its prostrate and tangled growth, forms 
almost impenetrable thickets in damp parts of the forests. It grows only twenty or thirty feet 
high, with a diameter of a foot at most, and is used chiefly for fuel, and boat timbers, for 
which its crooked stems are well adapted. Its rich purple flowers are very ornamental 
in April, and its leaves are the only kind that turn scarlet in autumn, like those of so many 
eastern trees. 
The “Oregon alder” (Alnus Oregona) inhabits a similar extent of country, but is most 
abundant near the sea, where its light green foliage and white bark contrast agreeably 
with the dark hue of the spruce forests. It grows sixty feet high, has very soft white 
wood, excellent for carved work, furniture, Ac. In the dry soil of the valley it is rather 
scarce, but is said to reappear on the western slopes of the Rocky mountains. 
Another smaller alder, (A. viridis,) little more than a shrub, grows in small numbers near 
Steilacooto, and is, perhaps, that mentioned by Nuttall (“A. rubra”) as occurring near Oak 
Point. 
The “Oregon ash” (Fraxinus OregoNa) grows in moist, sandy soil, on river banks, in the 
valley between the Cascade and Coast ranges, but, like the yellow fir, stops at brackish water; 
and although a few are found down to the mouth of the Columbia, none grow along other rivers 
