Part 5

DOUGLAS-FIR Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Belssn.) Franco

This valuable timber tree of the western United States reaches its extreme southeastern limit in the mountains of West Texas. It is a small tree locally but in the Pacific Northwest Douglas-fir reaches a height of 250 feet and a diameter of 10 to 12 feet.

The needle-like LEAVES are linear, more or less flattened, about an inch in length, bluish green, and arranged closely in spirals around the stem. They remain on the twigs for many years. The buds are a rich reddish-brown and pointed.

The “FRUIT”, a cone, unlike that of true firs, hangs downward and is easily identified by the protruding bracts, or “straws.” The mature cones are 2 to 4 inches long, and brownish-red.

The WOOD is moderately light, reddish tinted and surrounded by nearly white sapwood. It varies widely in respect to density, quality and width of sapwood. Much high grade plywood is made from this species. Young Douglas-firs are sold as Christmas trees.

BALDCYPRESS Taxodium distichum (L.) Rich.

Baldcypress grows in swamps which are flooded for prolonged periods, and on wet stream banks and bottomlands. It occurs in East Texas west to the Nueces River. The straight trunk has numerous ascending branches, and narrow conical outline. In old age the tree generally has a broad fluted, or buttressed base, a smooth slowly tapering trunk and a broad, open, flat top of a few heavy branches and numerous small branchlets. Virgin-growth timber attains heights up to 130 feet and diameters up to 10 feet.

The BARK is silvery to cinnamon-red, finely divided by numerous longitudinal fissures. The light green LEAVES about ½ to ¾ inch long, are arranged in feather-like fashion along two sides of small branchlets which fall in the autumn with the leaves still attached.

The “FRUIT”, a rounded cone, is about one inch in diameter, with thick irregular scales.

The WOOD is light, soft, easily worked, with a light sap wood and dark-brown heartwood. It is particularly durable in contact with the soil. Cypress is in demand for exterior trim of buildings, greenhouse planking, boat and ship building, shingles, posts, poles, and crossties.

ASHE JUNIPER (Mexican Juniper--Mountain Cedar) Juniperus ashei Buchholz

In Central and West Texas are found no less than nine species of cedars or junipers, including one eastern, one southern, and seven western species. Of these, the most abundant and important is the Mexican juniper. This tree often forms extensive low forests or dense breaks on the limestone hills and slopes of the Edwards Plateau and Grand Prairie.

The trunk is covered with shreddy, brown or reddish-brown BARK. The LEAVES are dark blue-green, small, opposite or arranged in 3’s, scale like, blunt pointed, and fringed with minute teeth. On vigorous young plants the leaves are sharp pointed and longer, up to ½ inch long.

The “FRUIT”, a nearly round, dark blue, berry-like cone is covered with glaucous bloom; has a thin, pleasant-scented, sweet flesh, enclosing 1 or 2 seeds; and ripens in one season.

The WOOD is light, hard, light brown, close-grained but weak. It is extensively used for fence posts and fuel. The tree is sometimes planted as an ornamental.

EASTERN REDCEDAR Juniperus virginiana L.

Redcedar is scattered through East Texas, usually on gravelly ridges and rocky hillsides of the uplands.

There are two kinds of LEAVES, usually both on the same tree. The most common is dark green, minute, and scale-like, clasping the twig in four ranks, so that the twig appears square. The other kind, usually appearing on young growth, or vigorous shoots, is awl-shaped, quite sharp-pointed, spreading, and whitened.

The BARK is thin, reddish-brown, turning ashy-gray on exposed surfaces, and peels off in long shred-like strips. The trunk is usually more or less grooved.

The male and female FLOWERS blooming in February or March, are at the end of minute twigs on separate trees.

The “FRUIT” which matures in one season is pale blue, ¼ inch in diameter, and berry-like, the sweet flesh enclosing one or two seeds.

The HEARTWOOD is distinctly red, and the sapwood white, this color combination making very striking effects when finished as cedar chests, closets, and interior woodwork. The wood is aromatic, soft, strong, and of even texture, very durable in contact with the soil, and in great demand for posts, poles, and rustic work.

Since redcedar spreads the cedar-rust of apples, it is inadvisable to plant this tree in or near orchards, or anywhere in regions devoted to commercial apple production.

BLACK WALNUT Juglans nigra L.

This valuable forest tree occurs on rich bottomlands and moist fertile hillsides as far west as the San Antonio River. It may attain a height of nearly 100 feet with a straight stem, clear of branches for half of its height.

The BARK is thick, dark brown in color, and divided by rather deep fissures into rounded ridges.

The LEAVES are alternate, compound, 1 to 2 feet long, consisting of from 15 to 23 leaflets of a yellowish-green color. The leaflets are about 3 inches long, extremely tapering at the end, and toothed along the margin.

The FRUIT is a nut, borne singly or in pairs, and enclosed in a solid green husk which does not split open, even after the nut is ripe. The nut itself is black with a very hard, thick, finely ridged shell, enclosing a rich, oily, edible kernel.