Part 3

BALD CYPRESS (Taxodium distichum)

Shape broadly or narrowly pyramidal, to 150 ft. tall. Trunk massive, buttressed and fluted, becoming hollow with age, and accompanied by outlying “knees” or spongy breathing knobs sometimes 10 ft. tall, and long horizontal surface roots. Bark light cinnamon brown, flaky. Branches erect or spreading, the much forked twigs drooping. Needles falling in autumn. Cones 1 in. long, with thickened woody scales. Range: Swamps near the coast, Gulf States n. to Del., and up the Mississippi to s. Ind. The wood, light brown to very dark, is very durable. This mysterious, very slow growing, very long lived tree is one of the most valuable of American lumber trees. Often gloomy and even unsightly where it forms dense swamps, it can be very lovely when its needles bud out in spring and its lofty feathery summits are seen waving across the everglades and savannahs.

CALIFORNIA BIG TREE (Sequoia gigantea)

Shape at first broadly spindle, finally clean trunked, ending in a broad, pointed crown. Trunk buttressed, 250-300 ft. tall, greatly swollen at base; above this point 17-34 ft. thick. Bark thick, fibrous, deeply grooved, dark cinnamon-brown, the outer plates dull lavender-gray. Branches short, slender, curving forward and upward on young trees and clothing stem to base; on old trees lofty, large, crooked, drooping at tip. Leaves blue-green, scale-like and overlapping, or, on young or fertile shoots, shorter, bristling. Cones 1-3 in. long, resembling a little pineapple until the scales ultimately spread open. Range: at 5000-8000 ft., w. slopes of the Sierra Nevada in Calif. The wood is very durable and valuable, a dull red brown. This is the noblest, rarest, and most impressive of all timber trees. The maximum number of annual rings counted by reliable observers is about 2,300.

REDWOOD (Sequoia sempervirens)

Similar to the preceding but even taller (100-350 ft. or perhaps 400 ft.). Differing also in the trunk which is ultimately clean of branches for 100 ft., and the scale-like or needle-like leaves on the main branches which do not overlap but are irregularly scattered. Cones smaller (¾-1 in. long). Range: N. and centr. Coast Ranges of Calif. Though less restricted in range than the Big Trees, Redwoods do not go far from the influence of the sea fogs along the Pacific coast. The wood is crimson brown, soft, but very durable. This, the tallest tree in the world (some even surpassing the Big Tree in height but not in girth) yields more board feet of timber per individual than any other tree. Though less impressive than the Big Trees, and less long lived (maximum about 1,400 years) Redwoods are far more valuable and of majestic beauty.

INCENSE CEDAR (Libocedrus decurrens)

Shape narrowly pyramidal, up to 150 ft. tall. Trunk massive, irregularly lobed or fluted. Bark bright cinnamon red broken into irregular ridges covered with scales. Branches erect above, the lower sweeping down in bold curves. Scales light green, long and narrow, often keeled, in opposite pairs, overlapping around the erect twigs (except at their tips) and giving them a square look, becoming woody before falling. Cones made up of 6 scales, the lowest pair bent back, the uppermost united. Range: Cascade Mts. of Ore., inner Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada of Calif. This is a magnificent, aromatic tree, unique in North America, with valuable wood, durable in contact with the soil, and used for fencing, laths, shingles, interior finish, furniture and water flumes.

ALASKA CYPRESS (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis)

Shape elongated-pyramidal, up to 120 ft. tall. Bark ashen brown with diagonal ridges. Branches horizontal, repeatedly forking to form flat sprays. Scales closely overlapping the twigs, fragrant, minute, or on leading branches larger and spreading, becoming brown and woody in age. Cones resinous, dryly fleshy. Range: s. Alaska to the Cascade mts. of Ore. The wood, very durable, aromatic, close-grained, clear yellow, is used for shipbuilding. One of the finest timber trees in the world, it has been exported in great quantity especially to China. PORT OXFORD CEDAR (Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana) s. Ore. to Humboldt Co., Calif. has distinctly flattened twigs, conspicuous glands on the leaves and deeply furrowed ruddy bark. This mighty tree is sometimes twelve feet thick. The wood is used for flooring, interior finish and shipbuilding.

WHITE CEDAR (Chamaecyparis thyoides)

Shape slenderly conical, 20-90 ft. tall. Bark grayish brown, separating off in shreddy strips, somewhat spirally twisted. Branches short, sparse, slender, horizontal, forking into feathery branchlets. Scales minute, pressed closely to the stem and overlapping, keeled on the back and glandular, spicy-aromatic. Cones gummy, very small, finally opening toward the center into a few thick scales. Range: Swamps from se. Me. to Fla. (but not on the peninsula) and around the coast to Miss. The light ruddy brown, fragrant wood is not strong, but endures moisture eternally; it is used for fence-posts, ties, and shingles. Stumps that have been under water for centuries show no signs of rot. This sad-looking tree forms monotonous low forests in the swamps that would otherwise be useless.

EASTERN ARBOR VITAE (Thuja occidentalis)

Shape a very compact symmetrical pyramid. up to 70 ft. tall. Trunk often forked and lobed, or buttressed, clothed to the base by the branches. Bark ash gray to light brown, separating into flat shreddy strips, spirally twisted. Branches short, horizontal, or the lowest down sweeping. Scales gray green, closely overlapping and thickly investing every twig to form a beautiful flat forked spray of foliage; each scale with a raised glandular spot which gives off a sweet, camphor-like fragrance. Cones small, about ½ in. long. Ranges swamps from s. Lab. to Man. and Minn., and from Pa. s. on the Appalachians, where very rare. The wood, fragrant, soft and brittle but very durable, is used for fence posts, rails, ties, spools and shingles. This is a superb tree, giving to the bogs of the eastern states much of their charm.

WESTERN ARBOR VITAE (Thuja plicata)

Shape narrowly pyramidal, up to 200 ft. tall. Trunk much buttressed. Bark cinnamon red. Branches clothing the stem to the base, short, horizontal, pendulous at tip. Leaves bright and glossy, in the form of long scales closely investing the twigs, each scale marked by a whitish triangular spot, the needles on vigorous leading shoots often not overlapping but remote, bristling, sharp. Cones little over ½ in. long, elliptic-oblong. Range: Alaska to n. Calif. and Mont. The wood differs from the eastern species in being dull red brown, instead of pale yellow. This is a precious timber tree of the Pacific Northwest. The wood is used for interior finish, fences, shingles. Logs last forever and from them Indians made their village totem poles, their plank lodges and dug-out canoes.

WESTERN JUNIPER (Juniperus occidentalis)

Shape round headed, 20-60 ft. tall. Trunk often forked half way up. Bark cinnamon, fissured and shreddy, with glossy scales. Branches beginning low on the trunk, very large, horizontal. Scales short, overlapping all around the twig, grayish, glandular. Berry resinous, large. Range: Mt. slopes and high prairies from e. Wash. and w. Ida. to San Bernardino Mts. of s. Calif. The wood of this picturesque tree is red, soft, light, durable, used for fences and fuel. Fond of wind-swept crags, “it dies standing and wastes insensibly out of existence like granite, the wind exerting as little control over it alive or dead as it does over a glacial boulder.” (John Muir.) CALIFORNIA JUNIPER (Juniperus californica) is closely similar, but has gray bark, bushy stem, paler needles and a red brown berry with sweet pulp. Centr. and s. Calif.

RED OR VIRGINIA CEDAR (Juniperus virginiana)

Shape cypress-like, narrowly pyramidal, 40-100 ft. tall. Trunk becoming 3-4 ft. thick, buttressed at base. Bark ruddy, shredding in long ribbon-like strips. Branches at maturity sharply erect, spreading in youth and age. Scales very short, turning russet in winter in the North, closely overlapping except on vigorous young shoots, when they are erect and needle-like and paler. Berry resinous, sweet. Range: N. S. to Fla., Tex., and Minn. The soft, aromatic, red and yellow wood is used for lead pencils, moth-proof chests and closets, ties, posts, interior finish, and yields cedar oil. ROCKY MT. CEDAR (Juniperus scopulorum) is distinguished by stouter, often drooping, branches and darker wood. Rockies from Albt. to w. Tex., Olympic mts. of Wash, e. Ore. through Nev. to n. Ariz. Monotonously this conical little tree dots the dome-like hills of the desert states.

PALMETTO (Sabal Palmetto)

Trunk at base knob-like, rooty; 30-40 ft. tall, 2 ft. thick, hollow, with a light ruddy rind. Leaves shining, 5-6 ft. long 7-8 ft. broad, on stalks 6-7 ft. long. Flowers small, greenish white, in very long, branched clusters from upper leaf axils. Range: along coast from Wilmington, N. C. to the Appalachicola R., Fla. Especially abundant on the Fla. w. coast, this tree finds use as a food, the cabbage-like terminal bud being eaten as “hearts of palm.” The bristles on the sheaths of young leaves are made into scrubbing brushes and the trunks are employed as wharf piles. On June 28, 1776, Charleston patriots under Moultrie made a fort of palmetto trunks and from it repulsed the British fleet. DESERT PALM (Washingtonia filamentosa) is a very lofty fan-leaved palm of the deserts of southwestern Calif. Often cultivated.

BLACK WILLOW (Salix nigra)

Shape short trunked, broad crowned, up to 90 ft. tall. Trunk often forking near the base. Bark rough, scaly, dark brown on old trunks. Leaves 2-4 in. long, lance-shaped, downy when young, short stalked, appearing with the flowers and turning lemon yellow in autumn. Range: N.B. to e. Dak., throughout the Middle West, and s. to Fla. and Ariz. Also in centr. Calif. SHINING WILLOW (Salix lucida) is a tall shrub or sometimes a small tree, the leaves when young covered with rusty or sordid hairs, but finally smooth, thick, dark-green, and shining on both sides. Michaux’s drawing of it, figured here, shows an unusually short-tipped sort of leaf, and he may perhaps have confused it with the Bay-leaved willow, Salix pentandra, or the Peach-leaved willow, Salix amygdaloides. The Shining Willow ranges from Newf. to Min. and s. to Pa., Ill., and Neb.

QUAKING ASPEN (Popular tremuloides)

Shape round-topped, 20-60 ft. tall. Bark greenish white to yellowish brown on young parts, though with dark blotches below the branches, smooth except on very old trunks which become dark and furrowed. Branches slender, often drooping at the ends. Twigs smooth, shiny, tan. Buds slender, shining, scarcely sticky, red. Leaves blue-green with whitish veins, on long flattened stalks. Range: Newf. to the Yukon, s. to N. J. and the mts. of Pa. and Ky., through the Middle West and along the Rockies to Mex., through the Southwest to centr. and s. Calif. This graceful tree with almost birch-like bark, at times, and restless, talkative foliage, is one of the most widespread in the country. Quite common even in the east, it becomes abundant—the commonest deciduous tree, in many parts of the far west and far north. It probably goes as far north as any tree in the barrens of Canada, and in the western mountains it fills the glens and follows water courses and lakes. “With its slender, pendulous branches and shimmering leaves and pale bark, the aspen enlivens the spruce forests of the north and marks steep mt. slopes with broad bands of color, light green in summer and in autumn glowing like gold against backgrounds of dark cliffs and stunted pines” (Sargent). The aspen, in the West, should not be confused with the various cottonwoods (which see.) The cottonwoods too have dancing, whispering leaves, but the aspens are known by the fact that the terminal bud of each twig is small and scarcely at all gummy, while cottonwoods have big, sticky buds.

LARGE TOOTHED ASPEN (Populus grandidentata)

Shape a rather narrow round topped head, up to 90 ft. tall. Bark smooth, grayish, rough only on old trunks. Twigs stout, reddish brown, gray downy in Spring. Buds big, dusty-looking, only slightly sticky. Leaves on flattened stalks, turning gold in Fall. Range: N. S. to Ont. and Minn., Ill., and Ind., s. in the mts. to N. C. The wood is used for excelsior, pulp, and cheap lumber. SWAMP BLACK POPLAR (Populus heterophyla) is a similar tree but with rough dark bark and darker twigs, larger, heart-shaped leaves with finely scalloped margins, the undersides downy, veiny, and with yellow midrib. Swamps from La. north to Ill. and around the coast to Conn. WILLOW LEAVED POPLAR (Populus angustifolia) has smooth bark and long, narrow leaves, quite unlike any others. This is a favorite street tree in western cities; native from Assin. to Nev., Ariz. and N. Mex.