MACNAB CYPRESS (_Cupressus macnabiana_) is a California tree of
limited range and little commercial value. It grows in Napa, Lake,
Mendocino, and Trinity counties; is often little more than a
branching shrub, but the largest specimens may be thirty feet high
and fifteen inches in diameter. The wood is light, soft, and usually
of slow growth. The medullary rays are numerous but thin, and the
bands of summerwood are distinct. The cones are generally less than
one inch long, and the seeds have narrow wings. The foliage is
grayish which is due to white glands in the leaves. Forest foliage
is fragrant. The tree is known as white cedar, Shasta cypress, and
California mountain cypress.
[Illustration]
REDWOOD
[Illustration: REDWOOD]
REDWOOD
(_Sequoia Sempervirens_)
This tree’s color is responsible for its name. It is sometimes spoken of
as coast redwood to distinguish it from bigtree which grows in the
interior of California. In European markets it is known as California
redwood to distinguish it from other redwoods growing in distant parts
of the world. Its botanical name, _Sequoia sempervirens_, means
evergreen sequoia. The other species of sequoia is also evergreen. In
reality, the coast redwood is less of an evergreen than the bigtree is,
because the leaves of redwood turn brown two years before they fall, but
there are always plenty of green leaves on the branches. The leaves are
from one-quarter to one-half inch in length.
The geographical range of redwood covers about 6,000 square miles, but
the commercial range is scarcely one-fifth as much. The redwood belt
extends 500 miles along the Pacific coast from southern Oregon to
central California. It varies from ten to thirty miles in width. It is
strictly a fog belt tree, and grows poorly outside the region of ocean
fog, which seldom reaches an altitude more than 2,800 feet above sea
level. Where fog is thick and frequent, and soil is moist and otherwise
suitable, redwood forests have grown in such luxuriance that no species
in this country exceeds it. Stands running much over 100,000 feet per
acre are frequent, and it is said 1,000,000 feet have been cut from a
single acre.
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