Shape with a broad or narrow pyramidal crown; up to 200 ft. tall. Bark smooth, shiny, dark gray-brown; in age deeply fissured, forming broad ridges. Branches: lower drooping, middle and upper ascending. Needles ¾-1¼ in. long. Cones 2-4 in. long with thin scales from which finally protrude the 3-forked bracts. Range: B. C. to centr. Calif. and n. Mex., along the Rockies from Mont. to w. Tex. and N. Mex. This is an important timber tree, especially in Oregon; it is used for all kinds of construction and for ties. For wharf piles it is preferred in all the Pacific ports: it makes spars and masts of unequalled strength. BIG CONE DOUGLAS FIR (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa) has much larger cones with scales projecting at right angles from the axis. Mts. of s. Calif.
Bald Cypress
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
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.
