California Nutmeg
CALIFORNIA NUTMEG
(Torreya californica)
Shape with a pyramidal head, becoming round topped in age, 15-90 ft. tall. Bark smoothish, thin, dark gray-brown, fissured into narrow ridges. Branches spreading, slightly pendulous. Needles flat, scattered along the twigs, the undersides marked with two whitish lines. Fruit olive-like or plum-like, green becoming purple-streaked, consisting in a fleshy aril in an open pit of which is buried the nutmeg-like seed. Range: n. Coast Ranges and central Sierra Nevada of Calif. Of tree size only near the coast, this curious tree is unlike any other in America except FLORIDA YEW (Torreya floridana) a little tree, rare in nw. Fla. with dark purple flesh on the fruit. PACIFIC YEW (Taxus brevifolia) has short, slender, yellowish-green needles and a scarlet fleshy coat around the seed. Alaska to Mont., and Sierra Nevada.
Limber Pine
LIMBER PINE
(Pinus flexilis)
Shape broadly round topped; 40-50 ft. tall. Trunk massive, short. Bark on young growth light gray, on old breaking into scales, furrowed and finally black. Branches whorled and open. Needles in clusters of five, stout, rigid, short, forming clusters at branch ends. Cones 3-4 in. long; scales thick; seeds not winged. Range Albt. to w. Tex., mts. of the Gt. Basin and up the e. slopes of the Sierras; rare on the Calif. side. WHITE BARKED PINE (Pinus albicaulis) similar, with silvery bark, short needles, small cones, and edible seeds. Goes to the timberline in the Rockies and Pacific Coast Ranges. SILVER PINE (Pinus monticola) resembles the next species but has stouter, rigid leaves without white lines. A splendid timber tree reaching 150 ft. Mont. to Ida., s. in the Sierras to Calif.
White Pine