WESTERN REDCEDAR. CONES ARE ABUNDANT ON SOME TREES.
How To Identify Some Common Plants
Out of more than a thousand kinds of trees, shrubs, ferns, and flowering herbs on the Olympic Peninsula, 28 are described in the following paragraphs. While this is but a small fraction of the total, they represent the most common and noticeable plants that can be identified easily.
The park is a sanctuary for all natural features, and care should be taken not to disturb, injure, or destroy trees, flowers, or other plantlife.
TREES
DOUGLAS-FIR (Pseudotsuga menziesii) gives principal distinction to the Northwest forests. Growing from sea level to 5,000 feet elevation, it is the most abundant and widespread tree on the Olympic Peninsula. Average mature trees in the virgin forests of the lowlands are 180 to 250 feet in height and 4 to 6 feet in diameter. The largest on record—14 feet 5 inches in diameter—is located in the Queets River Valley, about 3½ miles by trail from the end of the road. Next to the sequoias of California the Douglas-fir is the largest tree in the forest of the Western Hemisphere.
Large Douglas-firs in the forest commonly have nearly cylindrical boles, clear of limbs for a hundred feet. Such trees have a reddish-brown bark which is rough with ridges and deep furrows. The cones, whether on the tree or on the ground beneath the tree, provide easy and reliable identification. They are mostly 2½ to 3 inches long with 3-pointed, thin bracts protruding among the scales. The seeds are a favorite food of the Douglas squirrel.
WESTERN REDCEDAR (Thuja plicata) grows in the valley bottoms and other moist places. Although it is mainly a lowland tree, it extends up into the Canadian zone wherever conditions are favorable. Large trees in the forest average 150 to 175 feet in height and 3 to 8 feet in diameter. The largest western redcedar on record is 21 feet 4 inches in diameter. It is located in the Pacific Coast Area near Kalaloch and can be reached by a short spur road near Beach Trail 6.
The trunk of the western redcedar commonly tapers rapidly from a swollen and sometimes fluted base. Its bark is thin, fibrous, and stringy. The foliage hangs in long, lacy sprays. It is the only tree of the lowland forests which has leaves that are tiny, overlapping scales.