Nevada it forms a considerable portion of the main
forest belt on the western slope, and it is there that it reaches its
greatest size and greatest beauty. The third species (P. subalpina)
forms, together with Abies Pattoniana, the upper edge of the timberline
on the portion of the Cascades opposite the Sound. A thousand feet below
the extreme limit of tree growth it occurs in beautiful groups amid
parklike openings where flowers grow in extravagant profusion.

The pines are nowhere abundant in the State. The largest, the yellow
pine (Pinus ponderosa), occurs here and there on margins of dry gravelly
prairies, and only in such situations have I yet seen it in this State.
The others (P. monticola and P. contorta) are mostly restricted to
the upper slopes of the mountains, and though the former of these two
attains a good size and makes excellent lumber, it is mostly beyond
reach at present and is not abundant. One of the cypresses (Cupressus
Lawsoniana) [27] grows near the coast and is a fine large tree, clothed
like the arbor-vitae in a glorious wealth of flat, feathery branches.
The other is found here and there well up toward the edge of the
timberline. This is the fine Alaska cedar (C. Nootkatensis), the lumber
from which is noted for its durability, fineness of grain, and beautiful
yellow color, and for its fragrance, which resembles that of sandalwood.
The Alaska Indians make their canoe paddles of it and weave matting and
coarse cloth from the fibrous brown bark.

Among the different kinds of hardwood trees are the oak, maple, madrona,
birch, alder, and wild apple, while large cottonwoods are common along
the rivers and shores of the numerous lakes.

The most striking of these to the traveler is the Menzies arbutus, or
madrona, as it is popularly called in California. Its curious red and
yellow bark, large thick glossy leaves, and panicles of waxy-looking
greenish-white urn-shaped flowers render it very conspicuous. On the
boles of the younger trees and on all the branches, the bark is so
smooth and seamless that it does not appear as bark at all, but rather
the naked wood. The whole tree, with the exception of the larger part
of the trunk, looks as though it had been thoroughly peeled. It is found
sparsely scattered along the shores of the Sound and back in the forests
also on open margins, where the soil is not too wet, and extends up the
coast on Vancouver Island beyond Nanaimo. But in no part of the State
do