The San Francisco call., 1910-02-13

per belong to this family, the wood be-
Ing hard and durable and OF much value
to the settlers for fence posts and fuel
The lily and the rose family both find
representation among the California
trees, the former being represented by
the Joshua tree and the Mojave yucca,
which are well known to those who
have passed through the desert places
of California, while the rose family ap-
pears in the mountain mahogany. the
Trask mahogany. the plum, the bitter
cherry, the western choke cherry. the
Sierra plum, the islay, hollyliks
shrub, and the Oregon crabapple- The
willow family finds creditable represen-
.ation among the California trees. there
being the yellow willow, the red willow.
the black willow. the arroyo willow,
the nuttall willow. the velvet willow,
all of them unmistakable and well
known trees. while the poplars are ex-
istent in the common cottonwood, the
black cottonwood and the aspen.
Few people not familiar with tree
lore would suppose that the blue and
red elderberry bushes belong to the
honeysuckle family, but such is never
theless the case. while so called
desert willow is not willow at all, be-
ing comprised in the bignona family of
deciduous trees and shrubs The maple
family is we'll known, comprehending
Sierra maple and the boxelder. The
cactus family finds representation only
in one variety, the giant or suwarro
cactus, which has only recently in
vaded the state Of California. coming
across the Colorado river from Arizona.
The palm family also is restricted to a
single representative. the California fan
palm, which is so well known that 1t
need scarcely be dweIt on The pea
family is also a familiar part OF Cali
fornia's landscape, its most widely
known variety being the mesquite. that
valuable desert shrub. which is closely
related to the palo verde, the smoke
tree and the desert fronwOod. the last
of which is much used by Indians in
the making of their arrows. Horticul-
turally the California black walnut is
valuable tree. although it occurs too
sparingly to be valuable as timber Of
commercial Importance. Used as 1t Is
for stock graft for the English wal
nut il contributes no little to the wealth
of California and so assumes impOr-
tance from a utilitarian standpoint
while being an imposing and magnih-
cent shade tree.
OF the other trees that are native to
California the birches are interesting,
comprising as they do in their family
grouping the white alder. the red alder,
the mountain alder and the thin leaf
alder besides the water birch and the
scrub birch. each one OF which is not
ably easy to discern when in flower. for
the catkins which are so we'll known
and so much appreciated in the spring
make each member Of the family dis
tinct from any other tree or shrub.
Representing the ash family are the
Oregon ash. the leather leaf ash, the
Arizona ash and the dwarf ash, none OF
which is of any particular Importance
either commercially or as a feature OF
the woods and mountains, nor do the
sycamores amount to much The Cali
fornia laurel is remarkable. however.
Growing to a height of 100 feet some
times IL disturbs to a certain extent
the preconceived notion OF the unin-
formed as to what laurel is. The most
noteworthy groves OF laurel in Cali
fornia are found on the Eel river near
Camp Grant, where there is for several
miles q growth OF magnificent trees.
On the summit OF the Berkeley hills the
laurel also grows in profusion. although
1t does not attain a size that makes it