The mountains of California . ^>^-=- INCKNSE I\ ITS PltlMK. 172 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOENIA go to the woods in winter. Tlien it is laden withmyriads of four-sided staminate cones about thesize of wheat grains,— winter wheat,— producinga golden tinge, and forming a noble illustration ofNatm-es immortal vigor and virility. The fertilecones are about three fourths of an inch long, borneon the outside of the plumy branchlets, where theyserve to enrich still more the surj)assing beauty ofthis grand winter-blooming goldenrod. WHITE SILVER FIK{Abies concolor) We come now to the most r
The mountains of California . ^>^-=- INCKNSE I\ ITS PltlMK. 172 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOENIA go to the woods in winter. Tlien it is laden withmyriads of four-sided staminate cones about thesize of wheat grains,— winter wheat,— producinga golden tinge, and forming a noble illustration ofNatm-es immortal vigor and virility. The fertilecones are about three fourths of an inch long, borneon the outside of the plumy branchlets, where theyserve to enrich still more the surj)assing beauty ofthis grand winter-blooming goldenrod. WHITE SILVER FIK{Abies concolor) We come now to the most regularly planted of all the main forestbelts, composed almostexclusively of twonoble firs—A. concolorand A. magnifica. It ex-tends with no markedinterruption for 450miles, at an elevationof from 5000 to nearly9000 feet above the its youth A. con-color is a charminglysymmetrical tree withbranches regularlywhorled in level col-lars around its whit-ish-gray axis, whichterminates in a strong,. FOREST OP GKAND SILVER FIRS. TWO SEQUOIAS IN THE FOREGROUND ON THE LEFT. THE FOKESTS 173 hopeful shoot. Tlie leaves are in two horizontalrows, along branchlets that eonimonly are less thaneight years old, forming handsome plumes, pin-nated like the fronds of ferns. The cones are gray-ish-green when ripe, cylindrical, about from threeto four inches long by one and a half to two incheswide, and stand upright on the upper branches. Full-grown trees, favorably situated as to soiland ex[)osure, are al)out 200 feet high, and five orsix feet in diameter near the ground, though largerspecimens are by no means rare. As old age creeps on, the bark 1)ecomes rougherand grayer, the l)ranches lose their exact regularity,many are snow-bent or broken off, and the mainaxis often becomes double or otherwise irregularfrom accidents to the terminal bud or shoot; butthroughout all the vicissitudes of its life on themountains, come what may, the noble grandeur ofthe species is i)atent to every eye. MA
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcaliforniadescriptio
