NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Forests of Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant National Parks

GOLDEN-CUP OAK (QUERCUS CHRYSOLEPIS).

The golden-cup oak (fig. 20) is a large and beautiful tree of the moist flats and canyons at low and moderate elevations. Its leaves are elliptical and often have short spiny teeth on their margins. Their under surface is covered with a very fine fuzz, which is bluish-white in color. Its acorns are large and fat, with a shallow and heavy, woody cup, whose inner surface is covered with a golden yellow fuzz. The wood of this tree is so heavy and tough as to give it the common name of maul oak.

FIG. 20.—Golden cup oak (Quercus chrysolepis).

LIVE OAK (QUERCUS WISLIZENII).

An oak which is common in the chaparral below the timber belt and is sometimes found in the lower margin of the yellow pine type us one of the live oaks (Quercus wislizenii), which has elliptical leaves, smaller than those of the golden-cup and shiny yellow on the underside (fig. 21). Its acorns are slender and pointed with a deep cup composed of loose, flexible scales.

FIG. 21.—Live oak (Quercus wislizenii).

CALIFORNIA BLACK OAK (QUERCUS KELLOGGII).

The black oak (fig. 22) is a large tree having large heaves lobed like those of the black oak of the east. It is the most common oak throughout the yellow pine and lower sugar pine types. It prefers considerable soil moisture, but commonly occupies more or less dry slopes. Its wood is used only for fuel.

FIG. 22.—California black oak (Quercus kelloggii).

ALDER, MAPLE, DOGWOOD.

These are the only remaining species which make trees of sufficient importance for description. The alder has a smooth gray bark, thickly marked with dark spots. Its leaves are soft, and oval in shape, its margins closely toothed. The maple is a smooth barked, opposite leaved tree, the leaves being palmately veined and lobed. The dogwood has finely square-checked bark on old stems although the bark is smooth when younger. Its leaves are opposite like those of the maple, or whorled, with prominent pinnate veins running out to the margins in a graceful curve. In the spring the dogwood bears compact heads of small greenish flowers, surrounded by six spreading white petal-like leaves, which many people mistake for the flower. In fall the leaves of the dogwood turn to brilliant crimson and yellow, giving a flame of color to all the woods of the sugar-pine belt.