subcordate or rounded (rarely tapering) at the base; upper surface dark green, shining, glabrous; lower surface glaucous, almost white in colour, glabrous, with prominent midrib and conspicuous lateral veins; margin entire, occasionally serrate on young plants. Petiole stout, ½ to 1 inch long, glabrous, usually winged on one or both sides for some distance by the decurrent base of the leaf.
Flowers appearing in spring, in erect pubescent panicles, about 5 or 6 inches long and broad. Calyx-lobes scarious, white. Corolla white, urceolate. Ovary glabrous. Fruit ripening in autumn, sub-globose, ½ inch in diameter, bright orangered, glandular on the surface, with a thin flesh and a five-celled thin-walled cartilaginous stone.
Arbutus Menziesii occurs in the Pacific coast region from Southern British Columbia, where it grows on Vancouver Island and the islands at Seymour Narrows, through Washington and Oregon to California, reaching its most southerly point in the Santa Lucia Mountains. In Washington it is not uncommon on the cliffs along Puget Sound, and on high slopes, where it receives plenty of light. It usually grows on rich soil and, according to Sargent, is common and attains its largest size in the redwood forest of Northern California, becoming smaller to the north and south, and only growing as a shrub to the south of the bay of San Francisco. I did not observe it in the dense redwood forest near Crescent City; but found it common inland to the east of the coast range in South-Western Oregon. Here it grew on dry hills at 2000 to 3000 feet altitude, in mixture with Pinus ponderosa, Libocedrus decurrens, and oak, in thinly forested country; and resembled very much in habit, with its short trunk and broad branching crown, the Arbutus of Killarney. Ina ravine near Kerby I measured a tree, 99 feet high by 5 feet 1 inch in girth, with a straight stem, clear of branches to 4o feet; but this grew in exceptionally good soil, and was crowded by other trees—Lawson Cypress, Sugar Pine, Quercus densiflora, Acer macrophyllum, etc. (A.H.)
The largest tree of this species known, which has been figured by Sargent,[1] is growing in the grounds of the reservoir at San Rafael in Marin county, California. It measures 100 feet in height and 23 feet in girth at 3 feet from the ground.
Arbutus Menziesii was introduced by Douglas in 1827; but is rather a rare tree in cultivation in England. It appears to be less hardy than the other species now described, and at Kew makes slow growth and often has its leaves and shoots injured by frost. It is found in gardens usually under the name of A. procera, and commonly attains the size of 20 to 30 feet. The largest that I have seen is at Bassetwood, near Southampton, the residence of J.R. Anderson, Esq. This tree is no less than 50 feet high, with a stem clear for about 20 feet, and 3 feet 2 inches in girth, A tree at Tortworth is 35 feet high by 4 feet 4 inches.[2] In Scotland, at Castle Menzies, I measured one in 1907 which was 37 feet by 5 feet 2 inches, and did not seem to have suffered much from the severe frost of the previous winter, though the flower buds were killed. (H.J.E.)
- ↑ Garden and Forest, v. 146, f, 23 (1892). In the same journal, iii. 509, f. 515 (1890), the tree is figured in its native forest.
- ↑ Mr. Clinton Baker informs me that there is a tree at Bayfordbury which was sent to his grandfather about twenty-five years ago from America, as a very small plant, It is now 30 feet high, and bears fruit every year.
