A few trees of the red fir ( Abies Dougla&sii ) occur in the Coast Mountains, but are not common ; also an occasional white spruce (Abies taxifolia ), and north of the Columbia small groves of a scrub-pine (P. contorta ) appear on sandy prairies near the sea- beach. It grows only about forty feet high, and has a diameter of two feet.
Of the broad-leaved, deciduous trees which grow near the coast, the white maple (Acer macrophyllum) is the most beautiful and useful. It grows and decays rapidly,—the mature tree attaining to the height of eighty feet, and a diameter of six feet; then decaying from the centre outward, lets its branches die and fall off, w T hile from the root other new trunks spring up and attain a considerable size in four or five years. The wood has a beautiful grain, and is valuable for cabinet manufactures, taking a high polish. The foliage is handsome, being very broad and of a light green. In the spring long racemes of yellow flowers give the tree a beautiful and ornamental appearance, which makes it sought for as a shade-tree.
The Oregon alder (Alnus Oregona ) is another cabinet-wood of considerable value. The tree grows to a height of sixty feet, with a diameter of two or three feet. It has a whitish-gray bark, and foliage much resembling the elm. On short stems, near the ends of the branches, are clusters of very small cones, not more than an inch in length. When grown in open places, with sufficient moisture, it is a graceful and beautiful tree.
Three species of poplar are found near the coast,—the cottonwood (Populus Monilifera ), the quaking asp, Populus Tremuloides, and the balsam-tree (or P. Angustifolia). They are found on the borders of streams and by the side of ponds or springs, but not so abundant near the coast as east of the Coast Mountains.
Along the banks of creeks and rivers grows one kind of willow (Salix Scouleriana ), about thirty feet in height, and not more than a foot in diameter, with broad, oval leaves; of very little value.
The vine-maple (A. Cireinatum ) is more a shrub than a tree, seldom growing more than six to twelve inches thick near the ground, and not more than twelve to twenty, rarely thirty, feet in height. It grows in prostrate thickets, in shaded places, twining back and forth and in every direction. The wo
