Incense Cedar

I was trying find the next logical tree to discuss, but it found us instead. We took Brian for a visit to Rancho San Antonio, a preserve in the nearby Santa Cruz mountains. It was a rough day, but-- right at the end-- we stopped to look at some conifers next to the parking lot.

These trees had scale-like leaves, rather than needles. That put them in the family Cupressaceae (cypresses, junipers, false cedars, etc.) rather than Pinaceae (pines, firs, spruces, etc.) Most twigs had little yellow tips.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Calocedrus_decurrens_7976.jpg

We had some trouble finding any cones. But a lot of trees in Cupressaceae have cones that are quite different from your typical "pine cone", and I eventually spotted something on the ground that matched a picture in Conifers of California. In this case, the cones had only a few scales, arranged like the petals of a flower.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Calocedrus_decurrens_7947.jpg

Unlike many tree species, Incense Cedar has prospered in recent centuries. The wood was not useful as lumber, so loggers would cut everything else and leave Incense Cedar. In this way, it has taken over vast tracts.

Incense Cedar wood is ideal for pencil-making. My guess is that the pencil business isn't doing so well, so this isn't much of a threat to the species.

There are two cousins of Incense Cedar in east Asia; that is, both are members of the genus Calocedrus, along with Incense Cedar, which is Calocedrus Decurrens. The wood of all three species is aromatic and rot-resistant. A Natural History of Western Trees says that depletion of the other species made Incense Cedar a popular export to east Asia for use in coffins. All authorities agree on this point, but I suspect all authorities are-- like me-- just parroting Donald Peattie.

Like Port Orford Cedar, Incense Cedar is not a "true" cedar. True cedars are native to north Africa, the middle east, and the Himalayan region. But, informally, every tree with wood that stinks good is a cedar.

The Incense Cedars we saw at Rancho San Antonio were arranged in a neat line. Remarkably, some tree species naturally form straight rows. This is because they grow from on top of other, downed logs-- so-called "nurse logs". But, in this case, I suspect the trees were just planted in a row. So we haven't yet seen Incense Cedar in its natural environment. This tree grows almost everywhere in California except for the bay area and the deserts, so we can't see it locally but we should see some on almost every trip.