55. Pacific Madrone

Specimen Size: 31.2ft tall, 9.75in in diameter.

Location: South of the traffic circle and pines and northeast of the Odegaard Undergraduate Research Library.

Historical Background: British botanist Archibald Menzies named the species ‘Arbutus’ after the latin word for strawberry tree. West Coast tribes ate the berries and used the roots to create eating utensils. Communities along the Klamath River used the berries as bait for fishing. For the Saanich people, the Pacific madrone was used to anchor canoes to the top of Mount Newton during the Great Flood. 

Native

Native Range: Pacific Northwest to Southern California

Identifying Features: The Pacific Madrone is evergreen but is not coniferous in nature. It produces broad oval alternate evergreen leaves of a dark shiny green on top and lighter white-green below. Flowers on this species appear in spring in clusters and are white and urn shaped and immensely fragrant. The fruit which appears later in summer are round orange-red berries with a granular surface. The most distinctive feature of this species is its magnificent bark, which is a smooth glossy chartreuse when young but matures into a dark rich brownish red which peels off exposing the younger bark beneath.

Identifying Features In Depth:

1. Form: Generally small to medium sized tree (although some individuals can achieve great height and girth to 100” (30m)). Low apical control in open areas but higher apical control in densely wooded places, thick foliage where present but generally very open.

2. Leaves: Evergreen and oval, dark shiny green above, whitish green below, leathery and generally untoothed except on youngest growth, alternate growing pattern.

3. Bark: Beautiful smooth and glossy and tan to chartreuse in color on young bark, peeling as a rich dark red brown with age exposing patches of younger bark beneath.

4. Reproductive Bodies: Fragrant urn shaped flowers grow in large drooping clusters and give way to red-orange round berries with granular surfaces also in tight clusters.