The Trees of the Edmonds Marsh Watershed
- Mika
- Sep 11, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Dec 6, 2023
The Edmonds Marsh Watershed was historically forested land. Though the land has since been urbanized, tree cover is still an important part of the area. Listed here are 9 trees that can be found within the watershed.
1. Western Hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla
General
Form: Reaches 200 feet tall and 4 ft in diameter
Range: Pacific coast from northern California to Alaska and in the northern Rocky Mountains
Fun Fact: State tree of Washington
Features
Bark: Bark of young trees is smooth and thin and is brown or black. On mature trees, bark is about 1 inch thick with flattened ridges.
Leaves: Leaves are evergreen and flattened, with single needles arranged spirally. Needles are fairly short (1/4 to 3/4 inch long), with rounded tips and a yellow-green to green color.
Flowers: Male cones are tiny, yellow, and occur on previous year's growth. Female cones are tiny, purple, and appear on the ends of twigs.
Cones: Mature cones are about 1 inch long, woody, and egg-shaped with numerous thin scales. Cones appear on the ends of twigs and are reddish brown.
Uses
Western: Wood pulp is used for paper products, and lumber is used for furniture and flooring.
Native: Bark is used to create a red-brown dye or to create baskets. Branches created shelter and were used to collect herring eggs. Young trees were used for poling canoes upstream, and mature wood was used as firewood. Pitch was applied to the chest as a cold remedy, and boiled bark was used as a laxative and to stop hemorrhage.
2. Western Red Cedar, Thuja plicata
General
Form: Reaches 200 feet tall and 10 ft in diameter (or more)
Range: Pacific coast from northern California to British Columbia and in the northern Rocky Mountains
Features
Bark: Bark is thin (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick), fibrous, stringy, and reddish brown. It is finely ridged and furrowed, intertwined, and comes off in long strips (but you should leave it where it is!).
Leaves: Leaves are evergreen and yellow-green on top with a distinctive butterfly shaped bloom pattern on the underside. Individual leaves are typically 1/16 to 1/8 inch long and sets of four are roughly square. Foliage is arranged in flattened sprays.
Flowers: Male cones are small and inconspicuous. Female cones are small, reddish purple, and exist near the tips of branches.
Cones: Cones are small (1/2 inch long) and woody with thin, valvate scales arranged in 5 to 6 pairs. They are typically turned upward on the branches.
Uses
Western: Lumber is used for outdoor furniture and roofing, wood pulp is used for paper products, and oils are used for scents.
Native: Wood is used extensively for constructing homes and canoes, bark is used as padding and for weaving, limbs are used as ropes, roots are used for basketry, and bark is chewed for sore lungs and toothache.
3. Bigleaf Maple, Acer macrophyllum
General
Form: Reaches 40-100 feet tall and 2-4 ft in diameter
Range: Pacific coast from southern California to British Columbia
Sources: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right
Features
Bark: Young bark is smooth and grayish brown, later becoming darker brown with interlacing ridges and furrows.
Leaves: Leaves are deciduous, 6 to 12 inches in diameter, but sometimes larger, have 5 deep lobes, and are dark green higher up in tree and lighter green below.
Flowers: Flowers are small and yellow which may be perfect or imperfect.
Seeds: Seeds come in pairs with wings 1-1/2 to 2 inches long at acute angles. Seeds are tan when ripe.
Uses
Western: Wood used for veneer, boxes, crates, and musical instruments. Wood pulp used for paper products. Sap is newly starting to be used for maple syrup.
Native: Bark used to make rope, leaves used to cover food in cooking pits, wood used to smoke salmon, and wood used to create carvings and canoe paddles.
4. Sitka Alder, Alnus sinuata
General
Form: Reaches 20-40 feet tall and 5-10 inches in diameter
Range: Coastal and cascade areas of Washington and Oregon and northern Rocky Mountains up to Alaska
Sources: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right
Features
Bark: Bark is gray to grayish green and relatively smooth.
Leaves: Leaves are deciduous, ovate or oval, variably sized (2 to 5 inches long), margins are sharply and doubly serrated, green to yellow-green above and paler green below, thin and papery.
Flowers: Flowers are unisexual. Preformed male aments are long, slender, and pendent; female catkins are small and hang in long clusters from long stalks.
Cones: Cones are small and semi-woody (1/2 to 1 inch long).
Uses
Western: Used for stabilizing streambanks and slopes. Can also be used for bioremediation of polluted sites.
Native: Bark used to make red-brown dye, and bark extracts used medicinally. Wood was used for smoking salmon and making baskets, snowshoes, and bows.
5. Pacific Madrone, Arbutus menziesii
General
Form: Reaches 100 feet tall and 2-6 ft in diameter
Range: Pacific coast from northern California to Vancouver Island
Sources: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right
Features
Bark: Bark is very distinctive. When young, it is thin, red-brown or orange-brown, and breaks into scales or short strips; mature bark is thin, multi-colored (green, red, orange, brown), and peels in patches and strips.
Leaves: Leaves are persistent, oblong to oval, 3 to 5 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide, and leathery. They are dark green above and silvery green below and smooth on both surfaces. Margins may be smooth or finely serrated.
Flowers: Flowers are perfect, urn-shaped, and white. They are small (1/4 inch) but grow in large clusters up to 6 inches long.
Fruit: Fruit are small (1/4 inch), round, orange-red, and berry-like with pebbly skins.
Uses
Western: Trees used for erosion control and wood used for pulp, firewood, or as a veneer.
Native: Fruit used to make cider, eaten fresh, or dried and cooked. Leaves were used medicinally or smoked.
6. Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii
General
Form: Usually 20-30 feet tall, up to 60 ft tall
Range: Pacific coast from central California to British Columbia
Sources: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right
Features
Bark: Bark is thin and gray. It is smooth when young but breaks into rectangular scales and blocks with age.
Leaves: Leaves are deciduous, ovate to elliptical, 3 to 5 inches long, green above and paler green below, with distinctively arcuate veins and wavy edges. The leaves turn brilliant red in autumn.
Flowers: Flowers are perfect, very tiny, and borne in a dense, rounded head. The are greenish-white, and lack petals. The head, however, is surrounded by 4 or 6 large, showy, bright white to creamy white bracts (commonly called petals).
Fruit: Fruit are red berry-like drupes borne in a tight cluster.
Uses
Western: Wood used to make bows, arrows, and piano keys.
Native: Wood used to make salmon harpoons and game pieces. Charcoal was used for tattooing. Bark was boiled and used medicinally.
7. Douglas fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii
General
Form: Reaches 40-80 feet tall and 12-20 feet in diameter
Range: Pacific coast from central California to British Columbia, Rocky Mountains down to Mexico Fun Fact: Douglas fir is the state tree of Oregon
Features
Bark: Bark is smooth and gray on young stems, becoming thickened and red-brown with ridges and deep furrows when mature.
Leaves: Leaves are evergreen, single needles that lack woody pegs or suction cups. They are yellow-green to blue-green, 3/4 to 1 1/4 inches long, and very fragrant, with blunt or slightly rounded tips.
Flowers: Males are oblong, red to yellow, and are located near branch tips. Females are reddish, with long bracts, and occur near branch tips.
Cones: Cones are very distinctive and 3 to 4 inches long with rounded scales. Three-lobed bracts extend beyond the cone scales and resemble mouse posteriors.
Uses
Western: Wood is used for many construction applications, and trees are grown as Christmas trees.
Native: Wood and bark used for fires, pitch used as a sort of chewing gum, wood used for harpoons, and bark boiled to create a dye. Pitch and needles both have numerous medicinal applications.
8. Pacific Rhododendron, Rhododendron macrophyllum
General
Form: Reaches 12 feet tall
Range: Pacific coast from northern California to southern British Columbia
Fun fact: The Pacific Rhododendron is Washington's state flower
Sources: Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right
Features
Bark: Bark is grayish brown and thin, smooth, or scaly.
Leaves: Leaves are persistent, elliptical to oblong, 3 to 6 inches long, thick and leathery, dark green, and smooth above and paler below (sometimes rust-colored).
Flowers: Flowers are perfect, large and showy, rose-purple in color (sometimes almost white), 1 to 1-1/2 inches long, but borne in large, loose clusters. Each flower is bell shaped, appearing in early summer.
Fruit: Fruit are small and brown, 5-parted capsules about 1/2 inch long, and borne in clusters.
Uses
Western: Planted as an ornamental shrub.
Native: Possibly used for medicinal purposes and as decoration.
9. Sitka Willow, Salix sitchensis
General
Form: Reaches 3-25 feet tall and 12 inches in diameter
Range: Pacific coast from central California to Alaska, as well as northern Rocky Mountains
Features
Bark: Bark is gray and smooth or slightly furrowed and scaly.
Leaves: Leaves are deciduous, widest above the midpoint and tapering to a narrow base, and 1-1/2 to 3 inches long. Edges are smooth or have tiny gladular teeth and are shiny green on top, with silky, flattened hairs underneath. Underside is noted for a satiny sheen.
Flowers: Flowers are cream to yellow-colored catkins that stand upright from the branches up to 2 to 3 inches long, appearing either slightly before or with the new leaves in early spring.
Seeds: Seeds are small, silky, and wind-dispersed from tear-shaped capsules. They develop and shed early in the growing season.
Uses
Western: Trees are used to provide structure to streambanks and prevent erosion. Willow is also used as the precursor to aspirin and salicylic acid.
Native: Inner bark was used as a grain, branches and bark were used as rope and to create gray dye, and twigs were used for basket making.
References
Anderson, M. K. (2000). Plant Guide: Douglas-Fir. In Natural Resources Conservation Service. US Department of Agriculture. https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_psme.pdf
Bigleaf Maple. (n.d.). The Wood Database. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://www.wood-database.com/bigleaf-maple/
Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum). (n.d.). Oregon Wood Innovation Center; Oregon State University. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://owic.oregonstate.edu/bigleaf-maple-acer-macrophyllum
Darris, D., & Gonzalves, P. (2009). Plant Fact Sheet: Sitka Alder. In Natural Resources Conservation Service. US Department of Agriculture. https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_alvis.pdf
Douglas-fir. (n.d.). The Morton Arboretum; Morton. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/douglas-fir/
Gunther, E., & Janish, J. R. (1992). Ethnobotany of Western Washington: the knowledge and use of indigenous plants by Native Americans. University of Washington Press.
Holmes, R. (n.d.). Pacific Dogwood. US Forest Service; US Department of Agriculture. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/cornus_nuttallii.shtml
Immel, D. (2002). Plant Guide: Pacific Madrone. In Natural Resources Conservation Service. US Department of Agriculture. https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/cs_arme.pdf
Minore, D. (n.d.). Western Redcedar. US Forest Service; US Department of Agriculture. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_1/thuja/plicata.htm
Moore, L. (2010). Plant Guide: Sitka Willow. In Natural Resources Conservation Service. US Department of Agriculture. https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/pg_sasi2.pdf
Nesom, G. (n.d.). Plant Guide: Western Red Cedar. In Natural Resources Conservation Service. US Department of Agriculture. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/plantguide/pdf/cs_thpl.pdf
Pacific Rhododendron. (2015, October 14). Native Plants PNW. http://nativeplantspnw.com/pacific-rhododendron-rhododendron-macrophyllum/
Packee, E. C. (n.d.). Western Hemlock. US Forest Service; US Department of Agriculture. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/volume_1/tsuga/heterophylla.htm
Western Hemlock Tree: Key Facts. (n.d.). Forest Wildlife. Retrieved November 20, 2023, from https://www.forestwildlife.org/western-hemlock-tree/