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PACIFIC MADRONE (Arbutus menziesii)
Other names: madrone, mathrone, madrona, laurel

POOR

The Pacific madrone is found in California. Oregon and Washington. It is seldom a well formed tree, grows in dense stands, and has a reddish-orange bark that "sheds" or sloughs from the tree in thin layers. The tree is evergreen. It is a medium to slow growing tree and may have a life expectancy of 100 years in good conditions. The tree is prone to injury and decays rapidly when dead. Easily fire killed, the tree reproduces primarily from sprouts and forms clumps
around the old stump. 

The madrone decays badly when blazed. It is seldom that an original madrone bearing tree is found with any scribing remaining. On a hot and dry south slope the dead tree may be hardened and somewhat preserved. Madrone has the habit of stooling out from the dead stump, similar to the broadleaf maple. The stools can sometimes be "matched" if there is some method of pinpointing the locality of the corner. Very few of the original surveyors bark scribed the madrone, but this possibility should not be over looked. Madrones do not "moss over" because of the "sloughing off" of the thin layers of bark. The wood decays rapidly when in contact with the ground and becomes a mulch making the recovery of a fallen bearing tree almost impossible. 

Do not blaze the madrone. Bark scribe deeply enough to penetrate the bark, so that the scribing is into the sapwood. Make the letters large enough to avoid tearing the bark. Paint the scribe marks thoroughly. Release if in very dense stands.