Arbutus menziesii

and

Plant Propagation
Spring 2007
Furcraea selloa var marginata
Arbutus menziesii
Pacific Madrone Tree
ERICACEAE

- Pacific madrone, madrona, Oregon laurel, laurelwood

-madroo = the strawberry tree (Arbutus unido), which grows in
Spain and other nearby Mediterranean countries, named by Spanish
Californians

-Introduced 1827



Arbutus menziesii
Pacific Madrone Tree
Alternate, simple, entire evergreen leaves
2 6 long, 3 6 wide
Lustrous green above, white glaucous below
Shed every 2 years

Red-brown bark
Peels clean, smooth and colored
Turns crazy red

Flowers and Fruit
Greenish white
long in panicles
May
Followed by red fruits
Pacific Madrone Tree
Unique shape
Architecture
75 100 naturally
20 50 cultivated
Distribution
Culture
Light: Full sun to partial shade.

Moisture: Once established, drought tolerant.

Soil: acidic well drained

Hardiness: USDA Zones 7 -9

* Does not like hot humid summers and cold dry
winters

Habitat
Mixed community plant
Prevents erosion
Mycorrhizal fungi
Susceptible to a fungus, eats trunk
Understory, canyons, coastal dunes, streamside,
on mountain slopes


Propagation
Cuttings; Summer
Seed; Fall
Layering; Spring
Grafting
Burls = underground woody
organ of adventitious buds, that
re-sprouts if the stem is
destroyed

Difficult to transplant
Seed Collection: The fleshy
layer of the fruit should be
removed.
Seed Treatment: Two-three
months cold stratification can
enhance germination
In the Landscape
Woodland, wildlife garden
Water conserving landscapes

PROBLEMS:
Messy
Needs maintenance and protection
Shrub tendencies
Uses
Food
Native Americans
Songbirds, mammals
Medicinal
Honey
Tanning
Construction
Charcoal/ gunpowder

Find it
Center for Urban Horticulture, Seattle WA
University of Washington Botanical Garden
U British Columbia Botanical Garden
Wild Sisal
AGAVACEAE, succulent

Sword Lily, False Agave, Cabuya

Exotic, palm-like

Native to Mexico, Guatemala
Columbia, Brazil

Evergreen

Very fast growing
Furcraea selloa var marginata
Wild Sisal
Furcraea 20 different species
Agave several hundred
Agave tequilana, Blue Agave
Agave sisilana
Furcraea selloa
Agave
Furcraea Yucca
Distribution
Florida, south through Central Mexico to Bolivia
Wild Sisal
Start as stemless rosettes
Short thick trunk forms,
then flower
Decorative foliage
Stiff, sharp with brown serrated edges
Height: 1.5 5m (5-10 ft)

Inflorescence to 26 feet

Flower and Fruit
-Monocarpic
-rosette of leaves mature only once, then
expire after flower
-greenish- white pendulous flowers
-Royal Botanic Gardens

Culture
Full sun
Fully drained soil
Zone 10
Propagation
Bulbils
bulbilliforous
Plantlets form on
inflorescence after flower
Drop to ground
Seed
Tissue culture for import
No cuttings, no leaf prop
Uses
Isolated compounds
Extraction of steroidal saponins, leaves
Fibers
Cabuya
Stripped from the vascular system
Spun, dyed, weaved


Find it
Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden
Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona
Works Cited
Andersen, Kat M. USDA: National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Science
Department, University of California. Online.
http://plants.nrcs.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_arme.pdf. 22 April 2007
Dirr, Michael. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. 5
th
ed. Stipes Publishing
LLC., Illinois. 1998
Oregon Wood Innovation Center. Oregon State University. Online.
http://owic.oregonstate.edu/species/madrone.php. 22 April 2007
Winters, Diane. Nursery Production and Landscape Establishment of
Arbutus menziesii. Chapter 12. Online.
http://soilslab.cfr.washington.edu/madrone/ch12_wi.pdf. 22 April 2007