Word: eucalyptus
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...cold is brutal. The air is very thin, and breathing becomes difficult after any strenuous activity. As the bus descends along the zig-zag road that hugs the rocky slope, the hovels give way to slightly more sturdy but still miserable houses, crowded together on filthy unpaved alleys. Eucalyptus trees begin to appear. Then the bus descends further into the more solidly-built portion of the city, with quaint two- and three-story pensions and humble eating places crowding the paved streets, along with small shops selling clothes, stationery and cheap appliances. Large churches open up on concrete plazas. Here...
...equals the sense of freedom she absolutely needs. And so she ends up a poor little princess in the kingdom of transients: California, a land of real estate agents in fake Spanish haciendas, freeways choked with white Lincolns and plum Mercedes, and always and everywhere the fugitive smell of eucalyptus...
When a sudden cold spell struck the vast eucalyptus groves in the hills above Berkeley, Calif., last December, 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 of the tall trees died. Planted at the turn of the century in an ill-fated lumbering venture, the trees have now become a grave danger. Forestry and fire officials warn that the 3,000 acres of dead trees will present an unprecedented fire hazard this summer. The usual changing winds of late August and early September could fan a cigarette-or lightning-caused fire and send flames sweeping through the surrounding hills toward...
...danger is compounded because the eucalyptus continually sheds both its thin bark-which hangs from the upper portions of the tree in long, tendril-like strands-and its leaves. Together, bark and leaves form a thick and highly combustible layer of "duff" on the forest floor. The increased fall from dead and dying trees has now piled up to depths of 12 in. to 18 in. in some areas; there, the ground is covered by as much as 50 tons of debris per acre. In strong winds on a hot day, the duff could burn so furiously that huge updrafts...
...many ways, it was strangely beautiful. Even now, if you look beyond the gray tangle of freeways, past the checkered patterns of tract houses, through the brown veil of smog even now, some of the beauty remains. In the dawn, the air is pale and still; only the eucalyptus trees stir, their leaves flickering silver high up in the new light. With the sun warm at your back, you can look to the east and see snow glinting white on the distant mountains. At dusk, the hills lie gentled, their smoke-blue folds growing slowly deeper with the lapse...