Part 35

Leaves obovate or oblong, acute or acuminate, abruptly or gradually cuneate or rounded at the broad or narrow base, usually divided about half way to the midrib by wide oblique sinuses rounded at the bottom into 11 or sometimes into 7 or 9 acute oblique ovate lobes tapering from broad bases and mostly sinuately 3-toothed at apex with elongated bristle-pointed teeth, or sometimes oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, and sinuately lobed with broad acute usually entire or slightly dentate lobes, when they unfold pink, covered with soft silky pale pubescence on the upper surface and below with thick white tomentum, soon glabrous, at maturity thin and firm, dark green, dull and glabrous above, pale yellow-green, glabrous or rarely puberulous and sometimes furnished with small tufts of rusty hairs in the axils of the veins below, 5′—9′ long, 4′—6′ wide; falling early in the autumn after turning dull or sometimes bright orange color or brown; petioles stout, yellow or red, 1′—2′ in length. Flowers: staminate in pubescent aments 4′—5′ long; calyx divided into 4 or 5 narrow ovate rounded lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short glabrous peduncles, their involucral scales broadly ovate, dark reddish brown, shorter than the conspicuous linear acute bract of the flower and as long as the lanceolate acute calyx-lobes; stigmas bright green. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or short-stalked, ovoid, gradually narrowed and acute at apex or cylindric and rounded at apex, pale brown, lustrous, more or less tomentose toward the ends, ½′—1′ long; ½′—¾′ in diameter; cup cup-shaped, puberulous on the inner surface, covered with small closely appressed ovate acute red-brown pubescent scales slightly thickened on the back toward the base of the cup, with a thin dark-colored tip and margins.

A tree usually not more than 60°—70° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, often much smaller, stout branches forming a narrow head, and slender lustrous branchlets light green and covered with pale scurfy pubescence when they first appear, dark red during their first winter and ultimately dark brown. Winter-buds ovoid, gradually narrowed to the acute apex, about ¼′ long, with thin ovate acute light chestnut-brown scales. Bark on young stems and on the upper part of the limbs of old trees 1′—1½′ thick, dark brown tinged with red and divided into small thick appressed plates scaly on the surface. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light reddish brown, with thin lighter-colored sapwood; used in construction, for the interior finish of houses, and in furniture.

Distribution. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, through Quebec to southern Ontario, and southward to northern New England, western New York, northern Pennsylvania (Presque Isle, Erie County), northern Michigan, southeastern Wisconsin, central Minnesota, central Iowa (Winneshick County), and on the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina at altitudes of about 4000°. Passing with many intermediate forms differing in the size of the nut and in the depth of the cup into

Quercus borealis var. maxima Ashe. Red Oak.

_Quercus rubra_ Du Roi, not L.

Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or short-stalked; nut ovoid to slightly obovoid, gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, slightly narrowed at base, usually 1′—1¼′ long and ½′—⅔′ thick, occasionally not more than ⅔′ long and thick, inclosed only at the base in a thick saucer-shaped cup.

A tree, usually 70°—80°, or occasionally 150° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, and stout spreading and ascending branches forming a broad head.

Distribution. Province of Quebec in the neighborhood of Montreal, and southern Ontario, westward through southern Michigan to southeastern Nebraska, and southward to northern Georgia, on the southern Appalachian Mountains up to altitudes of 3000°, southern Kentucky, eastern and central Tennessee, northeastern (Tishomingo County), northwestern (Yazoo County), and central and southern (Hinds and Union Counties) Mississippi, northern and southwestern Alabama (Dekalb, Cullman, Jefferson, and Dallas Counties), northwestern Arkansas, and eastern Kansas and Oklahoma; one of the largest and most generally distributed trees of the northern states; rare and local in the south; of its largest size in the region north of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers.

Often planted as a park and shade tree in the northeastern states and in the counties of western and northern Europe; generally more successful in Europe than other American Oaks.

× _Quercus Lowellii_ Sarg., a possible hybrid of _Quercus borealis_ and _Q. ilicifolia_, has been found in the neighborhood of Seabury, York County, Maine.

× _Quercus Porterii_ Trel., probably a hybrid of _Quercus borealis_ var. _maxima_ and _Q. velutina_, has been found on Bowditch Hill, Jamaica Plain, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on College Hill, Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and near Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio.

× _Quercus runcinata_ Engelm., believed to be a hybrid of _Quercus borealis_ var. _maxima_ and _Q. imbricaria_ first found near St. Louis, occurs also in the neighborhood of Independence, Jackson County, and at Williamsville, Wayne County, Missouri, and in Richland and Wayne Counties, Illinois.

2. Quercus Shumardii Buckl.

_Quercus texana_ Sarg. in part, not Buckl.

Leaves obovate, seven rarely five-lobed, the lobes two or three-lobed and sometimes dentate at apex, on leaves of lower branches short and broad, and separated by narrow sinuses pointed or rounded in the bottom, on upper branches deeply divided by broad rounded sinuses into narrow acuminate lobes, when they unfold often tinged with red and covered with pale loose tomentum deciduous before they are half grown, at maturity glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler and furnished below with large axillary tufts of pale hairs, 6′—8′ long, 4′—5′ wide, with a thin midrib and slender primary veins running to the points of the lobes; petioles slender, glabrous, 2′—2½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender glabrous aments 6′—7′ long; calyx divided into 4 or 5 rounded slightly villose lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate on pubescent peduncles, their involucral scales ovate, light brown, pubescent; stigmas red. Fruit: nut oblong-ovoid, narrowed and rounded at apex, ¾′—1¼′ long, ½′—1′ in diameter, inclosed at the base only in the thick saucer-shaped cup with a slightly incurved rim and covered with closely appressed ovate pale pubescent or nearly glabrous scales narrowed above the middle, abruptly long-pointed, thin or often conspicuously tuberculate.

A tree up to 120° high, with a tall trunk occasionally 5° in diameter, stout wide-spreading branches forming a broad rather open head, and gray or grayish brown glabrous branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute or acuminate, about ¼′ long, with closely imbricated gray glabrous or rarely pubescent scales. Bark 1′—1½′ thick, ridged, broken into small appressed plates scaly on the surface. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, light reddish brown, often manufactured into lumber in the Mississippi valley and considered more valuable than that of the northern Red Oak.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps in moist rich soil; coast region of Texas eastward from the Colorado River and ranging inland up the valley of that river to Burnet County, southeastern Oklahoma, through Arkansas, southeastern Kansas and Missouri to Fayette County, Iowa, southern Illinois and Indiana, the neighborhood of Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, and southeastern Michigan (near Portage Lake, Jackson County); through the eastern Gulf States to western and central Florida and northward in the neighborhood of the coast to the valley of the Neuse River, North Carolina; Chesapeake Beach, Calvert County, Maryland (_W. W. Ashe_); ranging inland in the south Atlantic States to Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, Calhoun Falls, Abbeville County, and Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina, and Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina. Passing into

Quercus Shumardii var. Schneckii Sarg.

_Quercus texana_ Sarg. in part, not Buckl. _Quercus Schneckii_ Britt.

Differing from the type in the deep cup-shaped cup of the fruit covered with thin scales, rarely much thickened and tuberculate at base (only on river banks near Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi), and connected with it by forms with the cups of the fruit differing from saucer to deep cup-shaped.

Distribution. Growing with _Quercus Shumardii_; more common in Texas and in the Mississippi valley than the type, and ranging eastward through Louisiana and Mississippi to central and southern Alabama, central and southeastern Tennessee (neighborhood of Chattanooga), and central Kentucky; apparently not reaching the Atlantic States.

3. Quercus texana Buckl.

Leaves widest above the middle, broad-cuneate, concave-cuneate or nearly truncate at base, deeply or rarely only slightly divided by broad sinuses rounded in the bottom into 5 or 7 lobes, the terminal lobe 3-lobed and acute at apex, the upper lateral lobes broad and more or less divided at apex and much larger and more deeply lobed than those of the lowest pair, when they unfold densely covered with fascicled hairs and often bright red, soon glabrous, thin, dark green and lustrous above, pale and lustrous and rarely furnished below with small inconspicuous axillary tufts of pale hairs, 3′—3½′ long, 2½′—3′ wide, with a thin midrib and slender primary veins running to the points of the lobes; petioles slender, soon glabrous, ¾′—1½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender villose aments 3′—4′ long; calyx thin, villose on the outer surface, divided into 4 or 5 acute lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short hoary tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales brown tinged with red; stigmas bright red. Fruit short-stalked, usually solitary; nut ovoid, narrowed and rounded at apex, light red-brown, often striate, ¼′—¾′ long and broad, sometimes acute, nearly 1′ in length and not more than ⅓′ in diameter; cup turbinate, covered with thin ovate acuminate slightly appressed glabrous scales, in the small fruit of trees on dry hills inclosing a third or more of the nut, in the larger fruit of trees on better soil comparatively less deep.

A tree on dry hills rarely more than 30° tall, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, small spreading or erect branches and slender red or reddish brown glabrous or rarely pubescent branchlets; often a shrub; on better soil at the foot of hills occasionally 50° high with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ⅙′—¼′ long and covered with closely imbricated acute slightly or densely pubescent red scales. Bark light brown tinged with red, ¾′—1′ thick, deeply ridged and broken into plate-like scales.

Distribution. Dry limestone hills and ridges, and in the more fertile soil at their base; central and western Texas (Dallas, Tarrant County to Travis and Bexar Counties), and to the Edwards Plateau (San Saba, Kerr, Brown, Coke and Uvalde Counties); westward replaced by the var. _chesosensis_ Sarg. differing in the acuminate lobes of the leaves and smaller cups of the fruit; known only on the dry rocky slopes of the Chesos Mountains, Brewster County, Texas; and by the var. _stellapila_ Sarg., differing in the presence of fascicled hairs on both surfaces of the mature leaves and on the branchlets of the year; above Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas.

4. Quercus ellipsoidalis E. J. Hill. Black Oak.

Leaves elliptic to obovate-orbicular, acute or acuminate, truncate or broadly cuneate at base, deeply divided by wide sinuses rounded in the bottom into 5—7 oblong lobes repandly dentate at apex, or often, especially those of the upper pair, repandly lobulate, when they unfold slightly tinged with red and hoary-tomentose, soon becoming glabrous with the exception of small tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the principal veins, at maturity thin and firm, bright green and lustrous above, paler and sometimes entirely glabrous below, 3′—5′ long, 2½′—4′ wide, with a stout midrib and primary veins and prominent reticulate veinlets; late in the autumn turning yellow or pale brown more or less blotched with purple; petioles slender, glabrous or rarely puberulous, 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers: staminate in puberulous aments 1½′—2′ long; calyx campanulate, usually tinged with red, 2—5-lobed or parted into oblong-ovate or rounded segments, glabrous or slightly villose, fringed at apex with long twisted hairs, about as long as the 2—5 stamens, with short filaments and oblong anthers; pistillate on stout tomentose 1—3-flowered peduncles, red, their involucral scales broad, oblong, acute, hairy; calyx campanulate, 4—7-lobed, ciliate on the margins. Fruit short-stalked or nearly sessile, solitary or in pairs; nut ellipsoidal to subglobose, chestnut-brown, often striate and puberulous, inclosed for one third to one half its length in a turbinate or cup-shaped cup gradually narrowed at base, thin, light red-brown, and covered by narrow ovate obtuse or truncate brown pubescent closely appressed scales.

A tree, 60°—70° high, with a short trunk rarely 3° in diameter, much forked branches ascending above and often pendulous low on the stem, forming a narrow oblong head, and slender branchlets covered at first with matted pale hairs, bright reddish brown during their first winter, becoming dark gray-brown or reddish brown in their second season. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse or acute, sometimes slightly angled, about ⅛′ long, with ovate or oval red-brown lustrous slightly puberulous outer scales ciliate on the margins. Bark thin, light yellow internally, close, rather smooth, divided by shallow connected fissures into thin plates, dark brown near the base of the tree, dull above, gray-brown and only slightly furrowed on the large branches.

Distribution. In the neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, to southeastern Minnesota common; often covering large areas of sandy soil with a stunted growth and on the prairies sometimes a low shrub; eastern Iowa (Muscatine County), and the Lower Peninsular of Michigan (Montmorency, Arenac, and St. Clair Counties).

5. Quercus coccinea Muench. Scarlet Oak. Spanish Oak.

Leaves oblong-obovate or elliptic, truncate or cuneate at base, deeply divided by wide sinuses rounded in the bottom into 7 or rarely 9 lobes repand-dentate at apex, the terminal lobe, ovate, acute, and 3-toothed, the middle division the largest and furnished with 2 small lateral teeth, the lateral lobes obovate, oblique or spreading, sometimes falcate, usually broad and oblique at the coarsely toothed apex, when they unfold bright red covered with loose pale pubescence above and below with silvery white tomentum, green at the end of a few days, at maturity thin and firm, bright green, glabrous and very lustrous above, paler and less lustrous and sometimes furnished with small tufts of rusty pubescence in the axils of the veins below, 3′—6′ long, 2½′—4′ broad, with a yellow midrib and primary veins, late in the autumn turning brilliant scarlet; petioles slender, terete, 1½′—2½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender glabrous aments 3′—4′ long; calyx pubescent, bright red before opening, divided into 4 or 5 ovate acute segments shorter than the stamens; pistillate on pubescent peduncles sometimes ½′ long, bright red, their involucral scales ovate, pubescent, shorter than the acute calyx-lobes. Fruit sessile or stalked, solitary or in pairs; nut oval, oblong-ovate or hemispheric, truncate or rounded at base, rounded at apex, ½′—1′ long, ⅓′—⅔′ thick, light reddish brown and occasionally striate, inclosed for one third to one half its length in a deep cup-shaped or turbinate thin cup light reddish brown on the inner surface, covered by closely imbricated oblong-ovate acute thin, or rarely much thickened (var. _tuberculata_ Sarg.) light reddish brown slightly puberulous scales.

A tree, 70°—80° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, comparatively small branches spreading gradually and forming a rather narrow open head, and slender branchlets coated at first with loose scurfy pubescence, soon pale green and lustrous, light red or orange-red in their first winter and light or dark brown the following year; usually much smaller. Winter-buds ellipsoidal or ovoid, gradually narrowed at apex, ⅛′—¼′ long, dark reddish brown, and pale-pubescent above the middle. Bark of young stems and branches smooth, light brown, becoming on old trunks ½′—1′ thick and divided by shallow fissures into irregular ridges covered by small light brown scales slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, light or reddish brown, with thicker darker colored sapwood.

Distribution. Light dry usually sandy soil; valley of the Androscoggin River, Maine, southern New Hampshire and Vermont to southern Ontario, southward to the District of Columbia and along the Appalachian Mountains to eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and northern Georgia; in central Georgia and northeastern Mississippi (near Corinth, Alcorn County), and westward through New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and southern Wisconsin to central Missouri (Jerome, Phelps County); in eastern Oklahoma (Arkansas River valley near Fisher, Creek County, _G. W. Stevens_); ascending to altitudes of nearly 5000° on the southern mountains; the prevailing Oak above 2500° to the summits of the Blue Ridge of the Carolinas; very abundant in the coast region from Massachusetts Bay to southern New Jersey; less common in the interior, growing on dry gravelly uplands, and on the prairies skirting the western margins of the eastern forest.

Occasionally planted in the northeastern states and in Europe as an ornamental tree valued chiefly for the brilliant autumn color of the foliage.

× _Quercus Robbinsii_ Trel., believed to be a hybrid of _Quercus coccinea_ and _Q. ilicifolia_, occurs at North Easton, Bristol County, Massachusetts.

× _Quercus Benderi_ Baenitz, a supposed hybrid of _Quercus coccinea_ and _Q. borealis_ var. _maxima_, appeared several years ago in Silesia, and a similar tree has been found in the Blue Hills Reservation near Boston.

6. Quercus palustris Muench. Pin Oak. Swamp Spanish Oak.

Leaves obovate, narrowed and cuneate or broad and truncate at base, divided by wide deep sinuses rounded in the bottom into 5—7 lobes, the terminal lobe ovate, acute, 3-toothed toward the apex, or entire, the lateral lobes spreading or oblique, sometimes falcate, especially those of the lowest pair, gradually tapering and acute at the dentate apex, or obovate and broad at apex, when they unfold light bronze-green stained with red on the margins, lustrous and puberulous above, coated below and on the petioles with pale scurfy pubescence, at maturity thin and firm, dark green and very lustrous above, pale below, with large tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the conspicuous primary veins; 4′—6′ long, 2′—4′ wide, with a stout midrib; late in the autumn gradually turning deep scarlet; petioles slender, yellow, ½′—2′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 2′—3′ long; calyx puberulous and divided into 4 or 5 oblong rounded segments more or less laciniately cut on the margins, shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales broadly ovate, tomentose, shorter than the acuminate calyx-lobes; stigmas bright red. Fruit sessile or short-stalked, solitary or clustered; nut nearly hemispheric, about ½′ in diameter, light brown, often striate, inclosed only at the base in a thin saucer-shaped cup dark red-brown and lustrous within, and covered by closely appressed ovate light red-brown thin puberulous scales.

A tree, usually 70°—80° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, often clothed with small tough drooping branches, or when crowded in the forest sometimes 120° high, with a trunk 60°—70° tall and 4°—5° in diameter, slender branches beset with short-ridged spur-like laterals a few inches in length, forming on young trees a broad pyramidal head, becoming on older trees open and irregular, with rigid and more pendulous branches often furnished at first with small drooping branchlets, and slender tough branchlets dark red and covered by short pale silvery tomentum, soon becoming green and glabrous, lustrous dark red-brown or orange color in their first winter, growing darker in their second year and ultimately dark gray-brown. Winter-buds ovoid, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, about ⅛′ long, with imbricated light chestnut-brown scales puberulous toward the thin sometimes ciliate margins. Bark of young trunks and branches smooth, lustrous, light brown frequently tinged with red, becoming on older trunks ¾′—1¼′ thick, light gray-brown, generally smooth and covered by small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, light brown, with thin rather darker colored sapwood; sometimes used in construction, and for shingles and clapboards.

Distribution. Borders of swamps and river-bottoms in deep rich moist soil; valley of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts and Connecticut; on Grand Isle in the Niagara River, New York to southern Ontario and southwestern Michigan, and westward to eastern Iowa (Muscatine County), and southward to southern West Virginia (Hardy and Mercer Counties), southwestern Virginia (Wythe County), central North Carolina (on Bowling’s Creek, near Chapel Hill, Orange County, and on Dutchman’s Creek, Forsyth County); and to southern Kentucky, central Tennessee, southern Arkansas (Fulton, Hempstead County), and northeastern Oklahoma; rare and of small size in New England; exceedingly common on the coast plain south of the Hudson River; very abundant on the bottom-lands of the streams of the lower Ohio River.

Often cultivated as an ornamental tree in the northeastern states and occasionally in the countries of western and central Europe.

7. Quercus georgiana M. A. Curtis.

Leaves convolute in the bud, elliptic or obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, divided generally about half way to the midrib by wide or narrow oblique sinuses rounded in the bottom into 3—7 lobes, the terminal lobe ovate, acute, or rounded and entire or frequently furnished with 1 or 2 small lateral teeth, the lateral lobes oblique or spreading, mostly triangular, acute and entire, or those of the upper and of the middle pair often broad and repand-lobulate at the oblique ends, sometimes gradually 3-lobed at the broad apex and narrowed and entire below, or equally 3-lobed, with broad or narrow spreading lateral lobes, or occasionally pinnatifid, when they unfold bright green tinged with red, ciliate on the margins and coated on the midrib, veins, and petioles with loose pale pubescence, at maturity thin, bright green and lustrous above, paler below, and glabrous or furnished with tufts of hairs in the axils of the primary veins, usually about 2½′ long and 1½′ wide; turning dull orange and scarlet in the autumn; petioles slender, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender glabrous or pubescent aments 2′—3′ long; calyx divided into 4 or 5 broadly ovate rounded segments rather shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short glabrous slender peduncles; their involucral scales rather shorter than the acute calyx-lobes, pubescent or puberulous; stigmas bright red. Fruit short-stalked; nut ellipsoidal or subglobose, ⅓′—½′ long, light red-brown and lustrous, inclosed for one third to nearly one half its length in a thick cup-shaped cup light red-brown and lustrous on the inner surface, and covered by thin ovate bright light red-brown truncate erose scales.