Part 42

Leaves oblong to obovate, deeply 7—11 obliquely lobed, rounded at the narrow apex, narrow and cuneate or broad and rounded or cordate at base, the lateral lobes obovate, obtuse or retuse, or ovate and rounded, thin, 2½′—3′ or rarely 4′ long, 1′—2′ wide, dark green and pubescent above, pale and pubescent below, with a stout pale midrib, and conspicuous yellow veins running to the slightly thickened and revolute margins; petioles stout, hirsute, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hirsute aments 2′—3′ long; calyx light yellow and divided into 6 or 8 acute pubescent ciliate lobes; pistillate solitary, sessile or rarely in elongated few-flowered spikes, their involucral scales broadly ovate, acute, coated with dense pale tomentum, about as long as the narrow calyx-lobes. Fruit solitary or in pairs, nearly sessile; nut conic, elongated, rounded or pointed at apex, 1¼′—2¼′ long, bright green and lustrous when fully grown, becoming bright chestnut-brown, usually inclosed for about one third its length in the cup-shaped cup coated with pale tomentum on the outer surface, usually irregularly tuberculate below, all but the much-thickened basal scales elongated into acute ciliate chestnut-brown free tips longest on the upper scales and forming a short fringe-like border to the rim of the cup.

A tree, often 100° feet high, with a trunk generally 3°—4°, but sometimes 10° in diameter, divided near the ground or usually 20°—30° above it into great limbs spreading at wide angles and forming a broad head of slender branches hanging gracefully in long sprays and sometimes sweeping the ground; less frequently with upper limbs growing almost at right angles with the trunk and forming a narrow rigid head of variously contorted erect or pendant branches, and slender branchlets coated at first with short silky canescent pubescence, ashy gray, light reddish brown, or pale orange-brown and slightly pubescent in their first winter, becoming glabrous and lighter colored during their second year. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, usually about ¼′ long, with orange-brown pubescent scales scarious and frequently ciliate on the margins. Bark ¾′—1½′ thick and covered by small loosely appressed light gray scales slightly tinged with orange or brown, becoming at the base of old trees frequently 5′—6′ thick and divided by longitudinal fissures into broad flat ridges broken horizontally into short plates. Wood hard, fine-grained, brittle, light brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood; used only for fuel.

Distribution. Valleys of western California between the Sierra Nevada and the ocean from the valley of the Trinity River to Kern and Los Angeles (rare) Counties; most abundant and forming open groves in the central valleys of the state.

48. Quercus leptophylla Rydb.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, cuneate or rarely rounded at base, divided about halfway to the midrib into two to four acute or rounded lateral lobes entire or occasionally furnished on the lower side with a small nearly triangular lobe, the terminal lobe short, entire, rounded at apex or three-lobed, when they unfold thickly coated with hoary tomentum, about one-third grown when the flowers open and then covered above with fascicled hairs and tomentose below, at maturity thin, dark green, lustrous and glabrous or nearly glabrous on the upper surface, yellow-green and covered below by short white hairs most abundant on the midrib and veins, 3½′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender villose aments; calyx scarious, divided into five or six narrow acute lobes; anthers dark red-brown as the flowers open; pistillate not seen. Fruit solitary or racemose, sessile or raised on a stout tomentose peduncle ⅖′—⅗′ in length; nut oblong-ovoid, abruptly narrowed and rounded at base, gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, ½′—¾′ long; inclosed for half its length in the thin, hemispheric cup, ⅖′—½′ in diameter, and covered with acuminate only slightly thickened appressed scales densely covered with hoary tomentum.

A tree, 30°—45° high, with a trunk 16′—24′ in diameter, heavy spreading ashy gray branches forming a round-topped head, and stout branchlets, light red-brown or purple and covered with long fascicled hairs when they first appear, becoming light brown and glabrous before autumn. Bark thick, deeply furrowed, covered with small appressed pale gray scales.

Distribution. Rich bottom-lands of the Cucharas River above La Veta, Huerfano County, Colorado; on the Mogollon Mountains, Socorro County, New Mexico.

49. Quercus austrina Small.

Leaves oblong-obovate, acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed to the long cuneate base or rarely rounded at base, usually 5-lobed with rounded lobes, the terminal lobe often 3-lobed, the upper lateral lobes pointing forward and much larger than those of the lower pair, or occasionally 3-lobed at the broad apex, or rarely nearly entire with undulate margins, when they unfold sparsely covered below with caducous fascicled hairs, at maturity glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, 3′—8′ long, 1′—4′ wide, with a prominent midrib and slender primary veins; petioles slender, at first pubescent, soon glabrous, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers not seen. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or raised on a stout stalk up to ½′ in length; nut ovoid, slightly narrowed toward the base, narrowed at the rounded pubescent apex, ½′—¾′ long, ½′ thick, inclosed for a third to a half its length in the thin hemispheric or deep cup-shaped cup, pale tomentose on the inner surface and covered with thin narrow loosely appressed blunt-pointed tomentose scales.

A tree, 70°—80° and rarely 100° high, with a tall trunk 2°—3° in diameter, spreading and ascending branches forming a broad rather open head, and slender glabrous red-brown or gray-brown brittle-jointed branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid to ellipsoid, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with closely imbricated acute puberulous chestnut-brown scales ciliate on the margins. Bark pale, scaly, and on old trunks divided into broad ridges.

Distribution. Banks of streams and river bluffs in deep rich soil; coast of South Carolina (Bluffton, Clay County, and near Charleston); Dover, Scriven County, McIntosh County, De Soto Co., Sumter County, and near Bainbridge, Decatur County, Georgia, to central and western Florida (Gainesville, Alachua County, near Santos, Marion County, Lake City, Columbia County, River Junction, Gadsden County, Marianna, Jackson County); western Alabama (Gallion, Hale County, and the neighborhood of Selma [common] and Pleasant Hill, Dallas County); and southern Mississippi (Meridian, Lauderdale County, Laurel, Jones County, Byram and near Jackson, Hinds County, near Natchez, Adams County).

50. Quercus alba L. White Oak.

Leaves oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, divided often nearly to the midrib by narrow or broad sinuses usually oblique in the bottom into 7 or 9 lobes, the lateral, narrow, lanceolate or obovate, pointing forward, rounded or acute and often lobed at apex, the terminal usually obovate and 3-lobed, when they unfold bright red above, pale below and coated with soft pubescence, soon becoming silvery white and very lustrous, at maturity thin, firm, glabrous, bright green and lustrous or dull above, pale or glaucous below, 5′—9′ long, 2′—4′ wide, with a stout bright yellow midrib and conspicuous primary veins; turning late in the autumn deep rich vinous red, gradually withering and sometimes remaining on the branches nearly through the winter; petioles stout, glabrous, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hirsute or nearly glabrous aments 2½′—3′ long; calyx bright yellow and pubescent, with acute lobes; pistillate bright red, their involucral scales broadly ovate, hirsute, about as long as the ovate acute calyx-lobes. Fruit sessile or raised on a slender peduncle 1′—2′ long, the two forms sometimes appearing on the same branch; nut ovoid to oblong, rounded at apex, lustrous, ¾′ long, green when fully grown, becoming light chestnut-brown, inclosed for about one fourth its length in the cup-shaped cup coated with pale or light brown tomentum, its scales at the base much thickened, united and produced into short obtuse membranaceous tips, and thinner toward the rim of the cup.

A tree, 80°—100° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, tall and naked in the forest, short in the open, and surmounted by a broad round-topped head of stout limbs spreading irregularly, small rigid branches, and slender branchlets at first bright green, often tinged with red, and coated with a loose mass of long pale or ferrugineous deciduous hairs, reddish brown during the summer, bright red and lustrous or covered with a glaucous bloom during their first winter, becoming ultimately ashy gray. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, rather obtuse, dark red-brown, about ⅛′ long. Bark light gray slightly tinged with red or brown, or occasionally nearly white, broken into thin appressed scales, becoming on old trunks sometimes 2′ thick and divided into broad flat ridges. Wood strong, very heavy, hard, tough, close-grained, durable, light brown, with thin light brown sapwood; used in shipbuilding, for construction and in cooperage, the manufacture of carriages, agricultural implements, baskets, the interior finish of houses, cabinet-making, for railway-ties and fences, and largely as fuel.

Distribution. Sandy plains and gravelly ridges, rich uplands, intervales, and moist bottom-lands, sometimes forming nearly pure forests; southern Maine to southwestern Quebec, westward through southern Ontario, the southern peninsula of Michigan, southeastern Minnesota, eastern Iowa, and southeastern Nebraska, and southward to western Florida, through the Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky; ascending the southern Appalachian Mountains as a low bush to altitudes of 4500°; most abundant and of its largest size on the lower western slopes of the Alleghany Mountains and on the bottom-lands of the lower Ohio Basin. Passing into

Quercus alba var. latiloba Sarg.

Leaves obovate-oblong, acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, divided usually less than half way to the midrib into broad rounded lobes; rarely obovate, with undulate margins, or slightly lobed, with broad rounded lobes (var. _repanda_ Michx.). Flowers as in the type. Fruit rarely more than 1½′ in length, with usually thinner cup scales.

Distribution. More abundant than the species and the common northern White Oak.

× _Quercus Beadlei_ Trel., believed to be a hybrid of _Quercus alba_ and _Q. Prinus_, has been found in a swamp near Clarkton, Bladen County, North Carolina.

× _Quercus Bebbiana_ Schn., probably a hybrid of _Quercus alba_ and _Q. macrocarpa_, occurs at Charlotte, Chittenden County, Vermont, and near Kenton, Hardin County, Ohio.

× _Quercus Deamii_ Trel., with characters intermediate between those of _Quercus alba_ and _Q. Muehlenbergii_ and evidently a hybrid of these species, is growing near Bluffton, Wells County, Indiana.

× _Quercus Faxonii_ Trel., with characters intermediate between those of _Quercus alba_ and _Q. prinoides_ and evidently a hybrid of these species, has been found in East Walpole, Norfolk County, and Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and at Greenville, Montcalm County, Michigan.

× _Quercus Fernowii_ Trel., evidently a hybrid of _Quercus alba_ and _Q. stellata_, has been found near Allenton, St. Louis County, Missouri, and on Red Clay Creek, Virginia.

× _Quercus Jackiana_ Schn., evidently a hybrid of _Quercus alba_ and _Q. bicolor_, is growing in Franklin Park, Boston.

× _Quercus Saulei_ Schn., with characters intermediate between those of _Q. alba_ and _Q. montana_ and evidently a hybrid of these species, occurs with widely distributed individuals in Vermont (Monkton, Addison County), eastern Massachusetts, near Providence, Rhode Island, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, on the Appalachian Mountains near Biltmore, Buncombe County, and Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina, at Valleyhead, Gadsden County, Alabama, and in Richland County, Illinois.

51. Quercus bicolor Willd. Swamp White Oak.

_Quercus platanoides_ Sudw.

Leaves obovate to oblong-obovate, rounded at the narrowed apex, acute or rounded at the gradually narrowed and cuneate entire base, coarsely sinuate-dentate, or sometimes pinnatifid, with oblique rounded or acute entire lobes, when they unfold light bronze-green and pilose above, covered below with silvery white tomentum, with conspicuous glands on the teeth, at maturity thick and firm, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale or often silvery white or tawny on the lower surface, 5′—6′ long, 2′—4′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib, primary veins running to the points of the lobes, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning in the autumn dull yellow-brown or occasionally orange-color or rarely scarlet before falling; petioles stout, pilose at first, becoming glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 3′—4′ long; calyx light yellow-green, hirsute with pale hairs, and deeply divided into 5—9 lanceolate acute segments rather shorter than the stamens; pistillate in few-flowered spikes on elongated peduncles covered like the involucral scales with thick white or tawny tomentum; stigmas bright red. Fruit usually in pairs on slender dark brown glabrous puberulous or pubescent stalks 1½′—4′ in length; nut ovoid, with a broad base, rounded, acute and pubescent at apex, light chestnut-brown, ¾′—1¼′ long, ½′—¾′ thick, inclosed for about one third its length in the thick cup-shaped light brown cup pubescent on the inner surface, hoary-tomentose, and sometimes tuberculate or roughened toward the base on the outer surface by the thickened contorted tips of the ovate acute scales, thin, free, acute and chestnut-brown higher on the cup, and often forming a short fringe-like border on its margin, or sometimes entirely covered by thin scales with free acute tips.

A tree, usually 60°—70° or exceptionally 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° or occasionally 8°—9° in diameter, rather small branches generally pendulous below and rising above into a narrow round-topped open head and often furnished with short pendulous laterals, and stout branchlets, green, lustrous, and slightly scurfy-pubescent when they first appear, light orange color or reddish brown and glabrous or puberulous during their first winter, becoming darker and often purplish and clothed with a glaucous bloom. Winter-buds broadly ovoid and obtuse, or subglobose to ovoid and acute, ⅛′ long, with light chestnut-brown scales usually pilose above the middle. Bark of young stems and small branches smooth, reddish or purplish brown, separating freely into large papery persistent scales curling back and displaying the bright green inner bark; becoming on old trunks 1′—2′ thick, and deeply and irregularly divided by continuous or interrupted fissures into broad flat ridges covered by small appressed gray-brown scales often slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, light brown, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood; used in construction, the interior finish of houses, cabinet-making, carriage and boat-building, cooperage, and railway-ties, and for fencing and fuel.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps in moist fertile soil; southern Maine to northern Vermont and southwestern Quebec, through Ontario and the southern peninsula of Michigan to southeastern Minnesota, eastern and southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska and western Missouri, and to the District of Columbia, northern Kentucky and northeastern Oklahoma, and along the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia; widely scattered, usually in small groves but nowhere very abundant; most common and of its largest size in western New York and northern Ohio.

× _Quercus Schuettii_ Trel., with characters intermediate between those of _Quercus bicolor_ and _Q. macrocarpa_, and probably a hybrid of these species, occurs at Fort Howard, Brown County, Wisconsin, near Rockfield and Chateaugay, Quebec, and near Rochester and Golah, Munroe County, New York.

52. Quercus Prinus L. Basket Oak. Cow Oak.

_Quercus Michauxii_ Nutt.

Leaves broadly obovate to oblong-obovate, acute or acuminate at apex with a short broad point, cuneate or rounded at the broad or narrow entire base, regularly crenately lobed with oblique rounded entire lobes sometimes furnished with glandular tips, or rarely entire with undulate margins, when they unfold bright yellow-green, lustrous and pubescent above, coated below with thick silvery white or ferrugineous tomentum, at maturity thick and firm or sometimes membranaceous, especially on young and vigorous branches, dark green, lustrous, glabrous or occasionally roughened by scattered fascicled hairs on the upper surface, more or less densely pubescent on the pale green or silvery white lower surface, 6′—8′ long, 3′—5′ wide; turning in the autumn dark rich crimson; petioles stout, ½′—1½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender hairy aments, 3′—4′ long; calyx light yellow-green, pilose with long pale hairs, and divided into 4—7 acute lobes; pistillate in few-flowered spikes on short peduncles coated like the involucral scales with dense pale rufous tomentum; stigmas dark red. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or subsessile, or borne on short stout puberulous stalks rarely ½′ in length; nut ovoid to ellipsoidal, with a broad base, and acute, rounded, or occasionally truncate at apex surrounded by a narrow ring of rusty pubescence, or sometimes pilose nearly to the middle, bright brown, rather lustrous, 1′—1½′ long, ¾′—1¼′ thick, inclosed for about one third its length in the thick cup-shaped cup often broad and flat on the bottom, reddish brown and pubescent within, hoary-tomentose and covered on the outer surface by regularly imbricated ovate acute scales rounded and much thickened on the back, their short tips sometimes forming a rigid fringe-like border to the rim of the cup; seed sweet and edible.

A tree, often 100° high, with a trunk sometimes free of branches for 40°—50°, and 3°—7° in diameter, stout branches ascending at narrow angles and forming a round-topped rather compact head, and stout branchlets at first dark green and covered by pale caducous hairs, becoming bright red-brown or light orange-brown during their first winter and ultimately ashy gray. Winter-buds broadly ovoid or oval, acute, ¼′ long, with thin closely and regularly imbricated dark red puberulous scales with pale margins, those of the inner ranks coated on the outer surface with loose pale tomentum. Bark ½′—1′ thick, separating into thin closely appressed silvery white or ashy gray scales more or less deeply tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, very strong, tough, close-grained, durable, easy to split, light-brown, with thin darker colored sapwood; largely used in all kinds of construction, for agricultural implements, wheels, in cooperage, for fences and fuel, and in baskets.

Distribution. Borders of streams, swamps, and bottom-lands often covered with water; New Jersey (Morristown, Morris County and Pittsgrove, Salem County), near Wilmington, Delaware, southward through the coast and middle districts to Putnam (San Mateo) and Citrus Counties, Florida, through the Gulf states to the valley of the Trinity River, Texas, and through Arkansas and southeastern Missouri to central Tennessee and Kentucky, the valley of the lower Wabash River, Illinois, and southern Indiana eastward to Jefferson County (_C. C. Deam_); conspicuous from the silvery white bark, the massive trunk, and the broad crown of large bright-colored foliage.

53. Quercus montana L. Chestnut Oak. Rock Chestnut Oak.

_Quercus Prinus_ Engelm., not L.

Leaves obovate or oblong to lanceolate, acute or acuminate or rounded at apex, gradually or abruptly cuneate or rounded or subcordate at the narrow entire base, irregularly and coarsely crenulate-toothed with rounded, acute, or sometimes nearly triangular oblique teeth, when they unfold orange-green or bronze-red, very lustrous, and glabrous above with the exception of the slightly pilose midrib, green and coated below with soft pale pubescence, at maturity thick and firm or subcoriaceous, yellow-green and rather lustrous on the upper surface, paler and covered by fine pubescence on the lower surface, 4½′—9′ long, 1½′—3′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib and conspicuous primary veins, often much broader near the bottom of the tree than on fertile upper branches; turning dull orange color or rusty brown in the autumn; petioles stout or slender, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in elongated hirsute aments; calyx light yellow, pilose and deeply divided into 7—9 acute segments tipped with clusters of pale hairs; pistillate in short spikes on stout puberulous dark green peduncles, their involucral scales covered with pale hairs; stigmas dark red. Fruit on short stout stems singly or in pairs; nut ovoid or ellipsoidal, rounded and rather obtuse or pointed at apex, bright chestnut-brown, very lustrous, 1′—1½′ long, ⅝′—1′ thick, inclosed for about half its length or sometimes only at the base in a turbinate or cup-shaped thin cup light brown and pubescent on the inner surface, reddish brown and hoary-pubescent on the outer surface roughened or tuberculate, especially toward the base, by small scales thickened and knob-like with nearly triangular free light brown tips.

A tree, usually 60°—70° or occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 3°—4° or rarely 6°—7° in diameter, divided generally 15° or 20° above the ground into large limbs spreading into a broad open rather irregular head, and stout branchlets green tinged with purple or bronze color and glabrous or pilose when they first appear, light orange color or reddish brown during their first winter, becoming dark gray or brown; on dry exposed mountain slopes often not more than 20°—30° tall, with a trunk 8′—12′ in diameter. Winter-buds ovoid, acute or acuminate, ¼′—½′ long, with bright chestnut-brown scales pilose toward the apex and ciliate on the margins. Bark of young stems and small branches thin, smooth, purplish brown, often lustrous, becoming on old trunks and large limbs ¾′—1½′ thick, dark reddish brown or nearly black, and divided into broad rounded ridges covered with small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, rather tough, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil, largely used for fencing, railway-ties, and fuel. The bark, which is rich in tannin, is consumed in large quantities in tanning leather.

Distribution. Hillsides and the high rocky banks of streams in rich and deep or sometimes in sterile soil; coast of southern Maine, southern New Hampshire and eastern Massachusetts, southward to Delaware and the District of Columbia, and along the Appalachian Mountains and their foothills to northern Georgia (Wilkes County); ascending to altitudes of 4000°—4500°; in northern Alabama; westward to the shores of Lake Champlain, western New York; southeastern and southern Ohio, and southern Indiana westward to Orange County (_C. C. Deam_); and to central Kentucky and Tennessee, and northeastern Mississippi (Alcorn, Prentiss and Tishomingo Counties); rare and local in New England and Ontario; abundant on the banks of the lower Hudson River and on the Appalachian hills from southern New York to Alabama; most common and of its largest size on the lower slopes of the mountains of the Carolinas and Tennessee, here often forming a large part of the forest.