somewhat falcate, acute and often apiculate at apex, cuneate or rounded
or cordate at the narrow base, entire or repandly serrate above the
middle with occasionally small minute rigid spinose teeth, or on
vigorous shoots serrate-lobed with oblique acute lobes, when they unfold
light red, covered with close pale pubescence above and coated below
with thick hoary tomentum, at maturity thick and firm, dark yellow-green
and lustrous on the upper surface, covered on the lower with thick
silvery white or fulvous tomentum, 2′—4′ long, ½′—1′ wide, with
thickened revolute margins; turning yellow or brown and falling
gradually during the spring after the appearance of the new leaves;
petioles stout, flattened, pubescent or tomentose, ⅛′—¼′ in length.
Flowers: staminate in slender aments 4′—5′ long; calyx slightly tinged
with red, covered with pale hairs and divided into 4 or 5 broadly ovate
rounded lobes; anthers acute, apiculate, bright red becoming yellow;
pistillate mostly solitary, sessile or short-stalked, their involucral
scales thin, scarious, and soft-pubescent; stigmas dark red. Fruit
sessile or borne on a stout peduncle up to ½′ in length, usually
solitary; nut ovoid, acute or rounded at the narrow hoary-pubescent
apex, dark green and often striate when ripe, becoming light
chestnut-brown in drying, ½′—⅔′ long, the shell lined with white
tomentum, inclosed for about one third its length in a turbinate thick
cup pubescent on the inner surface, and covered by thin broadly ovate
light chestnut-brown scales rounded at apex and clothed, especially
toward the base of the cup, with soft silvery pubescence.
A tree, usually 20°—30° or sometimes 60° high, with a tall trunk 10′—15′
in diameter, slender branches spreading into a narrow round-topped
inversely conic head, and stout rigid branchlets coated at first with
thick hoary tomentum disappearing during the first winter, becoming
light red-brown often covered with a glaucous bloom and ultimately
nearly black; frequently a shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, about ⅛′
long, with thin light chestnut-brown scales. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, nearly
black, deeply divided into broad ridges broken on the surface into thick
plate-like scales. Wood heavy, very strong, hard, close-grained, dark
brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood.
Distribution. Scattered but nowhere abundant through Pine-forests on the
slopes of cañons and on high ridges usually at altitudes between
6000°—7000° above the sea on the mountains of western Texas, and of
southern New Mexico and Arizona; in northern Chihuahua and Sonora.
22. Quercus agrifolia Née. Live Oak. Encina.
[Illustration: Fig. 246]
Leaves oval, orbicular or oblong, rounded or acute and apiculate at
apex, rounded or cordate at base, entire or sinuate-dentate with slender
rigid spinose teeth, when they unfold tinged with red and coated with
caducous hoary tomentum, at maturity subcoriaceous, convex, dark or pale
green, dull and obscurely reticulate above, paler, rather lustrous,
glabrous or pubescent below, with tufts of rusty hairs in the axils of
the principal veins, or sometimes covered above with fascicled hairs and
coated below with thick hoary pubescence, ¾′—4′ long and ½′—3′ wide,
with thickened strongly revolute margins; falling gradually during the
winter and early spring; petioles stout or slender, pubescent or
glabrous, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender hairy aments
3′—4′ long; calyx bright purple-red in the bud, sometimes furnished with
a tuft of long pale hairs at the apex, glabrous or glabrate, divided
nearly to the base into 5—7 ovate acute segments reddish above the
middle; pistillate sessile or short-stalked, their involucral scales
bright red and covered with thick hoary tomentum, or glabrous or
puberulous; stigmas bright red. Fruit sessile or nearly so, solitary or
in few-fruited clusters; nut elongated, ovate, abruptly narrowed at
base, gradually narrowed to the acute puberulous apex, light
chestnut-brown, ¾′—1½′ long, ¼′—¾′ thick, the shell lined with a thick
coat of pale tomentum, inclosed for one third its length or only at the
base in a thin turbinate light brown cup coated on the inner surface
with soft pale silky pubescence, and covered by thin papery scales
rounded at the narrow apex, and slightly puberulous, especially toward
the base of the cup.
A tree, occasionally 80°—90° high, with a short trunk 3°—4° or rarely
6°—7° in diameter, dividing a few feet above the base into numerous
great limbs often resting on the ground and forming a low round-topped
head frequently 150° across, and slender dark gray or brown branchlets
tinged with red, coated at first with hoary tomentum persistent until
the second or third year; or with a trunk, rising to the height of 30°
or 40°, and crowned by a narrow head of small branches; often much
smaller; frequently shrubby in habit, with slender stems only a few feet
high. Winter-buds globose and usually about 1/16′ thick, or
ovoid-oblong, acute, and sometimes on vigorous shoots nearly ¼′ in
length, with thin broadly ovate closely imbricated light chestnut-brown
glabrous or pubescent scales. Bark of young stems and branches thin,
close, light brown or pale bluish gray, becoming on old trunks 2′—3′
thick, dark brown slightly tinged with red, and divided into broad
rounded ridges separating on the surface into small closely appressed
scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, very brittle, light brown or
reddish brown, with thick darker colored sapwood; valued and largely
used for fuel.
Distribution. Usually in open groves of great extent from Sonoma County,
California, southward over the coast ranges and islands to the San Pedro
Mártir Mountains, Lower California; less common at the north; very
abundant and of its largest size in the valleys south of San Francisco
Bay and their commonest and characteristic tree; frequently covering
with semiprostrate and contorted stems the sand dunes on the coast in
the central part of the state; in southwestern California the largest
and most generally distributed Oak-tree between the mountains and the
sea, often covering low hills and ascending to altitudes of 4500° in the
cañons of the San Jacinto Mountains.
Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in temperate western, and
in southern Europe.
23. Quercus Wislizenii A. DC. Live Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 247]
Leaves narrowly lanceolate to broadly elliptic, generally
oblong-lanceolate, acute or rounded and generally apiculate at apex,
rounded or truncate or gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, entire,
serrulate or serrate or sinuate-dentate with spreading rigid spinescent
teeth, when they unfold thin, dark red, ciliate, and covered with pale
scattered fascicled hairs, at maturity thick and coriaceous, glabrous
and lustrous, dark green on the upper and paler and yellow-green on the
lower surface, usually 1′—1½′ long and about ⅔′ wide, with obscure
primary veins and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, gradually deciduous
during their second summer and autumn; petioles coated at first with
hoary tomentum, usually pubescent or puberulous at maturity, ⅛′ to
nearly 1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 3′—4′ long;
calyx tinged with red in the bud, divided into broadly ovate ciliate
glabrous light yellow lobes shorter than the 3—6 stamens; pistillate
sessile or short-stalked, their involucral scales and peduncle
hoary-tomentose. Fruit sessile, short-stalked or occasionally spicate;
nut slender, oblong, abruptly narrowed at base, pointed and pilose at
the apex, ¾′—1½′ long, about ⅓′ thick, light chestnut-brown, often
striate, the shell lined with a scanty coat of pale tomentum, more or
less inclosed in the thin turbinate sometimes tubular cup ½′—1′ deep, or
rarely cup-shaped and shallow, light green and puberulous within, and
covered by oblong lanceolate light brown closely imbricated thin scales,
sometimes toward the base of the cup thickened and rounded on the back,
usually pubescent or puberulous, especially above the middle, and
frequently ciliate on the margins.
A tree, usually 70°—80° high, with a short trunk 4°—6° in diameter,
stout spreading branches forming a round-topped head, and slender rigid
branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum or covered with scattered
fascicled hairs, puberulous or glabrous and rather light brown during
their first season, gradually growing darker in their second year;
usually much smaller and sometimes reduced to an intricately branched
shrub, with numerous stems only a few feet tall. Winter-buds ovoid or
oval, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with closely imbricated light chestnut-brown
ciliate scales. Bark on young trees and large branches thin, generally
smooth and light-colored, becoming on old trunks 2′—3′ thick, and
divided into broad rounded often connected ridges separating on the
surface into small thick closely appressed dark brown scales slightly
tinged with red. Wood heavy, very hard, strong, close-grained, light
brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; sometimes
used for fuel.
Distribution. Lower slopes of Mt. Shasta southward through the coast
region of California to the Santa Lucia Mountains, and to Santa Rosa and
Santa Cruz Islands, and along the slopes of the Sierra Nevada to Kern
County, up to altitudes of 2000° at the north and of 4500° at the south;
as a shrub 4°—6° high with small thick leaves (var. _frutescens_
Engelm.) on the desert slopes of the San Bernardino, San Jacinto and
Cuyamaca mountains, at altitudes of 5000°—7000° above the sea, and on
San Pedro Mártir in Lower California; nowhere common as a tree, but most
abundant and of its largest size in the valleys of the coast region of
central California at some distance from the sea, and on the foothills
of the Sierra Nevada; very common as a shrub in the cañons of the desert
slopes of the mountains of southern California; near the coast and on
the islands small and mostly shrubby.
× _Quercus morehus_ Kell., a supposed hybrid between _Quercus
Wislizenii_ and _Q. Kelloggii_ occurs in Lake County, California.
24. Quercus myrtifolia Willd.
[Illustration: Fig. 248]
Leaves oval to oblong-obovate, acute and apiculate or broad and rounded
at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or broad and rounded or cordate
at base, entire, with much thickened revolute sometimes undulate
margins, or on vigorous shoots sinuate-dentate and lobed above the
middle, when they unfold, thin, dark red, coated below and on the
petioles with clammy rusty tomentum and densely pubescent above, at
maturity thick and coriaceous, lustrous, dark green, glabrous and
conspicuously reticulate-venulose above, paler, yellow-green, or light
orange-brown, glabrous or pubescent below, with tufts of rusty hairs in
the axils of the veins, ½′—2′ long and ¼′—1′ wide; falling gradually
during their second year; petioles stout, pubescent, yellow, rarely more
than ⅛′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hoary pubescent aments 1′—1½′
long; calyx coated on the outer surface with rusty hairs and divided
into 5 ovate-acute, segments shorter than the 2 or 3 stamens; pistillate
sessile or nearly sessile, solitary or in pairs, their involucral scales
tomentose and tinged with red. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or
short-stalked; nut subglobose or ovoid, acute, ¼′—½′ long, dark brown,
lustrous and often striate, puberulous at apex, the shell lined with a
thick coat of rusty tomentum, inclosed for one fourth to one third its
length in a saucer-shaped or turbinate cup light brown and puberulous
within, and covered by closely imbricated broad-ovate light brown
pubescent scales ciliate on the margins and rounded at their broad apex.
A round-topped tree, rarely 40° high, with a trunk 4′—5′ or rarely up to
15′ in diameter, short or rarely long spreading branches and slender
branchlets coated at first with a thick pale fulvous tomentum of
articulate hairs usually persistent during the summer, light brown more
or less tinged with red or dark gray, and pubescent or puberulous during
their first winter, becoming darker and glabrous in their second season;
more often an intricately branched shrub, with slender rigid stems 3°—4°
or rarely 15°—20° high and 1′—3′ in diameter. Winter-buds ovoid or oval,
gradually narrowed to the acute apex, with closely imbricated dark
chestnut-brown slightly puberulous scales. Bark thin and smooth,
becoming near the ground dark and slightly furrowed.
Distribution. Dry sandy ridges on the coast and islands of South
Carolina to Bay Biscayne, Florida, crossing the central peninsula and
from the valley of the Caloosahatchee River, westward along the coast of
Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi; most abundant on the islands off the
coast of east Florida, and of Alabama and Mississippi; often covering
large areas with low impenetrable thickets; perhaps of its largest size
in Orange County, on Jupiter Island, and on the coast west of the
Apalachicola River, Florida.
25. Quercus chrysolepis Liebm. Live Oak. Maul Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 249]
Leaves oblong-ovate to elliptic, acute or cuspidate at apex, cordate,
rounded or cuneate at base, mostly entire on old trees, often dentate or
sinuate-dentate on young trees with 1 or 2 or many spinescent teeth, the
two forms often appearing together on vigorous shoots, clothed when they
unfold with a thick tomentum of fulvous hairs soon deciduous from the
upper and more gradually from the lower surface, at maturity thick and
coriaceous, bright yellow-green and glabrous above, more or less
fulvous-tomentose below during their first year, ultimately becoming
glabrate and bluish white, 1′—4′ long, ½′—2′ wide, with thickened
revolute margins; deciduous during their third and fourth years;
petioles slender, yellow, rarely ½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in
slender tomentose aments 2′—4′ long; calyx light yellow, pubescent,
divided usually into 5—7 broadly ovate acute ciliate lobes often tinged
with red above the middle; pistillate sessile or subsessile or rarely in
short few-flowered spikes, their broadly ovate involucral scales coated
with fulvous tomentum; stigmas bright red. Fruit usually solitary,
sessile or short-stalked; nut ellipsoidal or ovoid, acute or rounded at
the full or narrow slightly puberulous apex, light chestnut-brown, ½′—2′
long and about as thick, the shell lined with a thin coat of loose
tomentum, with abortive ovules scattered irregularly over the side of
the seed, inclosed only at the base in a thin hemispheric or in a thick
turbinate broad-rimmed cup pale green or dark reddish brown within, and
covered by small triangular closely appressed scales with a short free
tip, clothed with hoary pubescence, or often hidden in a dense coat of
fulvous tomentum.
A tree, usually not more than 40°—50° high, with a short trunk 3°—5° in
diameter, dividing into great horizontal limbs sometimes forming a head
150° across, and slender rigid or flexible branchlets coated at first
with thick fulvous tomentum, becoming during their first winter dark
brown somewhat tinged with red, tomentose, pubescent, or glabrous, and
ultimately light brown or ashy gray; occasionally in sheltered cañons
producing trunks 8°—9° in diameter; on exposed mountain sides forming
dense thickets 15°—20° high. Winter-buds broadly ovoid or oval, acute,
about ⅛′ long, with closely imbricated light chestnut-brown usually
puberulous scales. Bark ¾′—1½′ thick, light or dark gray-brown tinged
with red, and covered by small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy,
very strong, hard, tough, close-grained, light brown, with thick darker
colored sapwood; used in the manufacture of agricultural implements and
wagons.
Distribution. Southern Oregon, along the California coast ranges and the
western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the San Bernardino and San
Jacinto mountains; of its largest size in the cañons of the coast ranges
of central California and on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada;
ascending to altitudes of 8000°—9000° above the sea; near the southern
boundary of California, on the mountains of northern Lower California
and Sonora and in Arizona (Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains, on Beaver
Creek and in Copper Cañon near Camp Verde, and in Sycamore Cañon south
of Flagstaff), usually shrubby, with rigid branches, rigid coriaceous
oblong or semiorbicular spinose-dentate leaves, subsessile or
pedunculate fruit, with ovoid acute nuts 1′—1½′ long, their shells lined
with thick or thin pale tomentum, and purple cotyledons (var. _Palmeri_
Engelm.—_Quercus Wilcoxii_ Rydb.)
26. Quercus tomentella Engelm.
[Illustration: Fig. 250]
Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, sometimes cuspidate or occasionally
rounded at apex, broad and rounded or gradually narrowed and abruptly
cuneate at base, remotely crenate-dentate with small remote spreading
callous tipped teeth, or entire, when they unfold light green tinged
with red, covered above with scattered pale fascicled hairs and below
and on the petioles with thick hoary tomentum, at maturity thick and
coriaceous, dark green, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, pale
and covered with fascicled hairs on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long, 1′—2′
wide, with thickened strongly revolute margins, and a pubescent midrib;
gradually deciduous during their third season; petioles stout,
pubescent, about ½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in pubescent aments
2½′—14′ long, calyx light yellow, pubescent, divided into 5—7 ovate
acute lobes; pistillate subsessile or in few-flowered spikes on short or
elongated pubescent peduncles, their involucral scales like the calyx
coated with fascicled hairs; stigmas red. Fruit subsessile or
short-stalked; nut ovoid, broad at base, full and rounded at apex, about
1½′ long and ¾′ thick, inclosed only at the base in a cup-shaped shallow
cup thickened below, light brown and pubescent on the inner surface, and
covered by thin ovate acute scales, their free chestnut-brown tips more
or less hidden in a thick coat of hoary tomentum.
A tree, 30°—40°, or occasionally 60° high, with a trunk 1°—2° in
diameter, spreading branches forming a shapely round-topped head, and
slender branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum, becoming light
brown tinged with red or orange color. Winter-buds ovoid, acute or
obtuse, nearly ¼′ long, with many loosely imbricated light
chestnut-brown scales more or less clothed with pale pubescence. Bark
thin, reddish brown, broken into large closely appressed scales. Wood
heavy, hard, close-grained, compact, pale yellow-brown, with lighter
colored sapwood.
Distribution. Deep narrow cañons and high wind-swept slopes of Santa
Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Catalina islands, California; on Guadalupe
Island off the coast of Lower California.
27. Quercus Emoryi Torr. Black Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 251]
Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute and mucronate at apex, cordate or
rounded at the slightly narrowed base, entire or remotely repand-serrate
with 1—5 pairs of acute rigid oblique teeth, when they unfold thin,
light green more or less tinged with red and covered with silvery white
tomentum, at maturity thick, rigid, coriaceous, dark green, very
lustrous and glabrous or coated above with minute fascicled hairs, pale
and glabrous or puberulous below, usually with 2 large tufts of white
hairs at the base of the slender midrib, obscurely reticulate-venulose,
1′—2½′ long, ½′—1′ wide; falling gradually in April with the appearance
of the new leaves; petioles stout, pubescent, about ¼′ in length.
Flowers: staminate in hoary tomentose aments; calyx light yellow, hairy
on the outer surface, divided into 5—7 ovate acute lobes; pistillate
sessile or short-stalked, their involucral scales covered with hoary
tomentum. Fruit ripening irregularly from June to September, sessile or
short-stalked; nut oblong, oval, or ovate, narrowed at base, rounded at
the narrow pilose apex, ½′—¾′ long, about ⅓′ thick, dull light green
when fully grown, dark chestnut-brown or nearly black at maturity, with
a thin shell lined with thick white tomentum, inclosed for from one
third to one half its length in the deeply cup-shaped or nearly
hemispheric cup light green and pubescent within, and covered by closely
imbricated broadly ovate acute thin and scarious light brown scales
clothed with short soft pale pubescence.
A tree, usually 30°—40° high, with a short trunk 2°—3° in diameter,
stout rigid rather drooping branches forming a round-topped symmetrical
head, and slender rigid branchlets covered at first with close hoary
tomentum, bright red, pubescent or tomentose in their first winter,
ultimately glabrous and dark red-brown or black; sometimes 60°—70° high,
with a trunk 4°—5° in diameter, with a head occasionally 100° across; or
at high altitudes or on exposed mountain slopes a low shrub. Winter-buds
ellipsoidal, acute, about ¼′ long, pale pubescent toward the apex, with
thin closely imbricated light chestnut-brown ciliate scales. Bark 1′—2′
thick, dark brown or nearly black, deeply divided into large oblong
thick plates separating into small thin closely appressed scales. Wood
heavy, strong, brittle, close-grained, dark brown or almost black, with
thick bright brown sapwood tinged with red. The sweet acorns are an
important article of food for Mexicans and Indians, and are sold in the
towns of southern Arizona and northern Mexico.
Distribution. Mountain ranges of western Texas, southern New Mexico,
Arizona south of the Colorado plateau, and of northern Mexico; in Texas
common in the cañons and on the southern slopes of the Limpio and Chisos
mountains; the most abundant Oak of southern New Mexico and Arizona,
forming a large part of the forests covering the mountain slopes and
extending from the upper limits of the mesa nearly to the highest
ridges; attaining its largest size and beauty in the moist soil of
sheltered cañons.
28. Quercus dumosa Nutt. Scrub Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 252]
Leaves oblong, rounded and acute at apex, broad and abruptly cuneate or
rounded at base, usually about ¾′ long and ½′ wide, spinescent with a
few minute teeth, or undulate and entire or coarsely spinescent, with an
obscure midrib and primary veins, conspicuous reticulate veinlets, and
stout petioles rarely ⅛′ long; or sometimes oblong to oblong-obovate and
divided by deep sinuses into 5—9 oblong acute rounded or emarginate
bristle-tipped lobes, the terminal lobe 3-lobed, rounded or acute, 2′—4′
long and 1′—1½′ wide, with primary veins running to the points of the
lobes, obscure reticulate veinlets, and petioles sometimes 1′ long, thin
when they unfold and clothed with scattered fascicled hairs, or rarely
tomentose above and coated below and on the petioles with hoary
tomentum, at maturity thick and firm, dark green and glabrous on the
upper surface, paler and more or less pubescent on the lower surface;
mostly deciduous during the winter. Flowers: staminate in pubescent
aments; calyx divided into 4—7 ovate lanceolate hairy segments;
pistillate sessile or stalked, in long many-flowered tomentose spikes,
their involucral scales and calyx hoary-tomentose; stigmas red. Fruit
sessile or short-stalked; nut ovoid, broad at base, broad and rounded or
acute at apex, ½′—1′ long, ⅓′—⅔′ thick, inclosed for one half to two
thirds its length in a deep cup-shaped or hemispheric cup light brown
and pubescent within, covered by ovate pointed scales coated with pale
or rufous tomentum, usually much thickened, united and tuberculate,
those above with free acute tips forming a fringe to the rim of the cup,
or frequently with basal scales but little thickened and furnished with
long free tips; in var. _Alvordiana_ Jeps., with a nut 1½′—1⅝′ long,
¼′—½′ thick, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, inclosed only at base
in a shallow cup-shaped cup.
A tree, rarely 20° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, small
branches forming a round-topped head, and slender branchlets coated at
first with hoary tomentum, becoming in their first winter ashy gray or
light or dark reddish brown and usually pubescent or tomentose; more
often an intricately branched rigid shrub, with stout stems covered by
pale gray bark and usually 6°—8° high, often forming dense thickets.
Winter-buds ellipsoidal, generally acute, 1/16′—⅛′ long, with thin pale
red often pilose and ciliate scales. Bark of the trunk bright brown and
scaly.
Distribution. California; western slopes of the central Sierra Nevada;
common on the coast ranges south of San Francisco Bay and on the islands
off the coast of the southern part of the state, ranging inland to the
borders of the Mohave Desert and to the cañons of the desert slopes of
the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains, and southward into Lower
California; arborescent only in sheltered cañons of the islands; the
var. _Alvordiana_, in the San Emidio Cañon of the coast ranges of Kern
County and on the San Carlos Range, Fresno County; north of San
Francisco Bay replaced by the variety _bullata_ Engelm. ranging to
Mendocino County and to Napa valley.
× _Quercus MacDonaldii_ Greene, a shrub or small tree with characters
intermediate between those of _Quercus dumosa_ and _Q. Engelmannii_, is
usually considered a hybrid of these species. It occurs on Santa Cruz
and Santa Catalina Islands, and in Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles
Counties, California.
29. Quercus virginiana Mill. Live Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 253]
Leaves oblong, elliptic or obovate, rounded or acute at apex, gradually
narrowed and cuneate or rarely rounded or cordate at base, usually
entire with slightly revolute margins, or rarely spinose-dentate above
the middle, thin, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and
pubescent on the lower surface, 2′—5′ long, ½′—2½′ wide, and
inconspicuously reticulate-venulose, with a narrow yellow midrib, and
few slender obscure primary veins forked and united at some distance
from the margins; gradually turning yellow or brown at the end of the
winter and falling with the appearance of the new leaves in the spring;
petioles stout, rarely more than ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in
hairy aments 2′—3′ long; calyx light yellow, hairy, divided into 5—7
ovate rounded segments; anthers hirsute; pistillate in spikes on slender
pubescent peduncles 1′—3′ long, their involucral scales and ovate
calyx-lobes coated with hoary pubescence; stigmas bright red. Fruit
usually in 3—5 fruited spikes or rarely in pairs or single on stout
light brown puberulous peduncles 1′—5′ long; nut ellipsoidal or slightly
obovoid, narrowed at base, rounded or acute at apex, dark chestnut-brown
and lustrous, about 1′ long and ⅓′ thick, inclosed for about one fourth
its length in a turbinate light reddish brown cup puberulous within, its
scales thin, ovate, acute, slightly keeled on the back, covered by dense
lustrous hoary tomentum and ending in small closely appressed reddish
tips; seed sweet, with light yellow connate cotyledons.
A tree, 40°—50° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter above its swollen
buttressed base, usually dividing a few feet from the ground into 3 or 4
horizontal wide-spreading limbs forming a low dense round-topped head
sometimes 130° across, and slender rigid branchlets coated at first with
hoary tomentum, becoming ashy gray or light brown and pubescent or
puberulous during their first winter and darker and glabrous the
following season; occasionally 60°—70° tall, with a trunk 6°—7° in
diameter; often shrubby and occasionally not more than a foot high.
Winter-buds globose or slightly obovoid, about ⅙′ long, with thin light
chestnut-brown scales white and scarious on the margins. Bark of the
trunk and large branches ½′—1′ thick, dark brown tinged with red,
slightly furrowed, separating on the surface into small closely
appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard, strong, tough, close-grained,
light brown or yellow, with thin nearly white sapwood; formerly largely
and still occasionally used in shipbuilding.
Distribution. Shores of Mobjack Bay, Virginia, southward along the coast
and islands to southern Florida, and along the shores of the Gulf of
Mexico to northeastern Mexico, spreading inland through Texas to the
valley of the Red River and to the mountains in the extreme western part
of the state; on the mountains of Cuba, southern Mexico, and Central
America; most abundant and of its largest size on the Atlantic and east
Gulf coasts on rich hummocks and ridges a few feet above the level of
the sea; abundant in Texas in the coast region, near the banks of
streams, and westward toward the valley of the Rio Grande often forming
the principal part of the shrubby growth on low moist soil; in sandy
barren soil in the immediate vicinity of the seacoast or on the shores
of salt water estuaries and bays often a shrub, sometimes bearing fruit
on stems not more than a foot high (var. _maritima_, Sarg., and var.
_dentata_ Sarg.).
Occasionally planted as a shade and ornamental tree in the southern
United States.
Variable in habit and in the size and thickness of the leaves the
different forms of _Quercus virginiana_ show little variation in their
fruit. The most important of these varieties is
Quercus virginiana var. geminata Sarg.
_Quercus geminata_ Small.
[Illustration: Fig. 254]
Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, rounded or acute at apex, cuneate or
narrowed and rounded at base, occasionally slightly and irregularly
dentate above the middle on vigorous shoots, conspicuously
reticulate-venulose, hoary tomentose below, 1½′—3′ long, ⅓′—1′ wide,
with thickened strongly revolute margins; persistent until after the
leaves of the typical _Q. virginiana_ in the same locality have all
fallen; occasionally in Florida with oblong-elliptic to slightly obovate
leaves 4½′—5′ long and 1′—2′ wide (f. _grandifolia_ Sarg.). Flowers and
Fruit as in the species.
A tree often 75° high with a trunk 3° in diameter, with the habit,
branchlets, winter-buds and bark of the typical form; often much smaller
and occasionally a shrub.
Distribution. Sandy soil; coast region of North Carolina south of the
Cape Fear River, South Carolina and Georgia, and southward in Florida to
Jupiter Island on the east coast and the valley of the Caloosahatchee
River on the west coast; abundant and often the common Live Oak in the
central part of the peninsula, at least as far south as Orange County,
and westward through western Florida, southeastern and southern Alabama
to the Gulf coast and islands of Mississippi.
Other varieties of _Quercus virginiana_ are var. _macrophylla_ Sarg.,
differing from the type in its much larger ovate or slightly obovate
leaves rounded or acute at base, entire or occasionally repand-dentate,
pale tomentose below, 3½′—4′ long and 1¼′—2½′ wide. Large trees forming
groves; sandy bottoms of the Atascosa River and in flat woods above
them, Pleasanton, Atascosa County, Texas: var. _virescens_ Sarg.,
differing from the type in the green glabrous or rarely puberulous lower
surface of the leaves and in the glabrous branchlets. A large tree in
sandy soil; Gainesville, Alachua County, Sanford, Seminole County,
Sumner, Levey County, Simpson’s Hummock, and near Long Key in the
Everglades, Dade County, Florida: var. _eximea_ Sarg., differing from
the type in its narrow elliptic to narrow oblong-obovate leaves and pale
bark; a tree rarely 20° high, with a trunk 8′—12′ in diameter; rarely a
shrub; dry sandy open woods, near Springfield, Livingston Parish and
near Hammond, Tangipahoa Parish, eastern Louisiana. The following small
shrubby small-leaved forms are recognized: var. _fusiformis_ Sarg., with
oblong-ovate leaves acute at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, entire or
occasionally dentate, and pale pubescent below, and small fruit; dry
limestone ridges and flat-topped hills of the Edwards Plateau (Kerr and
Comal Counties), western Texas: var. _dentata_ Chapm., distinct in the
oblong-obovate repand-dentate lower leaves with large triangular teeth,
acute at the broad apex, often 4′ long and 1¼′ wide at the base of the
stems, and much larger than the oblong-lanceolate entire upper leaves;
common in sterile pine-barrens near the coast of Florida: var.
_maritima_ Sarg., with oblong-obovate or rarely lanceolate leaves, acute
and apiculate or rounded at apex, cuneate at base, and entire or
slightly and irregularly toothed above the middle; fruit solitary or in
pairs, or rarely in elongated spikes (_Quercus succulenta_ Small); sandy
barrens near the coast, South Carolina to Miami, Dade County, Florida:
var. _pygmaea_ Sarg., with oblong-obovate leaves, cuneate at base, 3—5
lobed at apex with small acute lobes, or rarely elliptic and entire, and
nearly sessile fruit, the nut inclosed nearly to the apex; a shrub
rarely 3° high; Pine-woods in sandy soil; widely distributed in Florida.
30. Quercus reticulata H. B. K.
[Illustration: Fig. 255]
Leaves broadly obovate, obtuse and rounded or rarely acute at apex,
usually cordate or occasionally rounded at the narrow base, repandly
spinose-dentate above the middle or only toward the apex with slender
teeth, and entire below, when they unfold coated with dense fulvous
tomentum, at maturity thick, firm, and rigid, dark blue and covered with
scattered fascicled hairs above, paler and coated with thick fulvous
pubescence below, 1′—5′ long, ¾′—4′ broad, with a thick midrib, and
primary veins running to the points of the teeth or arcuate and united
within the slightly revolute margins, and very conspicuous reticulate
veinlets; petioles stout about ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in short
tomentose aments in the axils of leaves of the year; calyx light yellow,
hirsute, with pale hairs, divided into 5—7 ovate acute segments;
pistillate in spikes on elongated peduncles, clothed like their
involucral scales with hoary tomentum; stigmas dark red. Fruit usually
in many-fruited spikes or occasionally in pairs or rarely solitary, on
slender hirsute or glabrous peduncles 2′—5′ long; nut oblong, rounded or
acute at the pilose apex, broad at base, about ½′ long, inclosed for
about one fourth its length in a shallow cup-shaped cup dark brown and
pubescent within, hoary tomentose without and covered by small ovate
acute scales, with thin free scarious tips, slightly thickened and
rounded on the back at the bottom of the cup.
A tree, rarely more than 40° high, with a trunk 1° in diameter, and
stout branchlets coated at first with thick fulvous tomentum, light
orange color and more or less thickly clothed with pubescence during
their first winter, becoming ashy gray or light brown; in the United
States usually shrubby in habit and sometimes only a few feet tall;
becoming on the Sierra Madre of Mexico a large tree. Winter-buds ovoid
to oval, often surrounded by the persistent stipules of the upper
leaves, about ⅛′ long, with thin loosely imbricated light red scales
ciliate on the margins. Bark about ¼′ thick, dark or light brown, and
covered by small thin closely appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard,
close-grained, dark brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood.
Distribution. Near the summits of the mountain ranges of southeastern
New Mexico (Mogollon Mountains) and southeastern Arizona, and southward
in Mexico.
31. Quercus Toumeyi Sarg.
[Illustration: Fig. 256]
Leaves ovate or ovate-oblong or oval, acute and apiculate at apex,
rounded or cordate at base, entire with thickened slightly revolute
margins, or remotely spinulose-dentate, often minutely 3-toothed at
apex, thin but firm in texture, light blue-green, glabrous and lustrous
above, pale and puberulous below, conspicuously reticulate-venulose;
½′—¾′ long, ¼′—½′ wide; falling early in spring with the appearance of
the new leaves; petioles stout, tomentose, about 1/16′ in length.
Flowers unknown. Fruit sessile, solitary or in pairs, ripening in June;
nut oval or ovoid, ½′—⅔′ long, ¼′ thick, light brown and lustrous,
furnished at the acute apex with a narrow ring of pale pubescence,
inclosed for about one half its length in a thin shallow tomentose cup
light green and pubescent within, and covered by thin ovate regularly
and closely imbricated light red-brown scales ending in a short rounded
tip and coated on the back with pale tomentum.
A tree, 25°—30° high, with a short trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, dividing not
far from the ground into numerous stout wide-spreading branches forming
a broad irregular head, and slender branchlets bright red-brown more or
less thickly coated with pale tomentum at midsummer, covered during
their second and third years with thin dark brown nearly black bark
broken into small thin closely appressed scales. Wood light brown, with
thick pale sapwood.
Distribution. Forming an open forest on the Mule Mountains, Cochise
County, southeastern Arizona.
32. Quercus arizonica Sarg. White Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 257]
Leaves oblong-lanceolate to broadly obovate, generally acute or
sometimes rounded at apex, rounded or cordate at base, repandly
spinose-dentate usually, except on vigorous shoots, only above the
middle or toward the apex, or entire and sometimes undulate on the
margins, when they unfold light red clothed with bright fulvous tomentum
and furnished with dark dental glands, at maturity thick, firm and
rigid, dull dark blue-green and glabrate above, duller and covered with
thick fulvous or pale pubescence below, 1′—4′ long, ½′—2′ wide, with a
broad yellow midrib, slender primary veins, arcuate and united near the
thickened revolute margins, and coarsely reticulate veinlets; falling in
the early spring just before the appearance of the new leaves; petioles
stout, tomentose, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in tomentose
aments 2′—3′ long; calyx pale yellow, pubescent, and divided into 4—7
broad acute ciliate lobes; anthers red or yellow; pistillate on short
stems tomentose like their involucral scales. Fruit sessile or on
hoary-tomentose stems rarely ½′ long, usually solitary, ripening
irregularly from September to November; nut oblong, oval or slightly
obovoid, obtuse and rounded at the puberulous apex, ¾′—1′ long, ½′
thick, dark chestnut-brown, lustrous and often striate, soon becoming
light brown, inclosed for half its length in a cup-shaped or hemispheric
cup light brown and pubescent within, covered by regularly and closely
imbricated scales coated with pale tomentum and ending in thin light red
pointed tips, those below the middle of the cup much thickened and
rounded on the back; seed dark purple, very astringent.
A tree, occasionally 50°—60° tall, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, and
thick contorted branches spreading nearly at right angles and forming a
handsome round-topped symmetrical head, and stout branchlets clothed at
first with thick fulvous tomentum persistent during their first winter,
reddish brown or light orange color and pubescent or puberulous in their
second season, ultimately glabrous and darker; usually not more than
30°—40° tall; at high elevations reduced to a low shrub. Winter-buds
subglobose, about 1/16′ long, with loosely imbricated bright
chestnut-brown puberulous scales ciliate on the margins. Bark of young
stems and branches thin, pale, scaly with small appressed scales,
becoming on old trunks about 1′ thick and deeply divided by narrow
fissures into broad ridges broken into long thick plate-like scales pale
or ashy gray on the surface. Wood heavy, strong, hard, close-grained,
dark brown or nearly black, with thick lighter colored sapwood; used
only for fuel.
Distribution. The most common and generally distributed White Oak of
southern New Mexico and Arizona, covering the slopes of cañons of
mountain ranges at altitudes of from 5000°—10,000° above the sea, often
ascending nearly to the summits of the high peaks; and in northern
Mexico.
33. Quercus oblongifolia Torr. White Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 258]
Leaves ovate, elliptic, or slightly obovate, rounded and occasionally
emarginate or acute at apex, usually cordate or occasionally rounded at
base, entire and sometimes undulate with thickened revolute margins, or
remotely dentate with small callous teeth, on vigorous shoots and young
plants oblong, rounded or cuneate at the narrow base, coarsely sinuate
or undulate-toothed or 3-toothed at the broad apex and entire below,
when they unfold bright red and coated with deciduous hoary tomentum, at
maturity thin and firm, blue-green and lustrous above, paler below,
1′—2′ long, ½′—¾′ wide, or on vigorous shoots sometimes 3′—4′ long, with
a prominent pale midrib, slender primary veins, and conspicuous
reticulate veinlets; persistent during the winter without change of
color, gradually turning yellow in the spring and falling at the
appearance of the new leaves; petioles stout, nearly terete, about ¼′ in
length. Flowers: staminate in short hoary-tomentose aments; calyx bright
yellow, pilose, divided into 5 or 6 laciniately cut or entire acute
segments tinged with red above the middle; pistillate usually sessile,
or on peduncles tomentose like the involucral scales; stigmas bright
red. Fruit usually solitary and sessile, rarely long-stalked; nut ovoid,
ellipsoidal, or slightly obovoid, full and rounded at apex surrounded by
a narrow ring of white pubescence, dark chestnut-brown, striate, and
very lustrous, soon becoming light brown in drying, ½′—¾′ long, about ⅓′
thick, inclosed for about one third its length in a cup-shaped or rarely
turbinate thin cup yellow-green and pubescent on the inner surface and
covered by ovate-oblong scales slightly thickened on the back, coated
with hoary tomentum and ending in thin acute bright red tips ciliate on
the margins and sometimes forming a minute fringe to the rim of the cup.
A tree, rarely more than 30° high, with a short trunk 18′—20′ in
diameter, many stout spreading often contorted branches forming a
handsome round-topped symmetrical head, and slender rigid branchlets
coated at first with pale or fulvous tomentum, light red-brown, dark
brown or dark orange color in their first winter, becoming ashy gray in
their second or third year. Winter-buds subglobose, 1/16′—⅛′ long, with
thin light chestnut-brown scales. Bark ¾′—1¼′ thick, ashy gray, and
broken into small nearly square or oblong close plate-like scales. Wood
very heavy, hard, strong, brittle, dark brown or nearly black, with
thick brown sapwood; sometimes used as fuel.
Distribution. Chisos Mountains, western Texas, southeastern New Mexico,
southern Arizona, and southward into northern Mexico; comparatively rare
in Texas; abundant on the foothills of the mountain ranges of southern
New Mexico and Arizona at altitudes of about 5000°, and dotting the
upper slopes of the mesa where narrow cañons open to the plain.
34. Quercus Engelmannii Greene. Evergreen Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 259]
Leaves oblong to obovate, usually obtuse and rounded or sometimes acute
at apex, gradually or abruptly cuneate or rounded or cordate at base,
entire, often undulate, or sinuate-toothed with occasionally rigid
teeth, or at the ends of sterile branches frequently coarsely crenately
serrate with incurved teeth, or rarely lobed with acute oblique rounded
lobes, when they unfold bright red and coated with thick pale rufous
tomentum, at maturity thick, dark blue-green and glabrous or covered
with fascicled hairs above, pale, usually yellow-green and clothed with
light brown pubescence, or puberulous or often glabrous below, 1′—3′
long, ½′—2′ wide; deciduous in the spring with the appearance of the new
leaves; petioles slender, tomentose, becoming pubescent, ¼′—½′ in
length. Flowers: staminate in slender hairy aments 2′—3′ long; calyx
light yellow, pilose, with lanceolate acute segments; pistillate on
slender peduncles, clothed like their involucral scales with dense pale
tomentum. Fruit sessile or on slender pubescent peduncles sometimes ¾′
long; nut oblong, gradually narrowed and acute or broad rounded and
obtuse at apex, broad or narrow at base, dark chestnut-brown more or
less conspicuously marked by darker longitudinal stripes, turning light
chestnut-brown in drying, ¾′—1′ long, about ½′ thick, inclosed for about
half its length in a deep saucer-shaped, cup-shaped or turbinate cup
light brown and puberulous within, and covered by ovate light brown
scales coated with pale tomentum, usually thickened, united and
tuberculate at the base of the cup, and near its rim produced into small
acute ciliate tips.
A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, thick branches
spreading nearly at right angles and forming a broad rather irregular
head, and stout rigid branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum,
light or dark brown tinged with red and pubescent during their first
winter, becoming glabrous and light brown or gray in their second or
third year. Winter-buds oval or ovoid, about ⅛′ long, with thin light
red pubescent scales. Bark 1½—2′ thick, light gray tinged with brown,
deeply divided by narrow fissures and separating on the surface into
small thin appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard, strong,
close-grained, brittle, dark brown or nearly black, with thick lighter
brown sapwood; used only for fuel.
Distribution. Low hills of southwestern California west of the coast
range, occupying with _Quercus agrifolia_ Née, a belt about fifty miles
wide, and extending to within fifteen or twenty miles of the coast, from
the neighborhood of Sierra Madre and San Gabriel, Los Angeles County, to
the mesa east of San Diego; in northern Lower California.
35. Quercus Douglasii Hook. & Arn. Blue Oak. Mountain White Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 260]
Leaves oblong, acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate
or broad and rounded or subcordate at base, divided by deep or shallow,
wide or narrow sinuses acute or rounded in the bottom into 4 or 5 broad
or narrow acute or rounded often mucronate lobes, 2′—5′ long, 1′—1¾′
wide, or oval, oblong or obovate, rounded or acute at apex, equally or
unequally cuneate or rounded at base, regularly or irregularly
sinuate-toothed with rounded acute rigid spinescent teeth, or
denticulate toward the apex, 1′—2′ long, ¼′—1′ wide, when they unfold
covered by soft pale pubescence, at maturity thin, firm and rather
rigid, pale blue, with scattered fascicled hairs above, often
yellow-green and covered by short pubescence below, with a hirsute or
puberulous prominent midrib and more or less conspicuous reticulate
veinlets; petioles stout, tomentose, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate
in hairy aments 1½′—2′ long; calyx yellow-green, coated on the outer
surface with pale hairs, deeply divided into broad acute laciniately cut
segments; pistillate in short few-flowered spikes coated like the
involucral scales with hoary tomentum. Fruit sessile or short-stalked,
solitary or in pairs; nut ellipsoidal, sometimes ventricose, with a
narrow base, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, ¾′—1′ long, ½′—1′
thick, or often ovoid and acute, green and lustrous, turning dark
chestnut-brown in drying, with a narrow ring of hoary pubescence at
apex, inclosed only at base in a thin shallow cup-shaped cup light green
and pubescent on the inner surface, covered on the outer by small acute
and usually thin or sometimes, especially in the south, thicker tumid
scales coated with pale pubescence or tomentum and ending in thin
reddish brown tips.
A tree, usually 50°—60°, rarely 80°—90° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in
diameter, short stout branches spreading nearly at right angles and
forming a dense round-topped symmetrical head, stout branchlets brittle
at the joints, coated at first with short dense hoary tomentum, dark
gray or reddish brown and tomentose, pubescent, or puberulous during
their first winter, becoming ultimately ashy gray or dark brown;
frequently not more than 20°—30° high, and sometimes, especially
southward shrubby, in habit. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, ⅛′—¼′ long, with
light rather bright red pubescent scales. Bark ½′—1′ thick, generally
pale, and covered by small scales sometimes tinged with brown or light
red. Wood hard, heavy, strong, brittle, dark brown, becoming nearly
black with exposure, with thick light brown sapwood; largely used as
fuel.
Distribution. Scattered over low hills, dry mountain slopes and valleys;
California, Mendocino County, and the upper valley of the Sacramento
River, southward along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to
elevations of 4000°, and through valleys of the coast ranges to the
Tehachapi Pass, the borders of the Mohave Desert (Sierra de la Liebre)
and the neighborhood of San Fernando, Los Angeles County; most abundant
and of its largest size in the valleys between the coast mountains and
the interior ridges of the coast ranges south of the Bay of San
Francisco.
× _Quercus jolonensis_ Sarg. with characters intermediate between those
of _Quercus Douglasii_ and _Quercus lobata_ and believed to be a hybrid
of those species occurs, with a number of large trees, at Jolon and
between Jolon and King City, Monterey County, California.
36. Quercus Vaseyana Buckl. Shin Oak.
_Quercus undulata_ var. _Vaseyana_ Rydb.
[Illustration: Fig. 261]
Leaves oblong, rarely oblong-obovate, acute or rounded at apex, cuneate
at base, undulately lobed with small acute lobes pointing forward,
rarely nearly entire, when they unfold covered above with short
fascicled hairs sometimes persistent until midsummer, and tomentose
below, and at maturity thin, pale gray-green, glabrous and lustrous
above, pale pubescent below, 1′—1½′ long and ½′—¾′ wide; deciduous late
in winter or in early spring; petioles covered with fascicled hairs when
they first appear, becoming glabrous, ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate
in villose aments 1′—1¼′ long; calyx deeply divided into 4 or 5 ovate
scarious lobes rounded at apex and shorter than the stamens; pistillate
on short tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales ovate, acute,
pubescent, shorter than the calyx-lobes; stigmas red. Fruit solitary or
in pairs, sessile or short-stalked; nut ellipsoidal and only slightly
narrowed at the rounded ends to oblong and slightly ovoid or obovoid,
½′—¾′ in length, ¼′—½′ in diameter, pale chestnut-brown and lustrous,
the base only inclosed in the thin, saucer-shaped to cup-shaped cup,
puberulous on the inner surface, covered with closely appressed ovate
acute hoary tomentose scales, on some individuals abruptly contracted
into short acute red-brown nearly glabrous tips.
A tree, rarely 15°—20° high, usually a shrub only 1°—3° tall, spreading
into great thickets, with slender branchlets thickly covered with matted
fascicled hairs during their first season, and light gray and glabrous
or puberulous in their second year. Winter-buds ovoid or obovoid, about
⅛′ long, with red-brown scales ciliate on the margins. Bark rough,
deeply furrowed and scaly.
Distribution. Limestone slopes and ridges or in sheltered cañons;
western Texas; Kimble, Real, Kendall, Kerr, Uvalde, Edwards, Menard and
Valverde Counties.
37. Quercus Mohriana Rydb. Shin Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 262]
Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic or lanceolate, acute, acuminate or
rounded at apex, rounded or cuneate and often unsymmetrical at base,
entire, undulate, sinuately toothed with triangular apiculate teeth, or
occasionally irregularly lobed above the middle with rounded lobes,
thick, gray-green, lustrous and covered above with short fascicled
hairs, and densely hoary tomentose below, 2°—4° long, ½′—1′ wide, with a
stout midrib thickly covered with fascicled hairs, sometimes becoming
glabrous, slender primary veins and reticulate veinlets; petioles stout,
hoary tomentose, ⅛′—¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in short hoary
tomentose aments; calyx densely villose, deeply divided into broad ovate
lobes rounded at apex; anthers red; pistillate on hoary tomentose
peduncles, with hairy bracts and calyx-lobes. Fruit solitary or in
pairs, nearly sessile or raised on a pubescent peduncle ½′—¾′ in length;
nut ellipsoidal or ovoid, broad and rounded at the ends, light
chestnut-brown, lustrous, ⅓′—½′ long, ¼′—⅓′ thick, inclosed for from
half to two thirds its length in the hemispheric to cup-shaped cup,
hoary tomentose on the inner surface, and covered with small closely
appressed acute hoary tomentose scales much thickened below the middle
of the cup, thin and much smaller toward its rim.
A tree, rarely 18°—20° high, with a trunk rarely 1° in diameter, small
spreading and ascending branches forming a round-topped head, and
slender branchlets thickly coated during their first season with
fascicled hairs, dark gray-brown and pubescent in their second season
and ultimately gray and glabrous; usually a low shrub spreading into
thickets. Winter-buds broad-ovoid, obtuse, pale pubescent. Bark thin,
pale, rough, deeply furrowed.
Distribution. On dry limestone hills, usually not more than 18° high
with spreading branches; on deep sand, often not more than 3° high with
more erect stems, often covering thousands of acres; only a tree in the
protection of ledges in deep ravines and on steep hillsides;
northwestern Texas (Tom Green, Coke, Nolan, Howard, Armstrong, and
Wheeler Counties); central Texas (Bryan, Brazos County); southwestern
Oklahoma (Beckham County).
38. Quercus Laceyi Small.
[Illustration: Fig. 263]
Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, usually with two pairs of small rounded
lateral lobes, occasionally 3-lobed toward the apex, rarely nearly
entire, narrowed and rounded at apex, rounded, cuneate or rarely cordate
at the gradually narrowed base, coated below when they unfold with loose
white tomentum, soon glabrous, at maturity thin, blue-green above,
yellow-green below, 2′—3′ long, ¾′—2′ wide, with a slender midrib and
primary veins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; deciduous late in
the autumn; on vigorous shoots sometimes 6′—7′ long and 3′—4′ wide;
petioles glabrous or sparingly villose, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers:
staminate in slightly villose aments 2′—2½′ long; calyx deeply divided
into 4 or 5 ovate acuminate lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate
flowers not seen. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or raised on a
stem up to ½′ in length; nut ellipsoidal or oblong-ovoid, rounded at
apex, slightly narrowed and nearly truncate at base, light
chestnut-brown and lustrous, ¾′—1′ long, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, the base
inclosed in the thick, cup-shaped to rarely saucer-shaped cup, tomentose
on the inner surface, covered with acute much thickened pale tomentose
scales.
A tree, 30°—45° high, with a trunk 20′—30′ in diameter, heavy erect and
spreading branches and slender branchlets villose when they first
appear, soon becoming glabrous and red-brown or gray during their second
season; often a tall shrub with numerous stems. Winter-buds ovoid,
acute, ⅙′ long, with chestnut-brown scales ciliate on the margins. Bark
gray, thick, deeply ridged or checkered.
Distribution. Rocky banks of streams, the steep sides of cañons and on
limestone bluffs; common in the southern and southwestern parts of the
Edwards Plateau, western Texas (Kendall, Kerr, Bandera, Uvalde, Menard,
Kemble, Real and Edwards Counties); easily distinguished in the field by
the peculiar smoky or waxy appearance of the foliage.
39. Quercus annulata Buckl.
_Quercus breviloba_ Sarg.
[Illustration: Fig. 264]
Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate or elliptic, rounded or acute at apex,
cuneate or rounded at base, entire, undulate, slightly lobed with
rounded or acute lobes, or 3-lobed, when they unfold covered above with
fascicled hairs and tomentose below, and at maturity green, glabrous and
lustrous above, green and pubescent below on lower branches, often pale
or hoary tomentose on upper branches, 1¼′—2½′ long, ½′—1¼′ wide;
petioles covered when they first appear with fascicled hairs, soon
glabrous, ¼′—½′ in length; on vigorous branchlets sometimes thinner,
glabrous, divided into broad rounded lateral lobes, gradually narrowed
and cuneate at the long base, 4′ long and 2½′ wide. Flowers: staminate
in pubescent aments 1′—2′ long; calyx deeply divided in villose rounded
lobes, shorter than the stamens; anthers red; pistillate on tomentose
peduncles, their scales rounded, tomentose; stigmas red. Fruit solitary
or in 2 or 3-fruited clusters, sessile or short-stalked, oblong-ovoid to
ellipsoidal, slightly narrowed and rounded at apex, light yellow-brown
and lustrous, ¾′—1′ long, ⅓′—½′ in diameter; inclosed for about a
quarter of its length in the cup-shaped cup, tomentose on the inner
surface, covered with acute tomentose scales somewhat thickened and
closely appressed below the middle of the cup, their tips
chestnut-brown, free and often glabrous.
A tree, 20°—30° tall with a trunk rarely more than 1° in diameter, small
spreading often slightly pendulous branches forming a round-topped head,
and slender branches covered when they first appear with fascicled
hairs, soon becoming glabrous and gray or grayish brown; the large stems
often surrounded by a ring of smaller stems produced from its roots;
more often a shrub than a tree spreading into broad thickets.
Winter-buds ovoid to ellipsoidal, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with closely
imbricated chestnut-brown puberulous scales ciliate on the margins. Bark
thick, rough, deeply ridged.
Distribution. Dry limestone hills and bluffs; central and western Texas,
from the neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas County, and Palo Pinto County to
Kendall, Kerr, Brown, Bandera, Real and Menard Counties.
40. Quercus Durandii Buckl.
_Quercus breviloba_ Sarg. in part.
[Illustration: Fig. 265]
Leaves thin, obovate to elliptic, entire, 3-lobed toward the rounded or
acute apex or irregularly laterally lobed, the three forms appearing on
different branches of the same tree, on lower branches usually lobed,
dark green and lustrous above, often green and glabrous below, sometimes
6′ or 7′ long and 3′ or 3½′ wide, on upper branches mostly entire, white
and pubescent or tomentose below, 2½′—3′ long, ½′—1½′ wide; falling late
in the autumn; petioles glabrous, ⅓′—¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in
slender villose aments 3′—4′ in length; calyx deeply divided into acute
villose lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate on a short tomentose
peduncle, the linear acuminate bract and involucral scales
hoary-tomentose; stigmas red. Fruit solitary or in pairs, short-stalked
or nearly sessile; nut ovoid, or slightly obovoid, rounded or rarely
acute at apex, nearly truncate at base, pale chestnut-brown, lustrous,
½′—⅔′ long, ⅓′—½′ thick, barely inclosed at base in the thin, shallow
saucer-shaped cup, pale tomentose on the inner surface, and covered with
small acuminate closely appressed tomentose scales slightly thickened on
the back.
A tree, often 60°—90° high with a tall trunk 2°—3° in diameter,
comparatively small branches, the lower horizontal, the upper ascending,
forming a dense round-topped handsome head, and slender pale gray-brown
branchlets covered when they first appear with fascicled hairs, soon
glabrous, or puberulous during their first season, and darker in their
second season. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ¼′—⅓′ long with dark
chestnut-brown rounded scales ciliate on the margins. Bark thin, light
gray or nearly white and broken into thin loosely appressed scales.
Distribution. East of the Mississippi River scattered on rich limestone
prairies; westward on the well drained soil of river bottoms, and often
on low hummocks; near Augusta, Richmond County, and De Soto, Sampson
County, Georgia; West Point, Clay County, Columbus, Muscogee County,
Brookville, Noxubesco County, and near Natchez, Adams County,
Mississippi; McNab, Hempstead County, Arkansas; Natchitoches,
Natchitoches Parish, western Louisiana; coast region of eastern Texas to
the bottoms of the Guadalupe River (Victoria, Victoria County), ranging
inland to San Saba County and to the neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas
County; on the mountains near Monterey, Nuovo Leon; rare and local.
41. Quercus Chapmanii Sarg.
[Illustration: Fig. 266]
Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, rounded at the narrow apex, narrowed
and cuneate or rounded or broad and rounded at base, entire with
slightly undulate margins, or obscurely sinuate-lobed above the middle,
when they unfold coated below with thick bright yellow pubescence and
covered above with pale fascicled deciduous hairs, at maturity thick and
firm or subcoriaceous, dark green, glabrous and lustrous above, light
green or silvery white and glabrous below except on the slender often
pubescent midrib, usually 2′—3′ long and 1′ wide, but varying from 1′—3′
in length and ¾′—1′ in width; falling gradually during the winter or
sometimes persistent until the appearance of the new leaves in the
spring; petioles tomentose, rarely ⅛′ in length. Flowers: staminate in
short hirsute aments; calyx hirsute, divided into 5 acute laciniately
cut segments; anthers hirsute; pistillate sessile or short-stalked,
their involucral scales coated with dense pale tomentum. Fruit usually
sessile, solitary or in pairs; nut oval, about ⅝′ long and ⅜′ thick,
pubescent from the obtuse rounded apex nearly to the middle, inclosed
for nearly half its length in the deep cup-shaped light brown cup
slightly pubescent on the inner surface, and covered by ovate-oblong
pointed scales thickened on the back, especially toward the base of the
cup, and coated with pale tomentum except on their thin reddish brown
margins.
Occasionally a tree, 50° high, with a trunk 1° in diameter, stout
branches forming a round-topped head, and slender branchlets coated at
first with dense bright yellow pubescence, becoming light or dark
red-brown and puberulous during their first winter and ultimately ashy
gray; more often a rigid shrub sometimes only 1°—2° tall. Winter-buds
ovoid, acute, obtuse, about ⅛′ long, with glabrous or puberulous light
chestnut-brown scales. Bark dark or pale, separating freely into large
irregular plate-like scales.
Distribution. Sandy barrens usually in the neighborhood of the coast;
Bluffton, Beaufort County, South Carolina, Colonels Islands, Liberty
County, Georgia, southward along the east coast of Florida to the shores
of Indian River; on the west coast from the valley of the Caloosahatchee
River to the shores of Pensacola Bay, and in the interior of the
peninsular from Lake County to De Soto County (neighborhood of Sebring);
rare and local on the Atlantic coast; comparatively rare in the interior
of the Florida peninsular; abundant in western Florida from the shores
of Tampa Bay to those of Saint Andrews Bay.
42. Quercus macrocarpa Michx. Burr Oak. Mossy Cup Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 267]
Leaves obovate or oblong, cuneate or occasionally narrow and rounded at
base, divided by wide sinuses sometimes penetrating nearly to the midrib
into 5—7 lobes, the terminal lobe large, oval or obovate, regularly
crenately lobed, or smaller and 3-lobed at the rounded or acute apex,
when they unfold yellow-green and pilose above and silvery white and
coated below with long pale hairs, at maturity thick and firm, dark
green, lustrous and glabrous, or occasionally pilose on the upper
surface, pale green or silvery white and covered on the lower surface
with soft pale or rarely rufous pubescence, 6′—12′ long, 3′—6′ wide,
with a stout pale midrib sometimes pilose on the upper side and
pubescent on the lower, large primary veins running to the points of the
lobes, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning dull yellow or
yellowish brown in the autumn; petioles stout, ⅓′—1′ in length. Flowers:
staminate in slender aments 4′—6′ long, their yellow-green peduncles
coated with loosely matted pale hairs; calyx yellow-green, pubescent,
deeply divided into 4—6 acute segments ending in tufts of long pale
hairs; pistillate sessile or stalked, their involucral scales broadly
ovate, often somewhat tinged with red toward the margins and coated,
like the peduncles, with thick pale tomentum; stigmas bright red. Fruit
usually solitary, sessile or long-stalked, exceedingly variable in size
and shape; nut ellipsoidal or broad-ovoid, broad at the base and rounded
at the obtuse or depressed apex covered by soft pale pubescence, ⅗′ long
and ⅓′ thick at the north, sometimes 2′ long and 1½′ thick in the south,
its cup thick or thin, light brown and pubescent on the inner surface,
hoary-tomentose and covered on the outer surface by large irregularly
imbricated ovate pointed scales, at the base of the cup thin and free or
sometimes much thickened and tuberculate, and near its rim generally
developed into long slender pale awns forming on northern trees a short
inconspicuous and at the south a long conspicuous matted fringe-like
border, inclosing only the base or nearly the entire nut.
A tree, sometimes 170° high, with a trunk 6°—7° in diameter, clear of
limbs for 70°—80° above the ground, a broad head of great spreading
branches, and stout branchlets coated at first with thick soft pale
deciduous pubescence, light orange color, usually glabrous or
occasionally puberulous during their first winter, becoming ashy gray or
light brown and ultimately dark brown, sometimes developing corky wings
often 1′—1½′ wide; usually not more than 80° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in
diameter; toward the northwestern limits of its range sometimes a low
shrub. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, acute or obtuse, ⅛′—¼′ long, with
light red-brown scales coated with soft pale pubescence. Bark 1′—2′
thick, deeply furrowed and broken on the surface into irregular
plate-like brown scales often slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy,
strong, hard, tough, close-grained, very durable, dark or rich light
brown, with thin much lighter colored sapwood; used in ship and
boat-building, for construction of all sorts, cabinet-making, cooperage,
the manufacture of carriages, agricultural implements, baskets,
railway-ties, fencing, and fuel.
Distribution. Low rich bottom-lands and intervales, or rarely in the
northwest on low dry hills; Nova Scotia and New Brunswick southward to
the valley of the Penobscot River, Maine, the shore of Lake Champlain,
Vermont, western Massachusetts, central, southern and western
Pennsylvania, northern Delaware, northern West Virginia (Hardy and Grant
Counties), prairies of Caswell County, North Carolina, and middle
Tennessee, and westward through the valley of the Saint Lawrence River
and along the northern shores of Lake Huron to southern Manitoba,
through western New York and Ohio, northern Michigan, to Minnesota
(except in the northeastern counties), eastern and northwestern
Nebraska, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Turtle Mountains of North
Dakota, and northeastern Wyoming, and to central Kansas, the valley of
the north Fork of the Canadian River (Canton, Blaine County, and
Seiling, Dewey County), Oklahoma, and the valley of the San Saba River,
(Menard County and Callahan County), Texas; attaining its largest size
in southern Indiana and Illinois; the common Oak of the “oak openings”
of western Minnesota, and in all the basin of the Red River of the
North, ranging farther to the northwest than the other Oaks of eastern
America; common and generally distributed in eastern Nebraska, and of a
large size in cañons or on river bottoms in the extreme northwestern
part of the state; the most generally distributed Oak in southern
Wisconsin, and in Kansas growing to a large size in all the eastern part
of the state.
Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the eastern United States
and in South Africa.
× _Quercus Andrewsii_ Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of _Quercus
macrocarpa_ and _Q. undulata_ Torr., in habit and characters
intermediate between those of its supposed parents with which it grows,
occurs at Seiling, Dewey County, western Oklahoma.
× _Quercus guadalupensis_ Sarg., with characters intermediate between
those of _Quercus macrocarpa_ and _Q. stellata_ and evidently a hybrid
of these species, occurs at Fredericksburg Junction in the valley of the
Guadalupe River, Kendall County, Texas.
× _Quercus Hillii_ Trel., believed to be a hybrid of _Quercus
macrocarpa_ and _Q. Muehlenbergii_, has been found at Roby, Lake County,
Indiana, and near Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
43. Quercus lyrata Walt. Overcup Oak. Swamp White Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 268]
Leaves oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, divided
into spreading or ascending lobes by deep or shallow sinuses rounded,
straight, or oblique on the bottom, the terminal lobe oblong-ovate,
usually broad, acute or acuminate at the elongated apex, and furnished
with 2 small entire nearly triangular lateral lobes, the upper lateral
lobes broad, more or less emarginate, or acuminate and entire or
slightly lobed and much longer than the acute or rounded lower lobes,
when they unfold bronze-green and pilose above with caducous hairs, and
coated below with thick pale tomentum, at maturity thin and firm, dark
green and glabrous above, silvery white and thickly coated with pale
pubescence, or green and often nearly glabrous below, 7′—10′ long, 1′—4′
wide; turning yellow or scarlet and orange in the autumn; petioles
glabrous or pubescent, ⅓′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender
hairy aments 4′—6′ long; calyx light yellow, coated on the outer surface
with pale hairs and divided into acute segments; pistillate sessile or
stalked, their involucral scales covered, like the peduncles, with thick
pale tomentum. Fruit sessile or borne on slender pubescent peduncles
sometimes 1½′ in length; nut subglobose to ovoid or rarely to
ovoid-oblong, ½′—1′ long, usually broader at base than long, light
chestnut-brown, more or less covered above the middle with short pale
pubescence, entirely or for two thirds of its length inclosed in the
ovoid, nearly spherical or deep cup-shaped thin cup, bright red-brown
and pubescent on the inner surface, hoary-tomentose and covered on the
outer by ovate united scales produced into acute tips, much thickened
and contorted at its base, gradually growing thinner and forming a
ragged edge to the thin often irregularly split rim of the cup.
A tree, rarely 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, generally
divided 15°—20° above the ground into comparatively small often
pendulous branches forming a handsome symmetrical round-topped head, and
slender branchlets green more or less tinged with red and pilose or
pubescent when they first appear, light or dark orange-color or grayish
brown and usually glabrous during their first winter, ultimately
becoming ashy gray or light brown. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, about ⅛′
long, with light chestnut-brown scales covered, especially near their
margins, with loose pale tomentum. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, light gray tinged
with red and broken into thick plates separating on the surface into
thin irregular appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, very
durable in contact with the ground, rich dark brown, with thick lighter
colored sapwood; confounded commercially with the wood of _Quercus
alba_, and used for the same purpose.
Distribution. River swamps and small deep depressions on rich
bottom-lands, usually wet throughout the year; southern New Jersey
(Riddleton, Salem County), and valley of the Patuxent River, Maryland,
southward near the coast to western Florida, through the Gulf states to
the valley of the Navasota River, Brazos County, Texas, and through
Arkansas to the valley of the Meramec River (Allenton, St. Louis
County), Missouri, and to central Tennessee and Kentucky, southern
Illinois, and southwestern Indiana to Spencer County; comparatively rare
in the Atlantic and east Gulf states; most common and of its largest
size in the valley of the Red River, Louisiana, and the adjacent parts
of Texas and Arkansas.
Occasionally cultivated in the northeastern states and hardy in eastern
Massachusetts.
× _Quercus Comptonae_ Sarg., a hybrid of _Quercus lyrata_ and _Q.
virginiana_, with characters intermediate between those of its parents,
discovered many years ago on the banks of Peyton’s Creek, Matagorda
County, Texas (now gone), occurs with several individuals near dwellings
in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi, near Selma, Dallas County,
Alabama, and in Audubon Park and streets, New Orleans, Louisiana. A
tree, sometimes 100° high and one of the handsomest of North American
Oaks; also produced artificially by _Professor H. Ness_ by crossing
_Quercus lyrata_ and _Q. virginiana_.
44. Quercus stellata Wang. Post Oak.
_Quercus minor_ Sarg.
[Illustration: Fig. 269]
Leaves oblong-obovate, usually deeply 5-lobed, with broad sinuses
oblique in the bottom, and short wide lobes, broad and truncate or
obtusely pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate, or
occasionally abruptly narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, when they
unfold dark red above and densely pubescent, at maturity thick and firm,
deep dark green and roughened by scattered fascicled pale hairs above,
covered below with gray, light yellow, or rarely silvery white
pubescence, usually 4′—5′ long and 3′—4′ across the lateral lobes, with
a broad light-colored midrib pubescent on the upper side and tomentose
or pubescent on the lower, stout lateral veins arcuate and united near
the margins and connected by conspicuous coarsely reticulated veinlets;
turning dull yellow or brown in the autumn; petioles stout, pubescent,
½′ to nearly 1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in aments 3′—4′ long;
calyx hirsute, yellow, usually divided into 5 ovate acute laciniately
cut segments; anthers covered by short scattered pale hairs; pistillate
sessile or stalked, their involucral scales broadly ovate, hirsute;
stigmas bright red. Fruit sessile or short-stalked; nut oval to ovoid or
ovoid-oblong, broad at base, obtuse and naked or covered with pale
persistent pubescence at apex, ½′—1′ long, ¼′—¾′ thick, sometimes
striate with dark longitudinal stripes, inclosed for one third to one
half its length in the cup-shaped, turbinate, or rarely saucer-shaped
cup pale and pubescent on the inner surface, hoary-tomentose on the
outer surface, and covered by thin ovate scales rounded and acute at
apex, reddish brown, and sometimes toward the rim of the cup ciliate on
the margins with long pale hairs.
A tree, rarely 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, and stout
spreading branches forming a broad dense round-topped head, and stout
branchlets coated at first, like the young leaves and petioles, the
stalks of the aments of staminate flowers and the peduncles of the
pistillate flowers, with thick orange-brown tomentum, light orange color
to reddish brown, and covered by short soft pubescence during their
first winter, ultimately gray, dark brown, nearly black or bright brown
tinged with orange color; usually not more than 50°—60° tall, with a
trunk 1°—2° in diameter, and at the northeastern limits of its range
generally reduced to a shrub. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, obtuse or
rarely acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with bright chestnut-brown pubescent scales
coated toward the margins with scattered pale hairs. Bark ½′—1′ thick,
red more or less deeply tinged with brown, and divided by deep fissures
into broad ridges covered on the surface with narrow closely appressed
or rarely loose scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, durable in
contact with the soil, difficult to season, light or dark brown, with
thick lighter colored sapwood; largely used for fuel, fencing,
railway-ties, and sometimes in the manufacture of carriages, for
cooperage, and in construction.
Distribution. Dry gravelly or sandy uplands; Cape Cod and islands of
southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long Island, New York, to western
Florida and southern Alabama and Mississippi, and from New York westward
to southern Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, western (Dewey County)
Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas; most abundant and of its largest size in
the Mississippi basin; ascending on the southern Appalachian Mountains
to altitudes of 2500°; the common Oak of central Texas on limestone
hills and sandy plains forming the Texas “Cross Timbers”; usually
shrubby and rare and local in southern Massachusetts; more abundant
southward from the coast of the south Atlantic and the eastern Gulf
states to the lower slopes of the Appalachian Mountains; in western
Louisiana rarely in the moist soil of low lands.
Showing little variation in the shape of the fruit and in the character
of the cup scales _Quercus stellata_ is one of the most variable of
North American Oaks in habit, in the nature of the bark, and in the
presence or absence of pubescence. Some of the best marked varieties are
var. _araniosa_ Sarg., a large tree differing from the type in the
usually smooth upper surface of the leaves, in the floccose persistent
tomentum on their lower surface, in the less stout usually glabrous
yellow or reddish branchlets, and in its scaly bark; dry sandy soil,
southern Alabama, western Louisiana, southern Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma
and eastern Texas. Var. _paludosa_ Sarg., a tree up to 75° in height,
differing from the type in its oblong-obovate leaves 3-lobed above the
middle, slightly pubescent branchlets becoming nearly glabrous, and in
its scaly bark; in rich deep soil on the often inundated bottoms of
Kenison Bayou, near Washington, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. Var.
_attenuata_ Sarg., a large tree differing from the type in the oblong to
oblong-obovate narrow leaves 3-lobed at apex and gradually narrowed to
the long cuneate base; near Arkansas Post on the White River, Arkansas
County, Arkansas. Var. _parviloba_ Sarg., a round-topped tree 25°—30°
high, differing from the type in the smaller lobes of the leaves with
more prominent reticulate veinlets; dry sandstone hills near Brownwood,
Brown County, Texas. Var. _anomala_ Sarg., a tree 15°—18° high,
differing from the type in its broadly obovate subcoriaceous leaves
slightly 3-lobed and rounded at apex; dry sandstone hills near
Brownwood, Brown County, Texas; possibly a hybrid. Var. _Palmeri_ Sarg.,
a shrub 6°—15° high, forming clumps, differing from the type in its
narrow oblong or slightly obovate 5—7-lobed leaves with narrow lobes,
densely tomentose below, and in the thicker and more tomentose scales of
the cup; sandy uplands, Elk City, Beckham County, Oklahoma. Var.
_rufescens_ Sarg., a shrub 12°—15° high, forming large clumps, differing
from the type in the rusty brown pubescence on the lower surface of the
polymorphous leaves, in the deeper cups of the fruit with thicker basal
scales; sandy uplands, Big Spring, Howard County, Texas, and Elk City,
Beckham County, Oklahoma. Var. _Boyntonii_ Sarg., a shrub or small tree
spreading into thickets, rarely more than 15° in height, differing from
the type in its obovate leaves, mostly 3—5-lobed toward the apex, with
small rounded lobes, and in their yellow-brown pubescence also found on
the branchlets; in glades on the summit of Lookout Mountain, above
Gadsden and Attala, Etowah County, Alabama.
The common and most widely distributed of the varieties of the Post Oak
is
Quercus stellata var. Margaretta Sarg.
_Quercus Margaretta_ Ashe
[Illustration: Fig. 270]
Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, cuneate or rounded at base,
3—5-lobed with usually narrow rounded, but often broad and truncate
lobes, the two forms frequently occurring on the same branch, usually
becoming glabrous on the upper surface early in the season, slightly
pubescent, sometimes becoming nearly glabrous below, 2½′—5′ long and
2′—2½′ wide; petioles glabrous or pubescent. Flowers and Fruit as in the
species.
A small tree, rarely 40° high, with slender glabrous reddish or reddish
brown branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ¼′ long with closely
imbricated chestnut-brown scales glabrous, or ciliate on the margins.
Bark thick, rough and furrowed, light gray.
Distribution. Usually on dry sandy slopes, hills and ridges, and
southward on Pine-barren lands; coast of Virginia (Capron, Southampton
County) southward in the coast and middle districts to central (Lake and
Orange Counties) and western Florida, through central and southern
Alabama, and eastern and southern Mississippi; in Western Louisiana
(Natchitoches and Caddo Parishes); southern Arkansas (McNab, Hempstead
County), and southwestern Missouri (Prosperity, Jasper County). The
common Post Oak of the south Atlantic and Gulf states; occasionally a
shrub (f. _stonolifera_ Sarg.) 4°—6° high, with smaller leaves,
spreading into broad thickets by stoloniferous shoots; common near
Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, and on the dry sand hills of central
Oklahoma.
× _Quercus Harbisonii_ Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of _Quercus
stellata_ var. _Margaretta_ and _Q. virginiana_ var. _geminata_, has
been found in the neighborhood of Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida.
45. Quercus Garryana Hook. White Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 271]
Leaves obovate to oblong, pointed at apex, cuneate or rounded at base,
coarsely pinnatifid-lobed, with slightly thickened revolute margins,
coated at first with soft pale lustrous pubescence, at maturity thick
and firm or subcoriaceous, dark green, lustrous and glabrous above,
light green or orange-brown and pubescent or glabrate below, 4′—6′ long,
2′—5′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib, and conspicuous primary veins
spreading at right angles, or gradually diverging from the midrib and
running to the points of the lobes; sometimes turning bright scarlet in
the autumn; petioles stout, pubescent, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers:
staminate in hirsute aments; calyx glabrous, laciniately cut into ovate
acute slightly ciliate or linear-lanceolate much elongated segments;
pistillate sessile and coated with pale tomentum. Fruit sessile or
short-stalked; nut oval to slightly obovoid and obtuse, 1′—1¼′ long and
½′—1′ thick, inclosed at the base in a shallow cup-shaped or slightly
turbinate cup puberulous and light brown on the inner surface, pubescent
or tomentose on the outer, and covered by ovate acute scales with
pointed and often elongated tips, thin, free, or sometimes thickened and
more or less united toward the base of the cup, decreasing from below
upward.
A tree, usually 60°—70° or sometimes nearly 100° high, with a trunk
2°—3° in diameter, stout ascending or spreading branches forming a broad
compact head, and stout branchlets coated at first with thick pale
rufous pubescence, pubescent or tomentose and light or dark orange color
during their first winter, becoming glabrous and rather bright reddish
brown in their second year and ultimately gray; frequently at high
altitudes, or when exposed to the winds from the ocean, reduced to a low
shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ⅓′—½′ long, densely clothed with light
ferrugineous tomentum. Bark ⅛′—1′ thick, divided by shallow fissures
into broad ridges separating on the surface into light brown or gray
scales sometimes slightly tinged with orange color. Wood strong, hard,
close-grained, frequently exceedingly tough, light brown or yellow, with
thin nearly white sapwood; in Oregon and Washington used in the
manufacture of carriages and wagons, in cabinet-making, shipbuilding,
and cooperage, and largely as fuel.
Distribution. Valleys and the dry gravelly slopes of low hills;
Vancouver Island and the valley of the lower Fraser River southward
through western Washington and Oregon and the California coast-valleys
to Marin County; rare and local and the only Oak-tree in British
Columbia; abundant and of its largest size in the valleys of western
Washington and Oregon; on the islands in the northern part of Puget
Sound reduced to a low shrub (Vine Oak); ascending in its shrubby forms
to considerable altitudes on the western slopes of the Cascade
Mountains; abundant in northwestern California; less common and of
smaller size southward.
46. Quercus utahensis Rydb.
[Illustration: Fig. 272]
Leaves oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and rounded or cuneate at
base, divided often nearly to the midrib by broad or narrow sinuses into
four or five pairs of lateral lobes rounded or acute at apex, the upper
lobes usually again lobed or undulate, the terminal lobe rounded at
apex, entire or three-lobed, thick, dark green, glabrous or nearly
glabrous above, pale and soft pubescent below, 2½′—7′ long, 1½′—3½′
wide, with a prominent midrib and primary veins, and conspicuous
veinlets; petioles stout, hoary-tomentose early in the season, pubescent
or glabrous before maturity, ⅖′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in
aments covered with fascicled hairs, 2′—2½′ long; calyx scarious,
divided to the middle by wide sinuses into narrow acuminate lobes;
anthers yellow; pistillate usually solitary or in pairs, the scales of
the involucre thickly coated with hoary tomentum. Fruit usually
solitary, sessile or raised on a stout pubescent peduncle ¼′—½′ in
length; nut ovoid, broad and rounded at the ends, ⅗′—¾′ long, ½′—2½′
thick, usually inclosed for about half its length in the thick
hemispheric cup covered with broad ovate pale pubescent scales much
thickened on the back and closely appressed below the middle of the cup,
gradually reduced in size upward, thin and less closely appressed toward
its rim bordered by the free projecting tips of the upper row of scales.
A tree, occasionally 30° high, with a trunk 4′—8′ in diameter, thick
erect branches forming a narrow open head, and stout branchlets
red-brown and covered with fascicled hairs when they first appear,
becoming light orange-brown and puberulous. Bark dark gray-brown, rough
and scaly.
Distribution. Dry foothill slopes and the sides of cañons; borders of
southwestern Wyoming to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains of
Colorado, and to Utah, northern New Mexico and Arizona, passing into
var. _mollis_ Sarg. with thinner scales on the lower part of the cup of
the fruit; with the species over its whole range, but most abundant on
the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona; here rarely 40° high, with a
trunk 18′—20′ in diameter.
47. Quercus lobata Née. White Oak. Valley Oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 273]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 274]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 275]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 276]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 277]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 278]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 279]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 280]
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.
× _Quercus Sargentii_ Rehd., believed to be a hybrid of _Quercus
montana_ and the European _Q. Robur_ L., has been growing for nearly a
hundred years at what is now Holm Lea, Brookline, Norfolk County,
Massachusetts.
54. Quercus Muehlenbergii Engelm. Yellow Oak. Chestnut Oak.
_Quercus acuminata_ Sarg.
[Illustration: Fig. 281]
Leaves usually crowded at the ends of the branches, oblong-lanceolate to
broadly obovate, acute or acuminate with a long narrow or with a short
broad point, abruptly or gradually narrowed and cuneate or slightly
narrowed and rounded or cordate at base, equally serrate with acute and
often incurved or broad and rounded teeth tipped with small glandular
mucros, or rarely slightly undulate, when they unfold bright bronzy
green and puberulous above, tinged with purple and coated below with
pale tomentum, at maturity thick and firm, light yellow-green on the
upper surface, pale often silvery white and covered with short fine
pubescence on the lower surface, 4′—7′ long, 1′—5′ wide, with a stout
yellow midrib and conspicuous primary veins running to the points of the
teeth; turning in the autumn orange color and scarlet; petioles slender
¾′—1½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in pilose aments 3′—4′ long; calyx
light yellow, hairy, deeply divided into 5 or 6 lanceolate ciliate
segments; pistillate sessile or in short spikes coated like their
involucral scales with thick white tomentum; stigmas bright red. Fruit
sessile or raised on a short stout peduncle, solitary or often in pairs;
nut broadly ovoid, narrowed and rounded at apex, ½′ to nearly 1′ long,
light chestnut-brown, inclosed for about half its length in a thin
cup-shaped light brown cup pubescent on the inner, hoary-tomentose on
the outer surface, and covered by small obtuse scales more or less
thickened and rounded on the back toward the base of the cup, the small
free red-brown tips of the upper ranks forming a minute fringe-like
border to its rim; seed sweet and sometimes edible.
A tree, 80°—100°, occasionally 160° high, with a tall straight trunk
3°—4° in diameter above the broad and often buttressed base,
comparatively small branches forming a narrow shapely round-topped head,
and slender branchlets, green more or less tinged with red or purple,
pilose when they first appear, light orange color or reddish brown
during their first winter, and ultimately gray or brown; east of the
Alleghany Mountains and on dry hills often not more than 20°—30° tall.
Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with chestnut-brown scales white
and scarious on the margins. Bark rarely ½′ thick, broken on the surface
into thin loose silvery white scales sometimes slightly tinged with
brown. Wood heavy, very hard, strong, close-grained, durable, with thin
light-colored sapwood; largely used in cooperage, for wheels, fencing,
and railway-ties.
Distribution. Gardner’s Island, Lake Champlain, Vermont, western
Massachusetts and Connecticut, near Newberg, Orange County, New York,
westward through New York, southern Ontario and southern Michigan to
northern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and Oklahoma to
the valley of the Washita River (Garvin County) and to the Devil’s Cañon
near Hinton (Caddo County), and southward in the Atlantic states to the
District of Columbia, eastern Virginia; sparingly on the eastern
foothills of the Blue Ridge in North and South Carolina at altitudes
between 1000° and 2000°; in central Tennessee and Kentucky, central and
northeastern Georgia, western Florida, and through the Gulf states to
the valley of the Guadalupe River, Texas; on the Guadalupe Mountains,
Texas, and on the Capitan Mountains, New Mexico (Lincoln County); rare
and comparatively local in the Atlantic states, usually on limestone
soil; very abundant in the Mississippi basin, growing on ridges, dry
flinty hills, deep rich bottom-lands and the rocky banks of streams;
probably of its largest size on the lower Wabash River and its
tributaries in southern Indiana and Illinois; on the Edwards Plateau
(Kemble, Kerr, Uvalde, Bandera and Real Counties), Texas, a form occurs
with nuts sometimes 1¼′ long with deeper cups up to 1′ in diameter (var.
_Brayi_ Sarg.).