=Remarks.=--Wood similar and uses generally the same as white oak. The
tree usually grows in such poor situations that it never acquires a
large diameter, and it is only when a tree is found in a cove or in
richer and deeper soil that it grows to a large size. The amount of this
species is very limited and it is therefore of no especial economic
importance as a source of timber supply. The bark is rich in tannin. The
crests of chestnut oak ridges are often cut bare of this species. The
trunks are made into crossties, and the larger branches are peeled for
their bark. The nuts germinate on top of the ground as soon as they
fall, or even before they fall. Usually a large percentage germinate.
The tree grows rapidly where soil conditions are at all favorable. It is
believed that this species should be used to reforest the chestnut oak
ridges of the State, and possibly it would be one of the best to employ
on the slopes of other poor ridges.
=6.= =Quercus stellàta= Wangenheim. Post Oak. Plate 45. Medium to large
trees; bark resembles that of the white oak except on old trees the
fissures are deeper when compared with a white oak of equal size, and
the ridges are usually broken into shorter lengths; twigs stout,
yellowish-brown at first, remaining this color more or less to the end
of the season, at first densely covered with hairs which remain
throughout the season, and usually one year old branchlets are more or
less tomentose; leaves on hairy petioles 0.3-3 cm. long, generally about
1 cm. long; leaves obovate in outline, commonly 1-2 dm. long and about
2/3 as wide, and generally lobed into five principal lobes which are
disposed as follows: the two basal are formed by two deep sinuses just
below the middle of the leaf which cut off a large roughly triangular
portion, one angle of which forms the base, the top two angles prolonged
on each side into a rounded lobe which may be long or short; the
terminal lobe is produced by two deep sinuses which constrict the blade
at about 1/4-1/3 its length from the apex; the two basal and two
terminal sinuses form the two lateral lobes which in size are equal to
about one half of the leaf area; the lateral lobes are generally
ascending with the terminal portion usually indented with a shallow
sinus which produces two short lobes; the terminal lobe of the leaf
commonly has two or three shallow secondary lobes; all the lobes of the
leaf are rounded; base of leaf narrowed or rounded; leaves very thick at
maturity, when they first appear both surfaces are densely covered with
a yellowish pubescence, at maturity the upper surface is a dark glossy
green, and smooth or nearly so, except some leaves retain fascicles of
hairs, and the midrib and principal veins may be more or less rough
pubescent, the under surface at maturity is a gray-green, and remains
more or less densely covered with fascicles of hairs; acorns single or
in clusters, sessile or nearly so; nuts small, ovoid 10-15 mm. long and
6-10 mm. wide, inclosed for about 1/2 their length in the cup; scales
ovate, gray or reddish brown, tomentose on the back, blunt except those
near the top of the cup which are sometimes acute; kernel sweet.
[Illustration: Plate 45.