=Remarks.=--Wood and uses similar to that of red oak. In Indiana it is
all sold as red oak. In all parts of its range in Indiana it is known as
red or black oak. However, the best accepted common name of this species
throughout its range is Spanish oak, and since no other species is known
by this name, it should be used for this species.
The bark of this species varies considerably in color and tightness. The
leaves are exceedingly variable in form. The leaves on the same tree
will vary from 3-lobed to 11-lobed. Usually the lobing is deepest in the
leaves nearest the top of the tree. Leaves of small trees, coppice
shoots, and of the lower branches of some trees are often all or for the
greater part 3-lobed. The color of the pubescence of the lower surface
of the leaves varies from a gray to a yellow-gray. The variations have
lead authors to divide this polymorphic species into several species and
varieties. The author has included all the forms that occur in Indiana
under one name.
This species is variously known as _Quercus digitata_, _Quercus
triloba_, _Quercus pagodaefolia_, and by the most recent authors as
_Quercus pagoda_ and _Quercus rubra_ and its varieties. Specimens in the
author's collection from Jefferson County were reported by Sargent[44]
as _Quercus rubra_ var. _triloba_.
=17.= =Quercus marilándica= Muenchhausen. Black Jack Oak. Plate 56.
Mature trees generally 10-30 cm. in diameter; bark resembles that of a
gnarled black oak; twigs generally scurvy-pubescent the first year;
leaves on petioles from nearly sessile to 2.5 cm. long, usually less
than a cm. long, blades 7-15 cm. long, broadly obovate, often almost as
wide as long, narrowly rounded at the base, with three primary lobes at
the apex, sometimes with two small lateral lobes, the apex is sometimes
almost rounded and the position where the lobes usually occur is
indicated by three primary veins which end in a bristle, the apex of the
leaf is generally about equally divided into three lobes by two very
shallow rounded sinuses, the lobes are rounded or merely acute;
sometimes the terminal lobes develop a secondary lobe, leaves very
pubescent both above and beneath when they first appear, becoming smooth
and glossy above at maturity, and remaining more or less pubescent
beneath; acorns sessile or nearly so, single or in pairs; nuts ovoid or
oblong, 1-1.5 cm. long, broadly rounded at the base, rounded or somewhat
conic at the apex, enclosed for about half their length in the
cup-shaped cup; scales blunt, not closely appressed, pubescent on back,
light reddish-brown; kernel bitter.
[Illustration: Plate 56.