1916] Sargent,— The Xame of the Red Oak 45 



Taraxacum officinale Weber. — Very common, flowers seen. 



SoNCHUS asper (L.) Hill. — In gardens and fields; flowers to mature 

 fruit. 



PBENANTHES trifoliolata (Cass.) Fern. — - Basal leaves only; in 

 woods. 



Prenanthes ALTISSIMA L. — Among rocks, along shore; in the 

 axils of the withered leaves of thick stem there were many short 

 clusters of flowers, giving the appearance of fresh flowers springing 

 from a dead plant. 



Hieracium aurantiacum L. — Common in a few fields. 



Hieracium pratense Tausch. 



Hieracium canadense Michx. — Gardens; all of the hawkweeds 

 exhibited all stages from flowers to mature fruit. 



Biological Survey, Washington, D. C. 



THE NAME OF THE RED OAK. 



C. S. Sargent. 



In the one hundred and ninety-fourth issue of RHODORA (February 

 1915) I showed that the name Quercm rubra Linnaeus (Specie* Plan- 

 tarum, 996) belonged to the tree which was later called Quercus faleata 

 by Michaux and not to the tree which has always been called Red 

 Oak in the northern states. This change of name is one of the most 

 unfortunate which the study of the old specimens of American plants 

 has made necessary, for the Red Oak is one of the very few North 

 American trees which has not been burdened with a variety of surplus 

 names. That Linnaeus did not understand the tree which he called 

 Querela- rubra is further shown by the fact that in his herbarium are two 

 sheets of American Oaks collected by Kahn which therefore might 

 have been before him when the first edition of the Species Plantarum 

 was published. The two sheets were labeled by Linnaeus ''rubra." 

 On the first sheet there is a branch with half-grown leaves and withered 

 catkins of staminate flowers. The name " palmtris" was written on 

 this sheet by J. E. Smith. Judging by the truncate base of the leaves 

 it is a specimen of Quercus coccinea rather than of Q. paiustris: it 



