This is the tall oak, that grows in damp ground or 

 thickets, whose young leaves on the underneath surface 

 are covered with a white wool and, when mature, become 

 pale or bear a bloom. Their lobes are five to nine, being 

 narrow, obtuse and mostly entire. 



From the inner bark may be derived an astringent and 

 antiseptic. 



FAGACE^) BEECH FAMILY 



Quercus ilicifolia, Wang. 



May Black Scrub Oak, 



Bear Scrub Oak, 



Acorns ripe Dwarf Black Oak, 



October-November Holly Oak, 



Bitter-bush. 



Quercus: for derivation see alba. 



Ilicifolia: Latin for leaves of the Ilex (Holly), because of 

 the resemblance of these leaves to those of the Holly. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons. 



THE TREE: a straggling shrub or rarely a small tree; sel- 

 dom more than four feet high; the bark dark brown, 

 nearly smooth, scaly; the branchlets slender, at first dark 

 green, tinged with red, later red brown and finally dark 

 brown. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; greyish-white beneath; two 

 inches to five inches long; above dark green and hairless; 

 beneath greyish white, with soft, matted wool; wedge- 

 shaped at the base; three to seven lobed; the lobes tri- 

 angular, ovate, spreading, acute, bristle-tipped. 



THE FLOWERS: minute, in catkins, staminate and pistil- 

 late; the staminate reddish, hairy, four inches to five 

 inches long, which often remain until mid-summer; pis- 

 tillate, on stout stems, covered with matted wool, the 

 scales red and also covered with matted wool. 



64 



