134 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



stiff, coriaceous leaf is divided, at one-third its length, by a deep 

 sinus on each side ; the upper portion is of three broad, obtuse, 

 divergent lobes, often double. The upper surface is dark green, 

 and very rough ; the lower, whitish, softer, downy, the mid-rib 

 and nerves turning to a rose color in autumn. The leaves have 

 not unaptly been called stellate, the upper part resembling a star. 

 They are close set, in large bunches or tufts, much more fleshy 

 and close than those of the white oak, and giving greater ful- 

 ness and depth to the foliage. The spray is larger and thicker. 

 The acorns, nearly sessile or on very short footstalks, are set 

 in a grayish, broad cup, invested by numerous, very smooth, 

 close scales, and are small and sweet. They are single, or two, 

 three, or four together. 



In Camden, opposite Philadelphia, where I particularly ob- 

 served this tree, it is a fine tree of fifty or sixty feet, bearing a 

 broad, massive head, and casting a deep shade. 



On Martha's Vineyard, where the tree never grows large, 

 the wood is preferred to all others for fuel. It forms very val- 

 uable knees for ship-timber, but is rarely of sufficient size for 

 other purposes. In the Southern States, it is called post oak, 

 and is preferred to all other kinds of wood, on account of its 

 durability, when used as posts. "Its timber is supposed, in 

 strength and durability, to surpass that of any other species of 

 the oak, except the live oak; and, therefore, is highly prized 

 when it can be obtained sufficiently large to be used in the con- 

 struction of vessels."— {Elliott.) Staves made of it are preferred 

 to those of any other material. 



Michaux had not found the post oak north of the Hudson, and 

 supposed that its existence as far north as on the western bank of 

 this river, opposite New York, was due only to the influence of 

 the sea-breeze in tempering the severity of the cold. On the Vine- 

 yard, it nearly covers a promontory which projects eastwardly 

 of Holmes' Hole into Buzzard's Bay. In the most exposed sit- 

 uations, it is very low and scraggy, forming a sloping wall of 

 close, crooked branches and trunks, towards the sea-breeze. 

 Behind and under cover of this, it rises higher toward the centre 

 of the island, but I think never exceeds thirty feet. In the 

 same exposed situation, the other oaks, particularly the black, 



