II. 1. THE BEAR OAK. 151 



on each side, the larger ones below the middle of the leaf, the 

 lobes ending in a bristle, or often entire, four or five-angled, as 

 broad as long ; of a deep shiny green color and smooth above, 

 whitish or ashen-downy beneath, the down abundant in the 

 axils of the veins. 



The leaves are about two and one-half inches long, and one 

 and one-quarter or one and one-half broad, on petioles often 

 very short, often one-half or three-fourths the length of the leaf. 



The acorns are often beautifully striped longitudinally. The 

 base of the acorn, where it is attached to the cup, is of a deep 

 orange, as is the kernel. 



The sterile flowers are in thread-like catkins, one to two inches 

 long, on the base of the recent shoots, or scattered profusely 

 along last year's shoot, in the axils of last year's leaves. 



Thread downy; calyx hairy; segments rounded or torn; 

 stamens four, on short filaments. 



Fertile flowers in the axil of the recent leaves, nearly sessile ; 

 perianth downy ; the three stigmas prominent, divergent. 



Leaf-stalks, under surface of the leaves and recent shoots, 

 covered with a soft, grayish down. 



The bear oak is generally considered of very little value, and 

 is often regarded as a nuisance. It might, doubtless, be turned 

 to some advantage. It grows readily in the most exposed situa- 

 tions and poorest soils, and produces a great abundance of fruit. 

 Michaux suggests that it might be usefully employed as a hedge, 

 by being sown in three parallel rows, ten or twelve inches 

 apart. The plants would soon attain sufficient height and 

 strength to serve as a barrier against cattle, and would be an 

 agreeable object to the eye. It might also be employed to per- 

 form the office which it often performs in nature, that of pro- 

 tecting the young of more valuable trees, in the manner which 

 has already been suggested in the description of the little chin- 

 capin oak. 



The oaks found in New England naturally arrange them- 

 selves in four groups, in the order, as far as I understand their 

 character, in which I have described them. To the first belongs 

 the white oak, which is most nearly allied to the two varieties 



