88 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Quercus coccinea, Wang. 



Scarlet Oak. 



Habitat and Range. Most common in dry soil. 



Ontario. 



Maine, valley of the Androscoggin, southward ; New 

 Hampshire and Vermont, - - not authoritatively reported by 

 recent observers ; Massachusetts, more common in the 

 eastern than western sections, sometimes covering consid- 

 erable areas ; Rhode Island and Connecticut, common. 



South to the middle states and along the mountains to North 

 Carolina and Tennessee ; reported from Florida; west to Minnesota, 

 Nebraska, and Missouri. 



Habit. A medium-sized tree, 30-50 feet high and 1-3 feet 

 in trunk diameter ; attaining greater dimensions southward ; 

 trunk straight and tapering, branches regular, long, com- 

 paratively slender, not contorted, the lower nearly hori- 

 zontal, often declined at the ends ; branchlets slender ; head 

 open, narrow-oblong or rounded, graceful ; foliage deeply cut, 

 shining green in summer and flaming scarlet in autumn ; the 

 most brilliant and most elegant of the New England oaks. 



Bark. Trunk in old trees dark gray, roughly and firmly 

 ridged ; inner bark red ; young trees and branches smoothish, 

 often marked with dull red seams and more or less mottled 

 with gray. 



Winter Buds and Leaves. Buds small, reddish-brown, ovate 

 to oval, acutish, partially hidden by enlarged base of petiole. 

 Leaves simple, alternate, extremely variable, more commonly 

 3-6 inches long, two-thirds as wide, bright green and shining 

 above, paler beneath, smooth on both sides but often with a 

 tufted pubescence on the axils beneath, turning scarlet in 

 autumn, deeply lobed, the rounded sinuses sometimes reaching 

 nearly to the midrib ; lobes 5-9, rather slender and set at 

 varying angles, sparingly toothed and bristly tipped ; apex 

 acute ; base truncate to acute ; leafstalk 1-1^ inches long, 

 slender, swollen at base. 



