DENDROLOGY. 259 



frequently composed of these trees, whose heathful appearance 

 evinces the favorable nature of the soil. East of the mountains 

 this tree is found in every exposure, and in every soil which is 

 not extremely dry or subject to long inundations ; but the largest 

 stocks grow in humid places. In the western districts, where it 

 composes entire forests, the face of the country is undulated, and 

 the yellow soil, consisting partly of clay with calcareous stones, 

 yields abundant crops of wheat. 



The white oak attains the elevation of 70 or 80 feet with a 



diameter of 6 or 7 feet ; but its proportions vary with the soil 



and climate. The leaves are regularly and obliquely divided 



into oblong, rounded lobes, destitute of points : the sections are 



deepest in the most humid soils. Soon after their unfolding 



they are reddish above and white and downy beneath ; when 



fully grown they are smooth and of a light green on the upper 



surface and glaucous beneath. In autumn they change to a 



bright violet color, and form an agreeable contrast with the 



surrounding foliage which has not yet suffered by the frost. 



This is the only oak on which a few of the dried leaves persist 



till the circulation is renewed in the spring, By this peculiarity 



and by the whiteness of the bark, from which it derives its name, 



it is easily distinguishable in the winter. This tree puts forth 



flowers in May which are succeeded by acorns of an oval form, 



large, very sweet, contained in rough, shallow, grayish cups, and 



borne singly or in pairs, by peduncles eight or ten lines in length, 



attached as in all species of annual fructification, to the shoots 



of the season. The fruit of the white oak is rarely abundant 



and frequently for several years in succession a few handfuls of 



acorns could hardly be collected in a large forest where the 



tree is multiplied. Some stocks produce acorns of a deep 



blue color. 



The bark of the trunk of the white oak is often variegated 

 with large, black spots. On. stocks of less than sixteen inches in 

 diameter the epidermis is divided into squares ; on old trees, 

 growing in moist grounds, it is in the form of plates laterally 

 attached. The wood is reddish, and very similar to that of the 

 European oak, though lighter and less compact : in the American 



