DENDROLOGY. 



261 



Internally it may be given in form of decoction, of infusion, or 

 powder, as a tonic and astringent in leucorrboea, menorrhagia, 

 etc., and also in intermittents. Externally, as a styptic, astringent, 

 and antiseptic, when sprinkled in form of a powder over gangrenous 

 and ichorous ulcers. Inhaled in the form of impalpable powder 

 it has been known to cure phthisic, even in its advanced stages. 



Gray Oak. Q 



uercus 



ambi 



gua. 



The Gray Oak is found 

 farther north than any other 

 species in America ; on the 

 river St. Lawrence, between 

 Quebec and Malabaie, in 

 latitude 47 50' may be 

 considered as its northern 

 limit. Three degrees far- 

 ther south in Maine and 

 New Hampshire, and on the 

 shores of Lake Champlain 

 in Vermont, it is more mul- 

 tiplied. It is called by the 

 inhabitants Gray Oak, but 

 it has been confounded by 

 botanists with the red oak, 

 to which it bears a close 

 analogy in its foliage as it does to the scarlet oak in its fruit. On 

 these resemblances is founded the latin specific name of ambigua. 

 In favorable situations it attains the height of 50 or 60 feet 

 with a diameter of 15 or 18 inches. The leaves are large, 

 smooth, and deeply sinuated at right angles to the main rib. 

 The flowers put forth in the month of May, which are succeeded 

 by acorns of a middling size, rounded at the end, and contained 

 in scaly cups. 



The wood of the gray oak is similar to that of the other species 

 included under the common name of Red Oak. Its coarse and 



PLATE LXXIII. 



Fig. 1. A leaf. Fig. 2. The fruit. 



