DENDROLOGY. 



267 



employed in tanning, though it is in no respect preferable to that 

 of the gray and red oaks. The wood of this tree is reddish and 

 coarse-grained, with open pores. As it decays much more 

 rapidly than the white oak, it is employed by the builder and 

 wheelwright only for necessity or economy. It is poor fuel, and 

 is used principally for staves. In the Middle States, a large part 

 of the red oak staves are furnished by this species. From this 

 tree is obtained those excrescences which afford the galls of 

 commerce. 



Spanish Oak. Quercus falcata. 



This species first makes 

 its appearance in New Jersey 

 near Allentown, about sixty 

 miles from Philadelphia. 

 Farther south it is constantly 

 found among the most com- 

 mon trees in the forests. It 

 is less multiplied near the 

 mountains, and in the country 

 beyond them. In Delaware, 

 Maryland and Virginia, it is 

 known only by the name of 

 Spanish Oak, and in the 

 Carolinas and Georgia by 

 that of Red Oak. It is said 

 to have been called Spanish 

 Oak by the first settlers, 

 from the resemblance of its leaves to those of the Quercus 

 velani which grows in Spain. The denomination of Red Oak 

 which is used only in the more Southern States, was probably 

 given on account of the great analogy between its wood and that 

 of the species thus called in the Northern and Middle States, 

 where the .Spanish oak is much less common than in the south. 

 This tree is more than 80 feet in height, and 4 or 5 feet in 

 diameter. Its leaves are very different on different individuals; 



Fig. 1. 



PLATE LXXVL 

 A leaf. Fig. 2. The fruit. 



