DENDROLOGY 



271 



Laurel Oak. Quercus imbricaria. 



PLATE LXXVIII. 

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



East of the Alleghanies 

 this species is rare, and has 

 received no specific name ; 

 west of the mountains, where 

 it is more multiplied and has 

 attracted more attention, it 

 is called Jack Oak, Black 

 Jack Oak, and sometimes 

 from the form of the leaves, 

 Laurel Oak. The last de- 

 nomination we have preserv- 

 ed as the most appropriate, 

 though perhaps it is less 

 common than the first. This 

 tree is a stranger north of 

 Pennsylvania and is rare in 

 the more Southern States. 

 It is found abundantly only beyond the mountains in some parts 

 of Kentucky and Tennessee and in the country of Illinois where 

 it is profusely multiplied, and it is called by the French of that 

 country Chene a lattes, lath oak. In the western parts of 

 Pennsylvania and Virginia, small lawns, covered only with tall 

 grass, are frequently seen in the forests, around which the laurel 

 oak forms entire groves : insulated stocks are also found in cool, 

 humid situations. It is probably from its flourishing in open 

 exposures that it is most abundant in the country of the Illinois, 

 which consists of immeasurable savannas stretching in every 

 direction, to which the forests bear no sensible proportion. 



The laurel oak is 40 or 50 feet high, and 12 or 15 inches in 

 diameter. Its trunk even when old, is clad in a smooth bark, 

 and, for three-fourths of its height, is laden with branches. It 

 has an uncouth form when bared in the winter, but is beautiful 

 in the summer when clad with its thick, tufted foliage. The 

 leaves are long, lanceolate, entire, of a light, shining green and 



