DENDROLOGY. 



275 



Post Oak. Quercus obiusiloba. 



plate Lxxxr. 



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



In New Jersey near the 

 sea, and in the vicinity of 

 Philadelphia, this species is 

 thinly disseminated in the 

 forests, and was formerly 

 considered as a variety of 

 the white oak. In Maryland 

 and a great part of Virginia, 

 where it abounds, and where 

 its properties are better 

 understood, it is called Box 

 TVhite Oak, and sometimes 

 Iron Oak and Post Oak. 

 The last denomination only 

 is used in the Carolinas, 

 Georgia and East Tennessee. 

 The steep banks of the 

 Hudson in the vicinity of New York are the most northern points 

 where it grows. Even here its existence seems to be secured 

 only by the influence of the sea air, which tempers to a certain 

 degree the severity of the winter. A little farther inward it is 

 not found in the forests. In the vicinity o'f South Amboy, thirty 

 miles nearer the sea, where the soil is dry and sandy, it is more 

 multiplied, and it stiil becomes more vigorous and more common 

 in advancing towards the south. Near Baltimore, it abounds in 

 the woods and attains its utmost expansion. In Kentucky and 

 Tennessee it is rare, except on the edges of the swamps inclosed 

 in the forests, about which it is multiplied though not fully 

 developed. It is likewise found in Lower Louisiana and East 

 Florida. But it is nowhere more abundant than in Maryland 

 and in Virginia, between the Alleghanies and the sea. Wherever 

 the soil is dry, gravelly and unsubstantial, it forms a considerable 

 portion of the forests. The upper part of the Carolinas and 

 Georgia, particularly where the pine and oak forests unite, is 



