70 THE PLANT WOKLD 



look upon them as curiosities in the oak line. Rarely do we find a 

 quercitron or black oak {Q. veliitina Lam.) mixed in our typical oak 

 groves. 



Turning to southeastern or southern Iowa, we find the relations of 

 the bur, white, scarlet, and red oak remaining much the same as in the 

 eastern part of the State, except that the shingle oak {Q. imbricaria 

 Michx.), or laurel oak, as it is called in Iowa, makes itself numerous in 

 the uplands, replacing in many localities the scarlet oak. On the 

 second bottoms we find the swamp white oak {Q. platanoides (Lam.) 

 Sudw.) flourishing, and in the swampy portions of the lower bottom the 

 pin oak {Q. palastrls Du Roi) occurs abundantly. The swamp white 

 oak and the pin oak sometimes intermingle on neutral ground, but not 

 to mutual benefit. Coming to the uplands, we find groves of black- 

 jack or barren oak (Q. Marylandica Muench.) growing frequently on 

 rather sterile soil. The trees are small, rough-formed, apparently 

 stunted, much-branched, so much so that getting wood from these 

 groves is slow and laborious. Infrequently we find a water oak {Q. 

 nigra L.) in these black-jack groves. This species occurs along streams 

 and swamps in the eastern portion of the United States, but in Iowa 

 we have seen it only on the upland. Passing out on the prairie we find 

 many colonies of the ground or scrub chestnut oak {Q. prinoides Willd.). 

 The species is small, only two or three feet high, of heavy root, and of 

 no economic value save the acorns, which are stored by the prairie 

 squirrels. The roots are a rather formidable obstacle to the breaking 

 of the sod, taxing the patience of the breaker and the draught team. 

 On the prairie, too, we find the bur oak. Instead of the fine large trees, 

 we have scrubs, only a few feet high, but seemingly thriving in small 

 colonies, and each ajiparently striving to be the prototype of a future 

 forest. 



In central and western Iowa we find the red oak frequently dis- 

 placing the scarlet oak. The white oak is frequent along with the bur 

 oak, which is stately or scrubby, according to location. Occasional!}' a 

 few chestnut oaks occur along the bluffs in central Iowa. In the same 

 region also occurs the Texan red oak {Q. Texmia Bucklej^j an unusual 

 find. 



It will be seen that central and western Iowa have few species, as 

 compared with the eastern and southern portions. Forests are more 

 extensive in the eastern area. The larger rivers of the State are all 

 eastern, and the Father of Waters is our eastern border. The forest 

 primeval established itself in a narrow strip along ,our eastern border, 

 sending out branches of tenuous width up the tributaries. The forests 

 of central and western Iowa are meagre because tliej^ had to be estab- 

 lished in a fire-swept zone, and had not reached their fulness before the 



