1. — White oak. 



an tg^ (ovate), but since the widest part is nearer its tip than its 

 stem, we call it obovate. 



Observe the lobes. They are much narrower in the smaller leaf 

 and the sinuses are deeper, but this is not important. The white oak 

 always has lobes much like this and rounded rather than pointed. 



The lobes are 

 placed about the 

 same distance 

 apart and the 

 sinuses are 

 rounded toward 

 the middle of 

 the leaf. Then, 

 the number of 

 the lobes is three 

 on each side be- 

 sides the one at the tip ; but there may be only 

 three lobes altogether or there may be nine. 

 The leaves themselves are from four to six inches 

 long. Then if the leaves are smooth, of a bright 

 green in summer, paler on the lower surface than on the upper, and 

 if the acorn has the shape of the one in the picture, the tree is a white 

 oak. This narrow lobing of the leaves gives the mass of the tree-top 

 a soft and feathery effect. If the tree is of some size the bark will 

 be light gray and made up of small scales. The trunks of some white 

 oaks rise as single stems to the top of the tree, the branches spreading 

 out crookedly and horizontally from them, while others have a number 

 of trunks or branches which seem to spread in all directions; in both 

 forms the lower branches are often very nearly horizontal. An old 

 white oak is one of the best of ornamental trees, and one growing in 

 a yard is worth in beauty and shade three or four ordinary trees. 

 It spreads so widely, its branches are so crooked and grotesque, and 

 it appears so sturdy and powerful, that it seems to have a stronger 

 ( haracter than ordinary trees, 



