THE PLANT WORLD 



53 



While all farmers know the White and Chestnut Oak at a glance, 

 yet when it comes to the Red Oak group many mistakes are made in 

 identification. Below is a list with short descriptions and sketches of the 

 Kentucky oaks. Many mixed or hybrid forms are found here ; but this 

 list includes only the more important ones, the true species. 



RED OAK GROUP. 



Red Oak {.Quercus rubra, L.) (Fig. l). — 

 A large forest tree with dark gray bark. 

 Leaves about 8 inches long, cut into large 

 triangular lobes, bristle-tipped. Acorn two 

 to four times as long as cup ; the latter 

 broad saucer-shaped and flat at base. 

 Wood hard, coarse-grained, color light 

 reddish- brown. Along streams and at 

 sink-holes and springs. 



Pin Oak (^Quercus palustris, Du Roi) 

 (Fig. 3). — Bark rough when old, dark- 

 brown. Tree about 120 feet high, the lower 

 branches drooping. Leaves deeply cut into 

 narrow lobes, bright green and shining 

 above, duller and with tufts of hairs in the 



axils of the veins beneath. Cup 



small, 4 to 6 inches broad; wood 



strong, light colored. 



Texan Red Oak (^Quercus 



Texana, Buckley) (Fig. 2). — A 



tree similar to the preceding 



two and often mistaken for them. 



A large tree, with reddish-brown 



bark, broken into ridges and 



plates. Leaves more deeply cut 



than red oak and not with such 



narrow lobes as the pin oak ; 



bright green and shining, turning 



red in the autumn. Acorn two to 



three times as high as the cup, 



often striped. The first time 



that this tree — a southwestern oak — was listed in this State was in 1893, 



when I found it in Warren County. It is known locally as "Red 



Oak " or " Spotted Oak," and a tree at Earlington known as " Yellow- 

 bottom Oak " may possibly be this Texan oak. 



