HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



EIGHTY-SEVENTH PAPER 

 Southern Red Oak 



Qucrfus Tcxana — Bueki. 



Querous Xexana, the southern red oak, be- 

 longs to that group of commercial red oaks 

 which supplies the market with its entire 

 stock of red oak lumber and has come to 

 occupy a most prominent and favorable posi- 

 tion as a high-grade material. With southern 

 red oak and the true red oak, Quercus riibra, 

 are associated in the group, scarlet 

 oak, Quercus coccinea, turkey oak, 

 Quercus catesbaei and Spanish oak, 

 Quercms digitata. The southern red 

 oak can truthfully be said to repre- 

 sent the best species which is found 

 in any great quantity in the United 

 States, ranking about equal as to 

 quality with Quercus rubra of the 

 northern states and of the Appa- 

 lachians. Very little difference is 

 noted between these two species and, 

 in fact, they are seldom distinguished 

 in the market. Botanically, Quercus 

 Texana belongs to the group of oaks 

 ivhose fruit matures in two years; 

 the shell of the acorn being silky on 

 the inside and the lobes of the leaves 

 bristle-tipped. The leaves are decidu- 

 ous in the first autumn. 



As above noted, this type of oak is 

 •closely allied to the northern red oak 

 in importance and now without doubt 

 represents the principal source of sup- 

 ply for the future. In the district 

 in which it grows it dominates with 

 cow oak of the white oak group the 

 •entire surrounding vegetation, its 

 crown reaching far above all other 

 species. There is, however, as a gen- 

 eral thing, an abundant undergrowth 

 of seedlings and saplings in various 

 stages of development. Quercus Tex- 

 ■ana is probably even taller than the 

 cow oak and makes an imposing spec- 

 tacle with its massive straight trunk. 

 "While specimens found in its favorite 

 haunts would usually indicate that it 

 is one of the most massive of our 

 •oaks, an average growth for all locali- 

 ties is not of unusual size. 



The section of the country most 

 suitably adapted to the very best type 

 •of growth is that section along the 

 lower Mississippi where a moist, rich 

 soil prevails. The tree is usually 

 found on what are called "second 

 bottom" lands, meaning those sec- 

 tions along the river banks and lowlands be- 

 tween the rises and the swamps. In this 

 ■environment it is usually accompanied by 

 red and black gum, white and red elm, white 

 and cane ash, cottonwood and hackberry. On 

 account of the favorable conditions of growth, 

 an abundance of moisture and nutrition be- 

 ing constantly available in the soil, the wood 



contain-s rather large pores in order to best 

 utilize this constant abundance of food sup- 

 ply. Owing to the same influence, the growth 

 of the tree is unusually rapid, and wide annual 

 rings, resulting in more or less coarse texture, 

 are apparent. 



The range of growtli is mostly in the 



TYPICAL FOREST GROWTO, SOUTHERN' RET) OAK. NT 

 WESTERN MISSISSIPPI 



southeastern section of the United States, in- 

 eluding the Gulf states, most of Texas, the 

 border going north through Oklahoma and 

 Kansas, the eastern half of Iowa, southeast 

 to the middle of Illinois, Indiana and Ken- 

 tucky, going around the mountains in Tennes- 

 see and up on the east side and the coast to 

 middle North Carolina. 



This tree has not the usual diversity of 

 nomenclature which applies to most species 

 of the oak famUy. In Texas it is variously 

 known as red oak, spotted oak and Spanish 

 oak. "While the usual botanical interpreta- 

 tion is as here noted, Britton has described 

 the species as Quercus SclinecTcii and under 

 this botanical name it bears the com- 

 mon name of Schneck's oak. 



The best specimens of this oak 

 often attain a height of 200 feet, 

 and in unusual cases reach eight and 

 nine feet in diameter. Growing as it 

 does on flat lands, and being of im- 

 mense size, it is a conspicuous figure 

 in the landscape and from any prom- 

 entory overlooking the general forest 

 growth, the tops of this and the cow 

 oak can be seen towering far above 

 their neighbors. It has a clean, neat 

 appearance, and reaches far up into 

 the foliage of the surrounding growth 

 with a long, clear bole which some- 

 times cuts as much as five log lengths 

 without a limb. The usual form has 

 a more or less buttressed base and 

 the crown is composed of stout, stub- 

 by limbs and coarse branches. Its 

 bark is light, reddish brown in color 

 and broadly divided into ridges which 

 in turn are broken into thick, square 

 plates. The bark is a feature of the 

 tree, which differs more or less from 

 that of similar species, and is a great 

 aid in identification. The leaves 

 greatly resemble those of the scarlet 

 oak, having deep, narrow sinuses and 

 long, delicate, sharp-pointed lobes. 

 They rarely turn brilliant colors in 

 the fall, but begin to turn dull colors 

 at an early period and fall off before 

 the season is well advanced and be- 

 fore they have changed to any great 

 extent. The acorn is of the true red 

 oak shape, brown in color and usually 

 with a shallow cup, which is also 

 often hemi-spherical. The staminate 

 flowers are in slender aments and the 

 pistillate on short peduncles. 



In those sections of its range where 

 the tree obtains a good merchantable 

 size, southern red oak is now manu- 

 factured to a very considerable ex- 

 RTH- tent, and while usually not considered 

 superior to the northern red oak, 

 where rapid growth has rendered the grain 

 coarse and the pores large, in some places is 

 in every way its equal and in others where 

 the growth is not so rapid, it is of better 

 quality. The logs are usually cut to the 

 full diameter and remarkably wide, clear 

 boards are often produced. As a rule the 

 lumber runs to a good percentage of firsts 



