The Trees of Vermont 127 



FAGACEAE 



Quercitron. Yellow-barked Oak. Black Oak 

 Quercus velutina Lam. 



Habit. — A medium-sized tree 50-60 feet high and 1-3 feet in 

 trunk diameter; slender hranches and stout branchlets form a wide- 

 spreading, rounded crown. 



Leaves.- — Alternate, simple, 5-10 inches long, 3-8 inches broad; 

 ovate to oblong ; usually 7-lobed, some wnth shallow sinuses and broad, 

 rounded, mucronate lobes, others with wide, rounded sinuses extending 

 half-way to the midrib or farther and narrow-oblong or triangular, 

 bristle-tipped lobes, the lobes more or less coarse-toothed, each tooth 

 bristle-tipped ; thick and leathery ; dark green and shining above, pale 

 and more or less pubescent beneath ; petioles stout, yellow, 3-6 inches 

 long. 



Flowers. — May, when the leaves are half grown ; monoecious ; 

 the staminate in pubescent catkins 4-6 inches long; the pistillate red- 

 dish, on short, tomentose peduncles ; calyx acutely 3-4-lobed, reddish, 

 hairy ; corolla ; stamens usually 4-5, with acute, yellow anthers ; 

 stigmas 3, divergent, red. 



Fruit. — Autumn of second season ; sessile or short-stalked acorns ; 

 cup cup-shaped or turbinate, inclosing about one-half of the nut ; scales 

 thin, light brown, hoary; nut ovoid, /^-% inch long, red-brown, often 

 pubescent ; kernel yellow, bitter. 



Winter-buds.— Terminal bud ^ inch long, ovoid to conical, ob- 

 tuse, strongly angled, hoary-tomentose. 



Bark. — Twigs at first scurfy-pubescent, later glabrous, red-brown, 

 finally mottled gray ; thick and nearly black on old trunks, deeply fur- 

 rowed and scaly ; inner bark thick, yellow, very bitter. Plate V. 



Wood. — Heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, bright red-brown, 

 with thin, paler sapwood. 



Distribution. — Frequent in western \^crmont and in the Con- 

 necticut valley as far north as Bellows Falls. 



Habitat. — Dry, light soil ; poor soils. 



Notes. — The quercitron or yellow-barked oak is a southern species 

 which reaches its northern limit in Vermont. It is not uncommon in 

 light, dry soils in the Champlain valley and it occurs also in the south- 

 ern part of the Connecticut valley. The two common and apparently 

 incompatible names, yellow oak and black oak, arise from the diverse 

 colors of the inner bark and the outer bark. The former, which is 

 used in tanning, is yellow, while the later is very dark. The leaves are 

 rather large, dark, shiny green with yellowish petioles. 



