OAK FAMILY. ^ 303 



downy beneath, pale and rough above, sinuately 5 - 7-lobed, the lobes divergent 

 and rounded, the upper pair larger and sometimes 1-3-notched ; naked cup 

 deep saucer-shaped, half or one third the length of the small acorn. 



Q. macroearpa, Bur-Oak, Over-cup or Mossy-cup White Oak. 

 Middle-sized tree in fertile soil, commonest W. : with obovate or oblong lyrately 

 pinnatifid leaves, of various shape, pale or downy beneath, smooth above ; 

 cu]) deep, thick and woody, from hardly 1' to 2' in diameter, covered with hard 

 and thick pointed scales, the upper ones tapering into bristly points, making a 

 mossy-fringed border; acorn I'-l^' long, half or wholly covei'ed by the cup. 



Q. lyr^ta, Southern Overcup Oak. Large tree in river-swamps, from 

 N. Car. S. & W. : leaves crowded at the end of the branchlets, obovate-oblong, 

 with 7-9 triangular and entire acute lobes, glossy above, whitish-downy be- 

 neath ; cup sessile, globular, rough with rugged scales, almost covering the 

 globular nut. 



* * Chestnut-Oaks, with toothed or sinuate leaves, not lobed except slightly in 



the first apecies, white or luhifish downy beneath: cup hoary, about half the 

 length of the oblomj-ovoid edible acorn. 



Q. bicolor. Swamp White Oak. Low grounds, chiefly N. & W. : tall 

 tree, with leaves intermediate between the Wliite and the Chestnut Oaks, being 

 more or less obovate and sinuate-toothed, or some of them nearly pinnatifid, 

 hoary with soft down beneath, wedge-shaped at base, the main veins only 6-8 

 pairs and not prominent ; peduncle in fruit longer than the petiole ; cup often 

 mossy-fringed at the margin ; aconi hardly I' long. 



Q. Prinus, Chestnut Oak. The leading form is Swamp Chestnut 

 Oak, in low grounds mainly S. ; with obovate or oblong leaves wavy-toothed 

 and minutely downy beneath, the main veins 10-16 pairs and prominent be- 

 neath ; fruit-bearing peduncle short ; the thick cup j'- 1' wide, tnbcrcled with the 

 thick scales ; acorn 1' or less long. — Var. MONTfcoLA, Rock Chestnut Oak, 

 has large acorns like the above, but more the chestnut-like leaves of the next ; 

 grows in and near the mountains. — Var. acuminIta, Yellow Chestnut Oak 

 of rich rather dry soil through the interior, mostly of the Middle States, has 

 chestnut-like oblong or lanceolate leaves, mostly roundish at base, on slender 



Eetioles, equally and sharply toothed, and very straight-veined ; cup about |' 

 road, its scales small and close ; acorn rather small. 

 Q. prinoides, Dwarf Chestnut or Chinquapin-Oak. Barren or 

 sandy soil, mostly E. : shrub 2° -4° high, with obovate or oblong sinuate 

 leaves narrowed at base ; and acorns and cup like those of true Chestnut Oak, 

 but very much smaller ; producing little abortive acorns in the axils of some of 

 the scales of the cup. 



* * * Live Oak, with evergreen coriaceous leaves, not lobed. 

 Q. virens, Live Oak. Barrens or sands along the coast from Virg. S. 

 Small or large tree, or a mere shrub, with very durable firm wood, the branch- 

 lets and lower face of the small oblong entire (or rarely spiny-toothed) leaves 

 hoary ; conspicuous peduncle bearing 1-3 small fruits, with top-shaped cup 

 and oblong acorn. 



§ 2. Biennial-fruited Oaks, the acorns not maturing until the autumn of 

 the second year, these therefore borne on old wood below the leaves of the 

 season, on short and thick peduncles or none : kernel always bitter : tip or 

 lobes of the leaves commonly bristle-pointed. 



* Thickish-leaved Oaks, some of them almost or quite evergreen at the South, 



coriaceous but deciduous N., entire, sparingly toothed, or barely 3-lobed at 

 the summit. 



-t- Leaves generally entire, not widened upwards : acorns spherical, smalt. 



Q. eindrea. Upland Willow Oak. Dry pine-barrens, S. E. Virginia 

 and S. SnuUl tree or shrub ; resembles Live Oak, but more downy, narrower- 

 leaved, the cup shallow, and small acorn globular. 



Q. Phellos, Willow Oak. Sandy low woods from New York S. : a 

 middle-sized nve, remarkable for its linear-lanceolate smooth willow-like leaves 

 narrowed at both ends. 



