CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CEA. QUE/RCUS. 1883 
ern states, it forms a noble tree, 80 ft. high, with 
atrunk 4ft. or 5ft. in diameter; while in New 
Jersey the tree is never aboye 30 ft. high, with 
a trunk only 4in. or 5in. thick. The bark is 
thick, black, and deeply furrowed; and the 
wood is reddish and coarse-grained, with open 
pores, like that of theredoak. The leaves are 
also extremely different : on the trees in the 
south, they are falcate, like those in fig. 1750., 
copied from the plate of this tree in the North 
American Sylva, i, t. 23. In New Jersey, the 
leaves are shesetnned (like those shown in fig. 
1751., from the Histoire des Chénes), except a 
few on the summit, which are slightly falcated. 
Generally, the lower branches of all trees of ; : 
this species, growing in moist and shaded situations, have their leaves trilobed ; 
while those on the upper branches are falcated, with their lobes even more 
arched than those shown in fig. 1750. This remarkable difference led the elder 
Michaux to describe the specimens which he 
found growing in very cold bad land as Q. 
triloba; and on the young shoots of these spe- 
cimens he frequently found leaves deeply den- 
ticulated or lobed, like those of Q. rubra or 
Q. coccinea, as represented at a in fig. 1751. 
The stumps of trees that have been felled, also, 
frequently send up shoots bearing leaves deeply 
denticulated at right angles to the main rib. 
Amidst all these changes, however, the leaves 
of Q. falc’ta preserve one striking character- 
istic; which is, that there is always “a thick 
down upon the under side of the leaves, and 
upon the young shoots to which they are 
attached.” The acorns are small, round, brown, 
and contained in slightly scaly, shallow, top- 
shaped cups, supported on short peduncles : 
they resemble those of Q. Banisteri, and, like 
them, preserve the power of germination for a 
long time. The growth of this tree, according 
to the elder Michaux, is extremely rapid and vigorous, even on the worst 
soils. The most northern boundary of Q. falcata is the neighbourhood 
of Allentown, in New Jersey, about 60 miles from Philadelphia. Even at 
this distance, says the younger Michaux, the leaves are smaller than in the 
immediate vicinity of the city, where they begin to assume their appropriate 
form. Farther south, Q. falcata is constantly found among the most com- 
mon trees in the forests; but it is less frequent near the mountains, and 
in the country beyond. “ In Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, it is known 
by the name of the Spanish oak ; and, in the Carolinas and Georgia, by that 
of the red oak.” Michaux adds that, in an old English work which he found 
in “ the library at Charleston, it is said to have been called the Spanish oak 
by the first settlers, from the resemblance of its leaves to those of Q. Veldni, 
which grows in Spain.” If Q. 4’gilops is the oak meant, the resemblance 
must have been very slight. The name of the red oak was probably derived 
from the great analogy between the wood of this species and that of Q. ribra. 
The wood of the Spanish oak is, however, better than that of the latter, though 
it is, also, too porous to contain wine or spirits; and, from its want of dura- 
bility, it is considered greatly inferior to that of the oaks belonging to the 
section A’lbx. ‘ The principal merit of the Spanish oak,” says the younger 
Michaux, “ consists in its bark. This is preferred for tanning coarse leather, 
which it renders whiter and more supple; it is consequently sold, at Phila- 
