﻿Trees of New York State 177 



FAGACEAE 



Quercus stellata Wang. [Quercus minor Sarg. ; Quercus obtusiloba Michx.] 



Post Oak, Iron Oak 



Habit — A tree usually 50-60 feet in height with a trunk diameter of 1-2 

 feet, under optimum conditions sometimes becoming 80-100 feet tall with 

 a long, clean bole, in the northern limits of its range often reduced to a 

 shrub. Grown broad, dense, round-topped, mth stout spreading branches, 

 much reduced in forest-gro'WTi specimens. 



Leaves — Alternate, oblong-obovate, 4-7 inches long, 3-5 inches wide, broadly 

 euneate at the base, sinuately cut in 5-7 rounded, divergent lobes, the 

 upper 3 much the larger and often notched. At maturity leaves thick, 

 firm, dark green above with scattered stellate hairs, and rusty pubescent 

 beneath. Petioles stout, pubescent, ^-1 inch in length. 



Flowers — In our range, appearing in May when the leaves are about one- 

 fourth grown, monoecious. Staminate flowers bracteolate, in interrupted, 

 pendulous, deciduous aments 2i^-4 inches long which are borne on the 

 growth of the preceding season or from the axils of the inner scales of 

 the terminal bud. Calyx campanulate, yellow, hirsute, with laeiniate, 

 acute lobes. Stamens 4^6, with filiform, exserted filaments and yellow, 

 notched anthers. Pistillate flowers sessile or pedunculate, borne in the 

 axils of the leaves of the season, each subtended by broadly ovate, hirsute 

 involucral scales. Calyx campanulate, shallowly lobed, adnate to the 

 ovary. Pistil consisting of a 3-celled (rarely 4-5-celled) ovary surmounted 

 by 3 short, dilated, red styles stigmatic on the inner surface. 



Fruit — A sessile or pedunculate acorn, ripening in one season. Nut oval, 

 obtuse and often pubescent at the apex, light chestnut-brown and striate, 

 1/^-1 inch long, enclosed about one-third of its length in the cup. Cup 

 turbinate, downy within, consisting of numerous thin, flat, tomentose 

 scales. 



Winter characters — T^\'igs stout, pubescent, pale-lenticellate, orange to red- 

 dish broA\Ti, at length dark bro\\Ti or nearly black. Buds alternate, those 

 near the branch-tip clustered about the terminal bud, broadly ovate, 

 bluntly acute, chestnut-brown and pubescent, %-% of an inch long. 

 Mature bark grayish brown, thick, divided by deep fissures into broad 

 ridges, scaly on the surface. 



Habitat — An upland species preferring dry, sandy or gravelly sites. Thrives 

 on limestone soils. 



Range — • Central New England west to Kansas and Missouri, south to Florida 

 and eastern Texas. Usually shrubby in the northeast. Zones A and B. 



Uses — Wood hard, heavj% close-grained, durable, pale brown with lighter 

 sapwood. It is not distinguished in the trade from that of Quercus alhc 

 and is put to similar uses. 



