﻿Trees of Neiv York State 197 



FAGACEAE 



Quercus marilandica Muench. 



Black Jack Oak, Barren Oak 



Habit — A small tree usually 20-40 feet in height with a trunk diameter of 

 6-12 inches, under favorable conditions sometimes 40-50 feet tall. Crown 

 in the open narrow and round-topped with wide-spreading and somewhat 

 pendulous branches, much restricted under forest conditions. 



Leaves — Alternate, obovate, rounded or cordate at the base, 3- (rarely 5-) 

 lobed at the apex, the lobes roimded or acute, entire, or dentate and 

 bristle-tipped. At maturity the leaves are thick, firm, dark green and 

 lustrous above, and rusty bro^\nr and pubescent below. Petioles stout, 

 V2~% of an inch long. 



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

 fourth grown, monoecious. Staminate tlowers in interrupted, filiform, 

 pendulous, hairy aments 2-4 inches long which are borne on the growth 

 of the preceding season or from the axils of the inner scales of the ter- 

 minal bud. Cah-x campanulate, reddish green, pubescent, deeply divided 

 into 4-5 broad, ovate, rounded lobes. Stamens 4-5, A\-it.h oblong, apieu- 

 late. glabrous, dark red anthers. Pistillate flowers solitary or paired, 

 pedunculate, borne in the axils of the leaves of the season, each subtended 

 by the broadly ovate, rusty-tomentose involucral scales. Calyx adnate 

 to the ovary, its lobes shallow and acute. Stigmas spatulate, reflexed, 

 dark red. 



Fruit — An acorn, borne solitary or in pairs on stout peduncles, ripening the 

 second season. Xut ovoid, pale chestnut -brown and often striate, round - 

 pointed at the apex, %-% of an inch long, enclosed for about half of 

 its length in the cup. Cup turbinate, thick, pale brown and puberulous 

 Avithin. reddish brown without, its scales tomentose and loosely imbricated. 



Winter characters — Twigs stout, pale-lentieellate. smooth or puberulous, 

 reddish bro^^^l. at length dark brown or gray. Buds alternate, those near 

 the branch-tip clustered about the terminal bud, ovat*", acute-angled, 

 pubescent, reddish brown, about Vi of an inch long. Mature bark dark 

 broAvn or black, thick, rough with deep fissures separating squarish plates 

 1-3 inches in diamter. 



Habitat — In our range a tree of the sand barrens, preferring dry, sterile 

 soils where conditions arc adverse for most tree species. 



Bange — Long Island west through Pennsylvania to southeastern Nebraska, 

 south to Florida, and eastern Texas. Zone A. 



Uses — The tree is of uo commercial value in New York State. Wood hard, 

 heavy, strong, dark brown with paler sapwood. In the south it is used 

 for fuel, railroad ties, and occasionally manufactured into lumber. 



