88 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



CUPULIFERiE. 



pistillate flower are coated with pale tomentiim, and the stigmas are bright red. The 



ripen 



the autumn and 



ually solitary and sessile^ although occasionally they are raised on slender stalks 



sometimes 



ly two inches in length ; the nut is ovate, oval 



htly obovatC; full and rounded 



at the apex, which is furnished with a narrow ring of white pubescence, dark chestnut-brown, striate 

 and very lustrous, but soon becoming light brown in drying, from one half to three quarters of an 

 inch long and about one third of an inch broad, with a thin papery shell and dark purple very astringent 

 connate cotyledons ; the cup, which embraces about a third of the nut, is shallow, cup-shaped or rarely 



turbinate, thin, yellow-green and pubescent on the inner surface, and covered by ovate-oblong scales ; 

 these are regularly imbricated, shghtly thickened on the back^ coated with hoary tomentum, and 



slender white hairs which some- 



produced into thin acute bright red tips ciliate on their margins with 

 times form a minute fringe to the rim of the cup. 



Qiiercus oblongifolia is distributed from the Chisos Mountains, in 



western Texas,^ through 



southern New Mexico and Arizona, and ranges southward into northern Mexico. Comparatively rare 

 in Texas, it is abundant on the foothills of all the mountain ranges of New Mexico and Arizona south 

 of the Colorado plateau, at elevations of about five thousand feet, and, with Quercits Emoryi^ dots the 

 upper slopes of the mesa where narrow canons open to the plain. 



The wood of Quercits ohlonr/ifoUa is very heavy, hard, and strong, but brittle and liable to check 

 badly in drying ; it is dark brown or nearly black, with thick brown sapwood, and contains conspicuous 

 medullary rays, the layers of annual growth being hardly distinguishable. Exceedingly difficult to cut 

 and split, it is sometimes used as fuel, but has no other economic value. 



Quereus ohlongifolia was discovered in western New Mexico in the autumn of 1851, by Dr. S. W. 



Woodho 



of the expedit 



by the government of 



the United States, under the 



conmiand of Captain Sitgreaves, to explore the Zuiii and Colorado Rivers. It is a tree of the foothills 

 and one of the most beautiful of the Oaks of the southwest, always easily recognized by its pale 

 checkered bark, its handsome compact round-topped head, and its Hght blue foliage. 



^ Quereus ohlongifolia was collected in western Texas by Dr. V. 

 Havard, U. S. Army {teste Herb. Engelnianu). 



Woodrufe 



the Creek and Cherokee Nations ; a year later he joined the Zuui 



2 Samuel Washington Woodhouse, son of Samuel Woodhouse, a exploring party under command of Captain Sitgreaves in the same 

 captain in the United States Army, was born June 27, 1821, in capacity, and published the account of the mammals and birds 



1854 



Pliiladelphia, where he was educated, and in 1847 was graduated included in the general report of this expedition. In 



from the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania and Woodhouse took part in a scientific expedition to Central America, 



elected an assistant physician in the Philadelphia Hospital. In and two years later resigned his position in the army. The natural 



1849 Dr. Woodhouse, who had early developed it love of natural history collections made in his long journeys are preserved in the 



history, especially of ornithology, was appointed surgeon and nat- 



Washingt 



uralist of the expedition sent under command of Captain L. Sit- Academy of Natural Sciences. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 



Plate CCCLXXXVIII. Quercus oblongifolia. 



1. A flowering branch, natural size. 



2. A staminate flower, enlarged. 

 3- A pistillate flower, enlarged. 



4. A fruiting branch, natural size. 



5. Leaf of a vigorous shoot, natural size. 



6. A leaf, natural size. 



7. A leaf, natural size. 



8. A leaf, natural size. 



9. The end of a winter branchlet, natural size. 

 10. A winter-bud, enlarged. 



