166 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. cupulifer^. 



with conspicuous tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the veins ; and at maturity they are thin but firm 

 in texture^ dull bluish green^ paler below than on the upper surface^ and glabrous or marked with 

 axillary tufts of rusty hairs ; usually about two and a half inches long and an inch and a half wide^ 

 they vary on fertile branches from an inch and a half to six inches in length and from one to two and a 

 half inches in width^ with midribs raised and rounded on the upper side^ slender primary veins generally 

 arcuate and united within the slightly revolute margins^ and conspicuous reticulate veinlets ; they are 

 borne on stout flattened grooved petioles from one eighth to nearly one half of an inch long and fall 

 gradually during the winter. The flowers appear from February to April^ the staminate borne on red 

 hairy-stemmed aments from two to three inches in length, and the pistiUate on short tomentose pedun- 

 cles. The calyx of the staminate flower is thin and scarious, coated on the outer surface with short 

 hairs, and deeply divided into four or five ovate rounded segments ; the stamens are four or five in 

 number, with oblong emarginate glabrous yellow anthers. The involucral scales of the pistillate flower 

 are a little shorter than the acute calyx-lobes and are coated with rusty hairs j the stigmas are reflexed 

 and deep red. The fruit ripens late in the autumn of the second season and is sessile or borne on a 

 stout peduncle rarely more than an eighth of an inch long, and is usually solitary ; the nut is ovoid, 

 broad and flat at the base, full and rounded at the apex, which is covered with rufous pubescence, light 

 yellow-brown and often striate, from one third to two thirds of an inch in length and a little less in 

 breadth, with a thick sheU lined with fulvous tomentum, and bright yellow cotyledons ; the cup is thin 

 and flat on the bottom and is generally saucer-shaped, embracing only the very base of the nut, but 

 occasionally is cup-shaped and incloses fully a third of the nut ; it is coated on the inner surface above 

 the large yellow scar with pale silky tomentum, and is covered by ovate acute closely appressed light 

 red-brown scales which are clothed with pale pubescence, excej)t on their darker colored margins, and are 

 sometimes slightly thickened toward the base of the cup. 



Qiierctis nigra inhabits the high sandy borders of swamps and streams and the rich bottom-lands 

 of rivers, and is distributed from southern Delaware southward to CajDe Malabar and the shores of 

 Tampa Bay, Florida, ranging inland through the south Atlantic states to the base of the Appalachian 

 mountains, and westward through the Gulf states to the valley of the Colorado River in Texas, through 

 the eastern borders of the Indian Territory and through Arkansas to the vaUey of the Black River in 

 southeastern Missouri, and to central Tennessee and Kentucky. 



The wood of Qiterciis nigra is heavy, hard, strong, and close-grained ; it is hght brown, with thick 

 lighter colored sap wood, and contains thin conspicuous medullary rays and broad bands of open ducts 

 marking the layers of annual growth. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.7244, a 

 cubic foot weighing 45.14 pounds. Except as fuel it has Httle value. 



Qiiercus nigra'^ was first described by Catesby in the Natural History of Carolina^ pubhshed in 

 1731,^ although according to Aiton ^ it was cultivated by Mr. Thomas Fairchild * in England before 

 1733. The ease with which it can be transplanted and the rapidity of its growth have made this Water 

 Oak a favorite shade-tree in the southern states, and it is frequently planted in the streets and squares 

 of towns and in pleasure-grounds. 



Quercus nigra is also sometimes called Duck Oak, Possum Oak, Le Chene d'eau, Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, ed. 



and Punk Oak. 



12^\ iv. 335, f . 47. 



2 Quercus folio non serrato, in summitate quasi triangulo, i. 20, t. ^ //^p,,^_ ^^^^ ^^ 2, v. 291. — Loudon, Arh. Brit. iii. 1892, f. 1767, 



20. — Romans, Nat Hist Florida^ 18. 1768. 



Quercus foliis cuneiformibus obsolete trilobis, Clayton, FL Virgin. ** See v. 68. 

 117. 



