CHAP. CV. 



CORYLA^CE^>. QUE'UCUS. 



1883 



em states, it forms a noble tree, 80 ft. high, with ,/ 1 750 



a trunk 4ft. or 5ft. in diameter; while in New 



Jersey the tree is never above 30 ft. high, with 



a trunk only 4 in. or 5 in. thick. The bark is 



thick, black, and deeply furrowed ; and the 



wood is reddish and coarse-grained, with open 



pores, like that of the red oak. The leaves are 



also extremely different : on the trees in the 



south, they are falcate, like those mfig. 1750., 



copied from the plate of this tree in the North 



American Si/lva, i. t. 23. In New Jersey, the 



leaves are three-lobed (like those shown in j^. 

 1751., from the Histoire des Cknies), 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 Jig. 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^g. 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. falcata 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. Banisten', and, like 

 them, preserve the power of germination for a 

 long time. The growth of this tree, according 

 to the elder INIichaux, is extremely rapid and vigorous, even on the worst 

 soils. The most northern boundary of Q. falcata is the neighbourhood 

 of AUentown, 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. Vcldni, 

 which grows in Spain." If Q. ^'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. rubra. 

 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'lbae. " 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- 



