CHAP. CV. 



CORYLA^CEiE. QUE'rCUS. 



1885 



Engravings. Michx. Quer., t. 34. ; N. Amer. Syl., 1. t. H. ; our fgs. MCS. and 1754. ; and the plate of 

 this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., <Sr. Leaves downy beneath, obovatc-oblong, difated, widelj 

 siiiuated ; lobes short, obtuse, sliphtly toothed, bristle-pointed. Calyx of 

 the fruit flat underneath ; nut globose. ( JVilld.) A tree, varymg from 

 80 ft. to 100 ft. high. Introduced in 1800. 

 Varieties. Michaux, in his Flora Borealis Americana, gives 

 the two following forms of this species : — 



i Q. /. 1 angulosa Michx.; Q. nigra Purs// Arb. Am., 

 p. 120. ; Q. americana Pliik. Aim., p. 309. ; 

 1753 ^ Q- velutina Lam. Did.; Q. tinctoria i?«7/. 

 Trav., p. 37.; and our />.?. 1753, ITo-t. — 

 Leaves smooth, lobed with angular lobes. 

 Cup top-shaped. Nut globose, and de- 

 pressed at the summit. A native of the 

 shoresof Lake Champlain, in Pennsylvania, 

 and of high mountains in Carolina and 

 Georgia. *" ^^ 



"i Q f -^ sinuosa Michx.; Q. nigra Wang.; and our /gs. 1755, 1 /j6, 

 and 1757. — Leaves deeply sinuated. Cup flat and turbinated. 

 Nut ovate'. Native of South Carolina and Georgia. 



Description, Sec This 

 oak, according to the 

 younger Michaux, is the 

 loftiest oak in America, 

 being from 90 ft. to 100 

 ft. high, with a trunk 

 from 4- ft. to 5 ft. in dia- 

 meter. The trunk is 

 straight, and is covered 

 with a deeply furrowed 

 bark of middling thick- 

 ness, but always black, 

 or of a very deep brown 

 colour ; whence, pro- 

 bably, the tree derives 

 its common name in 

 America; viz. the black 

 oak. The dark hue of 

 the bai'k easily distin- 

 guishes this tree from Q. 

 rubra, Q. coccinea, and 

 Q. ambigua, in the 

 northern provinces ; but, 

 in the southern ones, 

 Q. falcata having bark of the same colour, Q. tinctoria can only be dis- 

 tinguished by its buds, which are longer, more acuminate, and more scaly, 

 than those of the former species. The inner bark of Q. tinctoria, if ciiewed, 

 is very bitter, and gives a yellow tinge to the saliva, which is not the case with 

 the bark of Q. falcata. The wood is reddish, coarse-grained, and porous, 

 like that of all the red oaks. The leaves are large, deeply laciniated, and 

 resemble those of Q. coccinea, but they have fewer lobes, never exceeding 

 foiu- or five ; while the leaves of the old trees of Q. coccinea have from five 

 to seven : they are also less openly and roundly sinuated, less shining, of a 

 duller green, and, during a part of the summer, have their surfaces roughened 

 with small glands, which are visible to the eye and sensible to the touch ; and 

 which are also found on the young shoots. In autumn, the leaves of young 

 trees turn to a dull red ; but those on old trees become yellow, or of a yel- 



M55 



