THE WHITE OAK AND OTHEE SPECIES. 163 



mental as single trees, and they are prone to usurp the 

 whole ground, excluding that charming variety of shrubs 

 which constitutes the beauty of our half-wooded hills, 



THE BLACK OAK. 



It is not my intention to enumerate all the species of 

 this genus ; but I must give a passing notice to the Black 

 Oak, because it is a common and very large tree in favor- 

 able situations. It has been named Black Oak on account 

 of the very dark color of its outer bark ; and Yellow 

 Oak, a name quite as common as the other, from the 

 yellow color of its inner bark, which produces the quer- 

 citron used by dyers. It may also have been so called 

 from the yellowish leather-color of its leaves in the 

 autumn, resembling the color of a dry oak-leaf. Many 

 large trees of this species are found in the New England 

 States. In Kentucky it is named Black Jack, and con- 

 stitutes the principal timber of those extensive tracts 

 called Oak Barrens. 



