Quercus I2 39 



QUERCUS VELUTINA, Black Oak, Quercitron Oak 



Quercus velutina, Lamarck, Diet, i. 721 (1783); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. viii. 137, tt. 414, 415 



(1895), and Trees N. Amer. 237 (1905). 

 Quercus nigra, Du Roi, Harbk. Baumz. ii. 272 (excl. syn.), t. 6, f. 1 (1772) (not Linnseus). 

 Quercus discolor, Aiton, Hort. Kew. iii. 358 (1789). 

 Quercus tinctoria, Michaux, Hist. Chines Am. No. 13, tt. 24, 25 (1801); Loudon, Art. et Frut. 



Brit. iii. 1884 (1838); Bentley and Trimen, Med. Plants, iv. 251, t. 251 (1880). 

 Quercus coccinea, Wangenheim, vars. nigrescens and tinctoria, A. de Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 61 



(1864). 



A tree, attaining in America 150 ft. in height and 15 ft. in girth, but usually 

 considerably smaller. Bark of young trees smooth, yellowish within ; on old trunks 

 divided into broad rounded scaly ridges. Buds ovoid, ^ to \ in. long, angled, 

 obtuse or pointed, pubescent. Young branchlets, with a scattered minute stellate 

 pubescence, most of which falls off in summer. Leaves (Plate 2,2>2 Fig- 5) deciduous 

 in autumn, turning a dull red or dark brown, variable in size and shape, but similar to 

 those of Q. rubra, often very large, 9 in. long and 6 in. broad, with five to seven 

 triangular lobes with bristle-pointed teeth ; sinuses wide and rounded, variable in 

 depth ; upper surface glossy, dark green, with scattered stellate hairs, disappearing in 

 summer ; lower surface paler, with stellate hairs scattered between the nerves, and 

 forming dense reddish brown axil-tufts ; petiole 1 to 3 in. long, with deciduous or 

 partly persistent stellate pubescence. The inner bark of young branches is bitter 

 when chewed, and gives a yellow tinge to the saliva. 



Fruit ripening in the second year, sessile or shortly stalked, solitary or in pairs ; 

 acorn ' ovoid, ^ to f in. long, often striated, and sometimes pubescent, enclosed for 

 about half its length in a turbinate cupule, slightly pubescent within, and covered 

 with scales, often lacerate in margin, closely appressed towards the base of the 

 cupule, loosely imbricated above, forming a fringe-like border to its rim. 



This species is readily recognised by the bright yellow colour of the inner 

 bark, by the more or less deciduous stellate pubescence on the leaves, petioles, 

 and branchlets, and by the pubescent buds. 



Var. missouriensis, Sargent, Trees N. Amer. 239 (1905), is a more pubescent 

 form, growing in drier situations from western Missouri to north - western 

 Arkansas. 



The black oak grows commonly on ridges and on dry gravelly uplands, and 

 is one of the most abundant and widely distributed of North American oaks. It 

 occurs in southern and western Ontario, and throughout the Atlantic States from 

 southern Maine to northern Florida, being one of the commonest oaks on 

 gravelly drift in southern New England and in the middle states ; and is 

 generally scattered throughout the maritime pine belt of the south Atlantic 



1 The flesh of the acorn is orange in colour. 



