Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 285 



able regularity, so much different from its ordinary habit in for- 

 ests as to be hardly recognizable, and quite unusual for an oak. 

 One who has seen them can never forget the remarkable row along 

 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, D. C., beyond the old Rock Creek 

 bridge. These trees, though quite small, bear an abundance of 

 acorns. The small acorn is rendered attractive by narrow longi- 

 tudinal stripes of greenish alternating with the brown. Some of 

 the trees have the branchlets gracefully drooping. 



In its native condition, the pin oak shows to best advantage 

 along the banks of wild, winding rivers with marshy shores, 

 such as the Kankakee below Baum's Bridge, where it was noted 

 growing in great abundance and to a splendid degree of develop- 

 ment. The contour of some of the trees seen was unlike that 

 noted in any other species, or indeed, in the same species seen else- 

 where. The branches sloped downward from their origin in stiff 

 straight lines, there was no suggestion of drooping such as one 

 finds in weeping trees, and the lines were straight as if laid down 

 with a carpenter's rule, but stood at just such an angle as to make 

 the branches appear like a succession of shed roofs. The leaves, 

 delicately tinted around the edges with the first touches of autumn 

 and glistening as if varnished, all seemed to form one continuous 

 sheet or surface like the shingles of a -roof. A peculiarity of the 

 roofs was of course their narrowness from side to side, and one 

 forked branch which stood out from all the rest like an inverted Y 

 made a particularly pleasing and permanent impression. 



262. BLACK-OAK; QUERCITRON; YELLOW-BARKED OAK 



QUERCUS VELUTINA Lam. 



The most common oak about the lake, especially on the west side 

 where it formed over 27% of the forest at Long Point. Common 

 also on the east side. The trees, which grow chiefly in the dry 

 sandy soil are rather small and stunted. There are larger trees 

 on the east side. A rather unhandsome oak, with exceedingly 

 heavy wood. The timber is of no value except for firewood. Leaf- 

 buds began to show green about April 26, 1901, and the trees were 

 in blossom everywhere by May 6. The acorns began to fall Sep- 

 tember 28, 1900, and soon were falling rapidly. Both the inner 

 bark and the bitter kernel of the acorn of this tree are deep yellow. 



It is quite probable that Q. coccinea, which much resembles this 

 tree and is most readily distinguished by the fact that its inner bark 

 is reddish gray instead of yellow, is present in the lake region, but 

 we secured no specimens, though they were looked for everywhere. 



