102 Trees with Simple Leaves. [A in 



Genus Quercus, L. (Oak.) 



Possibly from a Celtic word meaning to inquire, because it was among the oaks that 

 the Druids oftenest practised their rites. 



Fig. 53. White Oak. Q. alba, L. 



Leaves, SIMPLE ; ALTERNATE ; EDGE LOBED ; (edge of the 

 lobes entire or sometimes coarsely notched and hol- 

 lowed at their ends.) 



Outline, reverse egg-shape. Base, wedge-shape. Apex 

 of lobes, rounded. 



Leaf, quite variable in size and shape ; four to seven 

 inches long ; smooth ; pale beneath ; the lobes often- 

 est five to nine, long and narrow, and sometimes 

 widening toward the end, but at other times only 

 three to five, short and broad, and radiating obliquely 

 from the middle rib. 



Bark of trunk, slightly roughened (comparatively smooth 

 for an oak), light-gray ; in older trees loosening in 

 large, thin scales ; the inner bark white. 



Acorns, usually in pairs on a stem one fourth of an inch 

 or more in length. Cup, rounded saucer-shape, not 

 scaly, but rough and warty and much shorter than 

 the nut. Nut, three fourths to one inch long, slightly 

 egg-shape or oval ; brown, sweet, and edible. October. 



Found, from Ontario and the valley of the St. Lawrence 

 southward to Florida, and westward to Southeastern 

 Minnesota, Arkansas, and Texas. Its finest growth 

 is on the western slopes of the Alleghany Mountains, 

 and in the Ohio basin. 



A noble tree, sixty to eighty feet or more in height, 

 with hard, tough wood of very great value in many kinds 

 of manufacturing, and for fuel. The withered, light-brown 

 leaves often cling throughout the winter. 



