304 DECIDUOUS TREES. 



thirty years ago. Nearly one-half of these are natives of our con- 

 tinent. In the following descriptions of a part of them we shall 

 endeavor to name only those which are growing wild in most 

 neighborhoods, and are therefore likely to be objects of study to 

 those interested in trees ; and those foreign sort5 which arc intrin- 

 sically beautiful, and known to be hardy, or nearly so. 



There being a great variety of oaks, we hope to facilitate a 

 reference to them by their classification into native and foreign 

 oaks, and subdividing the native oaks into groups, as follows : — 



I. The White Oak Group ; embracing those trees having lobed 

 leaves with rounded edges and light-colored scaly bark. Leaves 

 dying an ashy or violet brown. 



II. The Chestnut Oak Group ; leaves toothed, with rounded 

 edges, dying a dirty white or yellow color. Bark resembling that 

 of the chestnut tree. 



III. The Red Oak group; having deeply-lobed and sharp- 

 pointed leaves, which turn to a deep red, scarlet or purple. Bark 

 smooth when young, and never deeply furrowed. Cup large in 

 proportion to the acorn. 



IV. The Black Oak Group ; leaves obtusely lobed, and gen- 

 erally with points. Bark quite dark, and generally much broken 

 by furrows. 



V. Willow Oaks ; leaves entire, narrow and small. Sub-ever- 

 green. General appearance of trees when without leaves, like the 

 black oak. 



The White Oak Group. 



The White Oak [Quercus alba). — This is the grandest, the 

 most common, and the most useful of our northern oaks. Al- 

 though indigenous, it is almost identical with the British oak 

 Q. pcdunculata and Q. sessiflora. Though we have no such aged 

 and immense trees as can be found of those varieties in Britain, 

 our white oaks may in time become such trees. The great specie 

 mens which may have been found growing in open ground in the 

 early settlement of the country while the settlers were compara- 



