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TURKEY OAK 



{Quercus catesbaei Michx.) 



TTHE turkey oak is one of the characteristic trees of 

 the Coastal Plain region, being most abundant 

 ajid reaching its largest size on dry baiTen sandy 

 ridges and sandy bluffs and hammocks close to the 

 coast. It is usually 20 or 30 feet high, but rarely 

 reaches a height of* 60 feet, with a trunk a foot and 

 a half to 2 feet in diameter. Its branches are stout 

 spreading and more or less contorted, forming an 

 open irregular but generally round-topped crown. 



TURKEY OAK 



Leaf, one-third natural size. Twig, two-thirds natural size. 



The leaves are deeply divided into 3 or 5, or rarely 

 7 lobes, spreading and tapering from the base, and 

 average about 5 inches long as well as wide. They 

 are thick and rigid, bright yellow-green and lustrous 

 above, paler and somewhat downy on the under sur- 

 face. They are very characteristic and should not 

 be confused with those of aiiy other tree. 



The a-com is short-stalked, dull, light brown in 

 color, an inch long and three-fourths of an inch 

 broad. It is oval in shape, full and rounded at both 

 ends, and is enclosed for about a third of its length 

 in a thin light red-brown cup covered by rounded 

 scales that extend above the rim of the cup and 

 down over part of the inner surface. 



The wood is heavy, hard, strong, rather close- 

 grained and light brown in color, tinged with red. 

 It Ls used largely for fuel, but is cut to some extent 

 for lumber and used for general conj'truction. 



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