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SCRUB CHESTNUT OAK. 



Quercus prinoides, Willdenow. 



FORM Usually a low shrub from 2-5 ft. high, but may attain a height of 18 ft. with a 

 diameter of 4 inches. Usually occurs in clumps but may occur solitary. 



BARK Thin, bitter, light brown, marked with light gray blotches, at first smooth, but later 

 when trunk reaches a diameter of 4 inches it becomes rough. 



TWIGS Smooth, slender, at first dark green and rusty-pubescent but later reddish-brown and 

 smooth, marked with rather inconspicuous pale lentlcels. 



BUDS Alternate, ovate, rounded at apex, light brown, covered with thin overlapping scales 

 which are sometimes hairy on margin. 



LEAVES Alternate, simple, obovate, 3-6 inches long, 2-3 inches wide, covered beneath with 

 pale tomf-ntum, short and stout-petioled, margined with '3-7 rounded teeth on each margin and 

 terminated with acute or acuminate apex. 



LEAF-SCARS See "Leaf -Scars" under White Oak, page 132. 



FLOWERS Appear about May when leaves are about i developed. Staminate aments li-2$ 

 inches long, yellow and somewhat hairy. Pistillate flowers short-stalked and bear bright red 

 pistils. 



FRUIT An acorn, maturing at end of first season; $-5 of an inch long, sessile or short- 

 stalked, often produced in great abundance, singly or in pairs. Nut oval, light chestnut-brown; 

 when young striated with dark longitudinal lines; blunt-pointed, shiny except at apex where it 

 is often covered with pale down. Kernel sweet and edible. Cup thin, rather deep, covers about 

 5 of nut, pale woolly outside, downy inside. Scales are indistinct, thinner towards apex, often 

 knobby or tumid towards base. 



WOOD Ring-porous; with consipcuous medullary rays. Commercially not important on account 

 of small size. Locally used for fuel. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS The Scrub Chestnut Oak, also known as Dwarf Chin- 

 quapin Oak, Chinquapin Oak and Scrub Oak, can readily be distinguished from most of the Oaks 

 of Pennsylvania by its dwarf forms. It resembles the Bear Scrub Oak rather closely but can 

 be distinguished from it by its round-lobed leaves, knobby acorn-scales, scaly and often gray- 

 blotched bark on larger stems, and sweet kernel of the acorns. The young branches of this 

 species are pubescent while those of the Scrub Oak are usually smooth. The buds are small and 

 not so sharp-pointed as those of the Chestnut Oak and the Yellow Oak. 



RANGE Maine to North Carolina, west to Kansas and Texas. 



DISTRIBUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA Found locally in the eastern, southern and central part* 

 of the State, nowhere very common. 



HABITAT Prefers dry woods, rocky slopes or sandy soils. Occasionally found in hillside 

 pastures and moist woods. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SPECIES The Scrub Chestnut Oak is so small in size that it hag 

 practically no commercial value. It is hardly more than a forest weed and should not be planted 

 or protected except where it might be used as an advance growth. 



