WATER OAK (Quercus nigra, Linn.). 30 to 80 feet. Sym- 

 metrical, round-topped tree, with slender, smooth branches 

 and close-textured, reddish-brown bark. Wood brown, heavy, 

 used for fuel. Leaves wedge-shaped, thin, dull bluish-green 

 above, pale beneath, with axillary tufts of rusty hairs; apex 

 broadening into 3 lobes, with wavy margins, often almost en- 

 tire; on upper part of the tree leaves are often narrow and 

 deeply cleft as a red-oak leaf, but small; length 2 to 5 inches. 

 Acorns small, squat, striate, light yellow-brown, enclosed 

 only at base by a thin, saucer-like cup of red-brown scales. 

 Dist.: Swamps and stream borders, Delaware to Florida; west 

 to the Appalachian Mountains; Gulf States to Texas; Mis- 

 sissippi Valley from Gulf to Missouri and Kentucky. Favorite 

 shade tree in South. 



94 



