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heavy plates, especially on the lower parts. The leaves 

 of this tree are confusing because they run often very 

 close to those of the scarlet and the red oak. On the 

 lower parts of the tree the leaves are broad, reverse, 

 egg-shaped in outline, with seven to nine lobes, obtuse 

 at the base. The lobes are bristle-tipped, and this 

 fact shows that the tree is a biennial fruiter. The oaks 

 without bristled leaves are annual fruiters. The black 

 oak carries its leaves on long, somewhat slender stems, 

 and these stems are usually downy. The acorn is 

 roundish, flattened very noticeably at the point of the 

 nut, and often marked very beautifully with lines of 

 yellow and brown. The cup of the acorn is quite deep 

 and settles over the nut in a way that, with its loose- 

 end scales, makes you think of Robinson Crusoe's hat. 

 Both the inner bark of the tree and the kernel of the 

 acorn are strongly tinged with yellow or orange. This 

 inner yellowish bark is the sure mark of the tree. It 

 is bitter to the taste. From the characteristic inner 

 bark the tree has its other common name, yellow- 

 barked oak. 



Quercus stellata. (Post Oak. No. 23.) In the 

 central part of the Ramble, near the slumbrous little 

 pool which throws back the images of bending trees 

 and overhanging bushes, close by the pathside, you 

 will find a fairlygood-sized representative of this species 

 of oak. There are not many of these trees in the 

 Park, indeed, this, I believe, is the only one I have 

 found in the course of my rambles through the Park. 

 May it thrive on where it has set its foot so firmly, 

 and whisper still to us as we wind these lovely ways. 



