FAGACEAE. 



29 



QUEKCUS. Oak. 

 (Family Fagaceae). 



Trees or rarely shrubs: mostly 

 deciduous, though the dried leaves 

 often persist. Twigs moderate or 

 slender, fluted: pith moderate, 

 star-shaped in section, continuous. 

 Buds solitary or sometimes col- 

 laterally multiple, sessile, globose 

 or ovoid to conical, sometimes an- 

 gled, clustered toward the tip, 

 with numerous 5-ranked scales. 

 Leaf-scars alternate, moderate or 

 rather small, half-round, some- 

 what elevated: bundle-traces near- 

 ly a dozen, scattered or partly in 

 a more or less evident ellipse: 

 stipule-scars small. 



The Danish botanist Oersted 

 was very keen in discerning the 

 differences that oak buds show, 

 and Willkomm's differentiation of 

 the two oaks of northern Europe 



that have been confused under the name Quercus Robur is as 

 clean-cut when this character only is used as it is when their 

 fruits show the distinction because of which one has been 

 called variety pedunculata and the other variety sessiliflora. 

 No differences between the common red oak (Q. rubra) and 

 Schneck's oak (Q. Schneckii), or between this and the Texan 

 oak (Q. texana), are more obvious to a close observer than 

 those between their winter buds, but comparisons need to be 

 made between developed buds on mature branches. 



1. Black oaks: fruit maturing the second year. 2. 

 White oaks: fruit maturing the first year. 16. 



