THE POST OAK 



THE Post Oak may at once be known by the very unusual form of the leaves, 

 with their large rounded or squarish lobes, the three terminal lobes being the 

 largest and giving a very unusual appearance to the leaf. It belongs to the 

 group of the White Oaks, the lobes of the leaf not being bristle-pointed and the acorns 

 maturing the first season. 



The Post Oak is essentially a Southern species, reaching its northern limit in South- 

 ern Massachusetts, from whence it extends southward to Florida and westward to Kansas 

 and Texas. In the more northern parts of its range it is a comparatively small and unat- 

 tractive tree, but in the lower Mississippi Valley and other southern regions it attains a 

 large size and often forms the prevailing element in the Oak forests. The bark of the trunk 

 is finely checked with numerous vertical furrows of a dark grayish or grayish -brown color. 

 The young branches are notably hairy and bear downy buds. The wood is hard and firm, 

 weighing fifty-two pounds per cubic foot and being especially desirable for fence-posts 

 on account of its slowness of decay when placed in the ground. Presumably this. fact has 

 given it its common name. The wood is also used for fuel and for railway ties. 



The Post Oak comes into flower when the leaves are quite small. The pollen-bear- 

 ing catkins have a generally yellow color, while the seed-bearing flowers commonly have 

 a reddish appearance due to the very large red stigmas. The latter are clustered in the 

 axils of the leaves and mature in the same season into unusually small acorns with rather 

 shallow cups, the general characteristics of which are well shown on the plate. As the 

 young leaves develop, their upper surface is distinctly dark red in color and their lower 

 surface orange brown on account of the dense woolly covering of hairs of this color. As 

 the leaves reach full size the reddish upper surface gives place to a deep dark-green color 

 and the orange -brown under surface becomes much paler, the hairs spreading out through 

 the increase in size of the leaf, so that they appear as a pale pubescence. The leaves remain 

 upon the trees well into the winter, becoming a deep brown color which is often preceded 

 by a yellow tone. 



On account of its distinctive characteristics one or two Post Oaks would be a 

 desirable addition to a landed estate, but it does not seem to be an especially desirable 

 tree for ornamental planting in the North. It is difficult to transplant, and grows slowly. 

 The distinctive characters of the leaves may easily be obtained by planting some of the 

 acorns in the location where the trees are to develop. 



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