THE CHINQUAPIN OAK 



THE Chinquapin Oak is a shrubby species which is readily identified by its 

 leaves and fruits : the former have somewhat the appearance of Chestnut leaves, 

 though the teeth along the margins are not so well developed ; the latter are 

 commonly borne on short stalks, and have tuberculate, close-fitting cups, each inclosing 

 nearly half its acorn. The species is sometimes called the Scrub Chestnut Oak, probably 

 from the resemblance of the small leaves to those of the Chestnut. The thickets 

 are brought about through underground stems that radiate in various directions and 

 send up new shoots. The blossoms develop late in spring when the leaves are pushing 

 out, the pollen-bearing flowers being at the base of the new shoot and the seed-bearing 

 ones in the axils of the new leaves. 



The Chinquapin Oak is especially likely to be found on barren sandy soils. It occurs 

 from New England to Alabama on the east, and from Minnesota to Texas on the West. 

 Miss Keeler states that in Kansas and Missouri it becomes tree-like. A suggestion for its 

 use in forestry has been made by George B. Emerson, who says: "Where this little oak 

 constitutes the principal growth it might easily be made to perform an important service. 

 If the seeds of the pitch pine, the red Cedar, the larch, or some of the valuable oaks, were 

 placed at the right season, an inch or less beneath the surface of the soil, they would spring 

 up under its shade, and be protected by it from sun and wind, until they were large enough 

 to need no further protection ; after which it might be grubbed up or left to die gradually 

 in the shade." Like the Bear Oak, this species produces abundant crops of acorns. 



Many of the oaks are notable for furnishing a supply of material for tannin. In 

 California there is a tree so remarkable in this respect that it is called the Tan-bark Oak or 

 sometimes the California Chestnut Oak. It seems to be a connecting link between the 

 Chestnuts and the Oaks and is known technically as Pasania densiflora. The leaves are 

 very similar to those of the Chestnut and the pollen-bearing flowers are born in stiff rather 

 than pendent catkins. In size it varies from a low shrub, which has been given the variety 

 name echinoides by Professor Sargent, to a tree nearly a hundred feet high. It occurs in 

 the coast regions of Oregon and California. 



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