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SCRUB OAK. 



Quercus ilicifolia, Wangenheim. 



FORM Shrub or small tree with many crooked Intertwined branches; usually 4-8 ft. 

 high with a diameter of 1-3 inches, but occasionally attaining a height of 18-20 feet. See 

 Fig. 4. 



BARK Thin, smooth, becoming scaly on older stems, gray to dark brown in colcr. 



TWIGS When young slender, dark green, tinged with red, and tomentose; becoming gray 

 to reddish-brown, finally dark brown and smooth. 



BUDS Alternate, orate, obtuse, 1 of an inch long, chestnut-brown; covered by numerous 

 small dark-margined closely appressed scales. 



LEAVES Alternate, simple, 2-5 inches long, 15-3 inches wide, obovate in outline, with 

 a wedge-shaped base, 3-7-lobed, usually 5; with shallow sinuses and acute and bristle-tipped 

 lobes. Mature leaves dark green and glossy above, covered with a dense whitish pubescence 

 beneath, thick and leathery in texture, with conspicuous yellow midribs and veins. Petioles 

 round, tomentose and about 1 inch long. 



LEAF-SCARS See "Leaf-Scars" under White Oak, page 132. 



FLOWERS Appear about May when leaves are J developed. Staminate aments 4-5 inches 

 long, often clinging to twigs until late summer. Pistillate flowers borne upon stout tomen- 

 tose stalks, have an involucre ot red scales, and red stigmas. 



FRUIT An acorn, maturing at end of second season, very abundant, sessile or nearly so, 

 usually clustered, seldom solitary. Nut broadly ovoid, with a flat rounded base, acute or 

 rounded apex, about half enclosed in the cup, light brown, shiny and often slightly striate, 

 i of an inch broad and long. Cup pale and reddish-brown and soft downy within, covered 

 on the outside with many closely set reddish-brown scales whose free tips form a fringe 

 around the edge of the cup. Kernel bright yellow. 



WOOD Ring-porous; with conspicuous medullary rays; pale brown, strong, hard, tough, 

 and fine-grained. Commercially not important on account of its small size. Locally used 

 for fuel. . 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS The Scrub Oak, also known as Bear Oak and 



Ground Oak, can easily be distinguished by characteristic bristle-pointed leaves shown on 

 the opposite plate, which turn reddish-brown or brown in autumn, and often persist throughout 

 the winter. It is small in size and forms -dense thickets over large areas, especially recently 

 burned areas. The smooth non-scaly bark, persistent clusters of fruit and the small, brown, 

 bluntly conical buds covered with slight pubescence are characteristic. In habit it resembles 

 the Scrub Chestnut Oak, but the latter has a flaky bark and round-lobed leaves and 

 characteristic fruit. 



RANGE Maine to Ohio south to North Carolina and Kentucky. 



DISTRIBUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA Common in most of the counties in and east of the 

 Allegheny Mountains. Found in some of the counties in the southwestern portion of the State. 

 Sparse in the north-central and northern parts. 



HABITAT Usually found on rocky hillsides, sandy plateaus, and mountain tops. It is 

 gregarious and able to flourish upon barren, dry, infertile soils, but cannot endure much shading, 

 hence it -seldom occurs in mixture with other species. It has overgrown extensive areas of 

 burnt-over land in this State. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SPECIES The Scrub Oak is of no commercial value but is economically 

 important on account of its ability to grow upon the most exposed and inhospitable situations. 

 This makes it worthy of consideration in protection forests, where it shelters the forest-floor, 

 prevents erosion and enriches the soil with accumulations of humus. In time it is usually dis- 

 placed by species of greater commercial importance as Chestnut, Scarlet Oak, Chestnut Oak, 

 Maple, and Aspen. Areas once covered with thickets of this species now often have only 

 a few single representatives left. 



