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SCRUB CHESTNUT OAK. 

 Quercus prinoides, Willdenow. 



FOEM — Usually a low shrub from 2-5 ft. high, but may attain a height of 18 ft. with a 

 diameter of 4 inches. Usually occurs in clumps but may occur solitary. 



BARK — Thin, bitter, light brown, marked with light gray blotches, at first smooth, but later 

 when trunk reaches a diameter of 4 inches it becomes rough. 



TWIGS — Smooth, slender, at first dark green and rusty -pubescent but later reddish-brown and 

 smooth, marked with rather inconspicuous pale lenticels. 



BUDS — Alte»-nate. ovate, rounded at apex, light brown, covered with lliin overlapping scales 

 which are sometimes hairy on margin. 



liEAVES — Alternate, simple, obovate, 3-C inches long, 2-3 Inches wide, covered beneath with 

 pale tomentum, short and jitout-petioled, margined with 3-7 rounded teeth on each margin and 

 terminated with acute or acuminate apex. 



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



FLOWERS — Appear about May when leaves arc about i developed. Stamlnate aments l}-24 

 inches long, yellow and somewhat hairy. Pistillate flowers short-stalked and bear bright red 



pistils. 



FRtnx — An acorn, maturing at end of first season; j-J of an inch long, sessile or short- 

 stalked, often produced in great abundance, singly or in pairs. Nut oval, light chestnut-brown; 

 when younj; striated with dark longitudinal lines; blunt-pointed, shiny except at apex where It 

 Is often covered with pale down. Kernel sweet and edible. Cup thin, rather deep, covers about 

 4 of nut, pale woolly outside, downy inside. Scales are indistinct, thinner towards apex, often 

 knobby or tumid towards base. 



WOOD — Ring-porous: with consipcuous medullary rays. Commercially not important on account 

 of small size. Locally used for fuel. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS— The Scrub Chestnut Oak, also known as Dwarf Chin- 

 quapin Oak. Chinquapin Oak and Scrub Oak, can readily be distinguished from most of the Oaks 

 of Pennsylvania by its dwarf forms. It resembles the Bear Scrub Oak rather closely but can 

 be distinguished from it by its round-lobed leaves, knobby acorn-scales, scaly and often gray- 

 blotched bark on larger stems, and sweet kernel of the acorns. The young branches of this 

 species are pubescent while those of the Scrub Oak are usually smooth. The buds are small and 

 not so sharp-pointed as those of the Chestnut Oak and the Yellow Oak, 



RANGE — Maine to North Carolina, west to Kansas and Texas. 



DISTRIBUTION IN PENNSTLVANXA — Found locally in the eastern, southern and central parts 

 of the State, nowhere very common. 



HABITAT — Prefers dry woods, rocky slopes or sandy soils. Occasionally found in hillside 

 pastures and moist woods. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SPECIES — The Scrub Chestnut Oak is so small in size that It has 

 practically no commercial value. It is hardly more than a forest weed and should not be planted 

 or protected except where it might be used as an advance growth. 



