fLvNDBOOK OF TkEES OF THE KoRTIlEKM StATES AND CaNADA. 151 



This interesting Oak is usually not more 

 than 70 or 80 ft. in height or with trunk more 

 than 2 or 3 ft. in diameter, but in tlie stately 

 forests of the lower Ohio hasiii it occasionally 

 attains 100 ft. in height with trunk 4 or 5 ft. 

 in tliickness. When isolated it develops a wide 

 rounded top of stitl' far-reaciiing liranches and 

 stout branchlets. The drooping nature of the 

 leaves give the tree a peculiar aspect which is 

 at once noticeable and quite different from that 

 of other Oaks. It is an abundant tree of the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf states, extending up 

 into the northeastern states only along the 

 coast and in the Mississippi Valley. The name 

 Spanish Oak is said to have been given to this 

 tree by early Spanish settlers on account of a 

 similarity in its leaves to those of an Oak they 



were familiar witl 



^paln. 



Its wood is heavy, a cu. ft. when absohitely 



dry weighing 43.18 lbs., hard and strong and 



is used for the same purposes as the Eed Oak. 



Its bark also is rich in tannin. ^ 



Leaves variable, oblong to obovate, rounded or 

 wedge-shaped at base and often irregularly deeply 

 pinnatifid witli .3-7 oblique and often falcate or 

 long and narrow entire or dentate and bristle- 

 tipped acuminate lobes or sometimes witii merely 

 S short-spreading lobes at apex, lustrous dark 

 green above and gray or pubescent beneath. 

 Flon-crs: staminate with thin scarious pubescent 

 4-.")-lobed calyx : stigmas slender, dark red. Fruit 

 sessile or short-stalked acoin. about V, in. long 

 and not more than one-third covered by the thin 

 flat or tiirbinate shallow cui) covered with thin 

 obtuse closely appressed s<»ali's. 



1. Syn. Qtiercus falcaia Michx. 



2. A. W., XI, 269. 



