2$ HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



GENUS QUERCUS, L. 



Flowers greenish or yellowish. Sterile flowers in loose, slender, naked catkins, 

 which spring singly or several together from axillary buds; calyx 2-8-parted or cleft; 

 stamens 3-12 ; anthers 2-celled. Fertile flowers with ovary nearly 3-celled and 

 6-ovuled, 2 of the cells and 5 of the ovules being abortive; stigma 3-lobed; involu- 

 cre developing into a hard, scaly cup around the base of the nut or acorn, which is 

 1-celled, 1-seeded. 



(The ancient Latin name for the Oak supposed to be from the Celtic quer, fine, and 

 cuez, tree. 



38. QUERCUS ALBA, L. 



WHITE OAK. 

 Ger. Weiszeiche ; Fr., Chene Mane ; Sp., Roble bianco. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. Leaves short petioled, oblong or obovate in outline, cune- 

 ate at base, obliquely sinuate-pinnatifid with oblong or linear obtuse and usually 

 entire lobes, smooth (excepting when young) and coriaceous, bright green above, 

 paler beneath. Fruit (October) an edible acorn, maturing the first year (hence borne 

 on the shoot of the season), f to 1 inch in length, ovoid or oblong, not more than a 

 third immersed in somewhat hemispherical or saucer-shaped cup, which is rough 

 with little tubercles. 



A noble and picturesque tree, the very embodiment of strength and 

 sturdiness. It attains the height of 100 ft. (30 m.), with a trunk 6 ft. 

 (1.80 m.) in diameter, and, in very favorable localities, even surpasses 

 these dimensions. Its bark is rough with longitudinal fissures, and of a 

 whitish-gray color whence the name, White Oak. It is also noticeable 

 in winter from its peculiarity of retaining until nearly spring many of the 

 dead and withered leaves of the preceding summer. 



HABITAT. Eastern United States generally, reaching its greatest de- 

 velopment west of the Alleghanies. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood very strong, heavy, hard, tough and 

 durable. It is of a brownish color with lighter sap-wood. Specific 

 Gravity, 0.7470 ; .Percentage of Ash, 0.41 ; Relative Approximate Fuel 

 Value, 0.7439; Coefficient of Elasticity, 97089; Modulus of Rupture, 

 905; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 511 ; Resistance to Indenta- 

 tion, 213 ; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 46.35. 



USES. This is one of the most generally useful of American timbers 

 where a hard wood is required. It is very valuable in ship-building, for 

 sills, etc., for casks, buckets and in general cooperage, for agricultural 

 implements, etc. It is deservedly very popular for furniture, interior 

 finishing, etc., where a beautiful effect is produced by "quartering" 

 the timber. The bark is sometimes used for tanning. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. Oak bark is astringent and somewhat tonic, 

 but it is not employed as an internal remedy. The decoction may be 

 advantageously used as a bath, particularly for children when a com- 

 bined tonic and astringent effect is desirable, and the stomach is not 



