39. QUERCUS MACROCARPA BURR OAK. 29 



disposed to receive medicines kindly. It has been employed in this way 

 in marasmus, scrofula, intermittent fevers, chronic diarrhoea and cholera 

 infantum. As an injection in leucorrhcea and as a gargle in slight in- 

 flammation of the fauces the decoction is often useful.* 



39. QUERCUS MACROCARPA, MICHX. 

 BURR OAK, MOSSY-CUP OAK, OVER-CUP OAK. 



Ger., Grossfruclitige Eiche ; Fr., Chene a gros gland ; Sp., Roble con 



bellotas musgosas. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. Leaves large (sometimes 12 inches long or more) obovate 

 or oblong in outline, pale beneath, lyrate, sinuate-lobed, the sinuses being deepest 

 near the middle and the lobes obtuse and irregular or repand. Fruit a large acorn 

 sessile on the new growth of the season, globular-ovoid and sometimes nearly covered 

 by the deep cup which is composed of thick, hard scales distinctly imbricated, the 

 upper ones awned or filiform-pointed so as to make a more or less conspicuously 

 fringed or mossy margin. 



("Macrocarpa " is from the Greek itaxpdz, large, and uaprtoS, fruit.) 



A beautiful tree with rough (from longitudinal fissures), light gray 

 bark, but especially conspicuous on account of its large leaves and 

 acorns. It attains the height of 100 ft. (30 m.) or sometimes more, with 

 a trunk 6 or 7 ft. (2 m.) in diameter. 



HABITAT. Canada, north-eastern United States and south-westward, 

 west to the the Rocky Mountains. Prof. Sargent notes that it is " in 

 the prairie region the principal growth of the ' oak openings ' and ex- 

 tending farther west and north-west than any oak of the Atlantic 



forests."! 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, hard, strong, compact and 

 very durable in contact with the soil. The heart-wood is of a rich brown 

 color and sap-wood lighter. Specific Gravity, 0.7453; Percentage of Ash, 

 0.71; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.7400; Coefficient of Elasticity, 

 92929; Modulus of Rupture, 982; Resistance of Longitudinal Pressure, 

 491; Resistance to Indentation, 233; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 46.45. 



USES. This is a timber of great value in ship-building, cooperage, 

 for furniture, etc. ; in fine for all the uses in which that of the White 

 Oak is employed and which it equals or even surpasses in value. For 

 fuel it is very useful and its handsome luxuriant foliage gives it a high 

 rank as an ornamental tree. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. None are officially recognized of this 

 species. 



* U. S. Dispensatory, 16th ed., p. 1261. 



t Tenth Census of the United States, 1880, vol. ix, p. 140. 



