69. QUERCUS COCCIXKA SCARLET OAK. 35 



A fine tree, with leaf more closely resembling that of the Chestnut than 

 does any other Oak. It sometimes attains the dimensions of 80 ft. (26 m. ) 

 in height and 3 or 4 ft. (1 m. ) in diameter of trunk, with whitish-gray 

 bark cleft into narrow, flaky ridges, very much resembling the bark of the 

 White Oak. 



HABITAT. Massachusetts, central New York and westward to Minne- 

 sota and eastern Nebraska; southward, along the Alleghanies to northern 

 Alabama and west of the Mississippi river to Texas. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, hard, strong and durable in con- 

 tact with the soil. It is of a rich, light-brown color with whitish sap- 

 wood. Specific Gravity, 0.8605 ; Percentage of Ash, 0.84; Relative Ap- 

 proximate Fuel Value, 0.8507; Coefficient of Elasticity, 112461; Modulus 

 of Rupture, 1238 ; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 575 ; Resistance 

 to Indentation, 264; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 53.63. 



USES. A valuable timber for cooperage, furniture, agricultural imple- 

 ments, railway ties, fencing, fuel, etc. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES are not recorded of this species. 



69. QUERCUS COCCINEA, 



SCARLET OAK. 



Ger., Scharlach Eiche; Fr., Chene ecarlate; Sp., Rouble Colorado. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves oval or oblong, deeply pinnatifid, more or less 

 truncate at base, with slender, divaricate, and sparingly cut-toothed lobes, the teeth 

 conspicuously bristle-pointed, sinuses 3 or 4 on each side, broad and rounded at base, 

 bright green and smooth both sides, shining above; petioles long and slender: buds 

 small. Flowers with 4-6 stamens; styles long and spreading. Fruit, acorns maturing 

 the second year, i to 1 inch in length, sessile or nearly so, with turbinate cup com- 

 posed of coarse, thin, somewhat appressed scales and half covering the short globu- 

 lar-ovoid nut. 



(Coccinea is the Latin for scarlet.} 



The Scarlet Oak attains the height of 100 ft. (30 m.) or more, and 

 sometimes 4 ft. (1.20 m.) in diameter of trunk. It is a handsome tree 

 at all seasons of the year when bearing its light, airy foliage, but particu- 

 larly so in 'autumn when the leaves assume a scarlet or light-red color, 

 easily distinguishable from the darker reds, browns and purple of the 

 other oaks. The bark is externally of a dark-gray color cleft with age 

 into rather broad, shallow and firmly adherent ridges which are quite 

 smooth and blotched with whitish along their centers. The bark within 

 is of a distinctly reddish or pink color. 



HABITAT. From southern Maine westward to Iowa, southward to 

 Delaware and among the mountains to northern Florida. 



