44: HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



270. QUERCUS IMBRICARIA, MICHX. 



SHINGLE OAK. 

 Ger., Schindel-Eiche. Fr., Chene de Bardeau. Sp., Roble de Ripa. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 4-6 in. long, sometimes 

 bristle-tipped, particularly when young, acute or obtuse at apex and wedge-shaped or 

 rounded at base, with entire or slightly undulate margins, coriaceous, reddish or yellowish 

 green and tomentose at first, at maturity very lustrous dark green above, paler and 

 pubescent beneath with yellowish midribs and prominent veins; petioles short, pubescent. 

 Flowers staminate aments slender and numerous, hoary-tomentose, 2-3 in. long with 

 yellowish pubescent 4- lobed calyx; pistil with short tomentose peduncles; stigmas recurved. 

 fruit solitary or 2 or 3 together with short peduncles and subglobose dark brown or 

 striated nut about % in. long and one-third inclosed in a flattish turbinate cup of small 

 closely imbricated pubescent scales. 



The Shingle Oak in particularly favored localities has been known to 

 attain the height of 100 ft. (33 in.), when growing in the forest, with a 

 columnar trunk 3 or 4 ft. (1m.) in diameter, but usually it is a considerably 

 smaller tree, and when growing in the open develops a full rounded or ovoid 

 top. The bark of trunk is of a dark gray color, fissured into low, firm, 

 uneven ridges. 



HABITAT. From Pennsylvania westward to southern Iowa and eastern 

 Kansas, and southward into northern Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas, 

 growing on rich uplands and slopes, as well as lowlands that are not too wet. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, hard, strong, rather coarse-grained, 

 with moderately large medullary rays, and of a light reddish brown color 

 with creamy white sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.7529 ; Percentage of Ash, 

 0.43; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.7497; Coefficient of Elasticih/, 

 119357; Modulus of Rupture, 1218; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 

 552; Resistance to Indentation, 226; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 4692. 



USES. A useful wood in the manufacture of furniture, interior furnish- 

 ing, etc., and in regions where abundant, and more suitable wood is not 

 easily available, for clapboards and shingles. It is from this last-mentioned 

 use that the tree receives its name. 



The Shingle Oak makes a very attractive and ornamental shade tree for 

 door-yards and parks, and deserves to be more extensively planted than it 

 now is. 



