295. QUERCUS LAURIFOLIA LAUREL OAK. 45 



pointed teeth, at maturity thin, firm and shining dark green above paler and 

 with tufts of whitish hairs in axils beneath. Flowers staminate in slender 

 pubescent aments; calyx 4-5 with laciniately cut lobes; pistillate with short 

 tomentose peduncles, stigmas red. Fruit usually solitary, sessile or with short 

 stalks, ovoid, puberulous light .brown acorn, ^-l^ in. long, sometimes striated, 

 2-3 times as high as the shallow or somewhat turbinate cup with thin closely 

 appressed light brown tomentose scales. 



Ill the luxuriant primeval forests which clothed the rich bottom- 

 lands of southern Indiana and Illinois this Oak is said to have been 

 found attaining the height of nearly 200 ft. (60 m.) with great 

 butressed trunks sometimes 6 or 8 ft. (2m.) in thickness dimen- 

 sions which rank this as one of our largest oaks. All of the trees of 

 such size have doubtless long since been felled, but fairly large 

 individuals may still be seen in localities. The habit of growth is 

 similar to that of the Red Oak of the northern states, and like it it 

 has a dark gray bark rough with firm close ridges. 



HABITAT. From northeastern Iowa and central Illinois south- 

 ward to the Gulf, eastward to North Carolina and westward to 

 western Texas, thriving best on well-drained bottom-lands and par- 

 ticularly abundant in the Mississippi valley. 



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

 grained and of a light or reddish brown color with whitish sap-wood. 

 Specific Gravity, 0.9080 ; Percentage of Ash, 0.85 ; Relative Approxi- 

 mate Fuel Value, 0.9003 ; Coefficient of Elasticity, 103343 ; Modulus 

 of Rupture, 1024 ; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 582 ; Re- 

 sistance to Identation, 291 ; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 56.59. 



USES. The wood of the Southern Red Oak is used ill cooperage, 

 for interior finishing and for furniture, and in quality is similar to 

 that of the northern Red Oak, Q. rubra. 



295. QUERCUS LAURIFOLIA, MICHX. 



LAUREL OAK. 

 Ger., Lorbeer-Eiche; Fr., Chene de laurier; Sp., Roble de laurel. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves narrow-oblong to oblong-obovate, sometimes 

 falcate, 2-4 in. long, cuneate at base, rounded or acute at apex, entire or on 

 vigorous branches unequally lobed, at maturity lustrous dark green above, paler 

 beneath; petioles short and stout. Flowers: staminate in reddish hairy aments 

 2-3 in. long; pistillate with short stout glabrous peduncles. Fruit sessile or nearly 

 so, usually solitary with short ovoid to hemispherical nut, puberolous at apex 

 about one-fourth inclosed in a thin flat saucer-shaped cup with thin pale-pubescent 

 closely imbricated scales. 



