*34 



TREES GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



angles of the ribs with reddish hairs. Flowers : monoecious ; the staminate 

 ones growing in slender catkins; pistillate ones mostly solitary. Acorns: 

 small; growing on short stems or sessile. Cup: flat; saucer-shaped; finely 

 scaled. Nut: light brown; rounded; often striped ; very broad, with a thin 

 shell. 



Quircus paltistris. 



The leaves of the pin oak strongly suggest to us in general 

 outline those of the scarlet oak, page 244. When we come to 



examine them closely, however, we 

 notice among other things that they 

 are smaller and that their sinuses 

 extend nearer to the midrib. These 

 very differences, although they may 

 seem slight, do in reality change 

 the whole aspect of the trees, and 

 give to the pin oak a lighter, more 

 delicate appearance which is very 

 pretty. When young it is tapering 

 and symmetrical in outline ; but 

 age seems to distort it, and it be- 

 comes irregular and straggling. 

 Its pendulous branches mark it distinctively. In early spring 

 when the tree is blooming, its delicate maize-coloured cat- 

 kins hang among the tender green leaves and sway and nod 

 with them most enchantingly. In lowlands and guarding the 

 borders of streams the tree is common, and it sometimes is found 

 extending its roots into the river bed. In all places the tree 

 has its own peculiar beauty, and it is an excellent one for plant- 

 ing. In the autumn its leaves turn a deep, rich red. Its wood 

 is coarse and not of any great value. It warps badly in drying. 

 Galls, or oak-apples as they are sometimes called, are the 

 round excrescences made on the branches of oak trees by gall- 

 flies and their larvae. In some parts of New Jersey it seems as 

 though they had an especial preference for this species. Often in 

 the spring before enough green has been put forth to cover the 

 bareness of winter it is quite pitiable to see so many galls cling- 

 ing to the branches and destroying the appearance of really fine 



