Black Oak 



289 



flexed, and light red. The fruit, ripening in the autumn of the second year, is 

 sessile or nearly so, commonly solitary; the nut is subglobose, oblong or ovoid, 

 1.5 to 2.5 cm. long, reddish brown, often faintly striped, sometimes coated with 

 reddish hairs, its shell thick; cup top-shaped or hemispheric, 2 to 2.5 cm. across, 



Fig. 241. Black Oak, Carnot, Pennsylvania. 



dark reddish brown on inner surface, embracing about half of the nut, covered 

 with coarse, loose, thin, hght brown, ovate, sharp-pointed, hair)- scales. 



The wood is strong, but not tough, coarse-grained, light reddish brown; its 

 specific gravity is about 0.70. The bark is used in tanning, also as a yellow dye, 

 and sparingly as an astringent medicine. 



