Spanish Oak 



295 



sionally with a few hairs above, paler, sometimes brownish, smooth or with a few 

 hairs beneath, turning yellow or brown before faUing in the autumn. The leaf- 

 stalk is slender, almost round, 2.5 to 5 cm. long and yellow. The flowers appear 

 in April and May when the leaves are half unfolded, the staminate in clustered 

 hair)' catkins 5 to 10 cm. long, their hairy calyx with 4 or 5 broadly ovate, sharp- 

 pointed lobes; stamens 4 or 5, exserted; anthers ovate, sharp-pointed, smooth. 

 The pistillate flowers are on short hairy stalks, their involucral scales pale 

 woolly, as are the sharp-pointed calyx-lobes; the styles are long, much recurved 

 and deep red. The fruit, ripening in the autumn of the second year, is usually 

 short-stalked, either soHtary or clustered; nut oblong to ovoid, 2.5 to 4 cm. long, 

 light brown, often with darker stripes; shell thin, woolly inside; cup about as 

 high as wide, deeper than that of any related species, 2 to 2.5 cm. across, hght 

 brown on inner surface, embracing one third to one half of the nut, the scales thin, 

 close, brown and shining, often forming a narrow fringe around the rim. 



The wood is strong but brittle, coarse-grained and light reddish brown; its 

 specific gravity is about 0.64. It is used to some extent for interior finishing and 

 for furniture, especially in Oregon, but mostly for fuel. The astringent bark is 

 used to a Hmited extent in tanning. 



12. SPANISH OAK Quercus triloba Michaux 



Quercus falcata Michaux. Quercus digitata (Marshall) Sudworth 



Quercus nigra digitata Marshall 



A tree of dry gravelly or sandy soils, from New Jersey to ^Missouri, Florida 

 and Texas, most abundant in the Gulf 

 States, where it reaches its maximum 

 height of about 30 meters, with a trunk di- 

 ameter of 1.5 m. It is sometimes called 

 Red oak and Spanish water oak. 



The branches are stout and spread- 

 ing, usually forming a round-topped tree. 

 The bark is about 2 cm. thick, shallowly 

 furrowed, the ridges brown, scaly. The 

 twigs are stout, yellowish or brownish hair\% 

 becoming almost smooth, dark reddish 

 brown or gray. The winter buds are ovoid, 

 sharp-pointed, about 5 mm. long, light 

 browTi and hairy. The leaves are ovate to 

 obovate or oval in outline, 7.5 to 20 cm. 

 long, the 3 to 7 usually lanceolate lobes ig. 247. . pams 



bristle-tipped, as are the occasional teeth of the lobes, the terminal lobe often 

 much elongated, the base is rounded or narrowed; they are thin but firm, dark 

 green and shining above, densely woolly with grayish hairs and a prominent 



