Willow Oak 



301 



spatulate-obovate, 5 to 10 cm. long, wavy or somewhat deeply lobed on the mar- 

 gin, rounded at the apex, bristle-tipped, wedge-shaped at the base. They are thin 

 and firm, grayish green, smooth and dull with yellowish midrib above, yellowish 

 green, smooth, with yellow venation beneath; the leaf-stalk is short and stout. 

 The fruit ripens in the autumn of the second season, and is sessile or nearly so; 

 nut globose-ovoid, about 8 mm. long, yellowish brown, hairy toward the apex; cup 

 deeply saucer-shaped, 5 to 7 mm. across, hght brown and hairy inside, embracing 

 about one third the nut and covered by relatively large thick scales. 



18. WILLOW OAK Quercus Phellos Linnasus 



This oak prefers wet, sandy soil, and principally occurs along swamps and 

 streams, but sometimes on higher land, from Long island, New York, to Florida, 

 westward to Kentucky, Missouri and Texas. Its maximum height is 25 meters, 

 with a trunk diameter of i meter. 



The branches are slender, spreading and ascending, forming a round-topped 

 tree when growing in the open. The bark is 12 to 18 mm. thick, reddish brown, 

 shallowly fissured into irregular small scaly 

 plates only on very large trunks, otherwise it is 

 smooth. The twigs are slender, reddish brown, 

 becoming dark gray or brown. The winter 

 buds are ovoid, sharp-pointed, 3 mm. long and 

 dark brown. The leaves are linear-oblong, nar- 

 rowly eUiptic, or sometimes lanceolate or ob- 

 lanceolate, 4 to 10 cm. long, entire, the margins 

 sometimes slightly wavy, sharp and bristle- 

 pointed at the apex, narrowed to a pointed 

 base. They are thick, almost leathery, smooth 

 and shining with yellow midrib above, usually 

 smooth or somewhat hairy beneath at the axils 

 of the prominent venation, especially when 

 young; they rarely persist all winter, usually 

 turning yellow and fall in late autumn. The 

 leaf-stalk is stout and grooved, 2 to 5 mm. long. The flowers appear shortly after 

 the leaves begin to unfold; the staminate catkins are slender, hair)', 2.5 to 4 cm. long, 

 their calyx hairy, yellow, 4- or 5-lobed; stamens 4 or 5; anthers oblong, sharp- 

 pointed, smooth, and yellow. The pistillate flowers are on smooth, slender stalks; 

 involucre pale hair}% shorter than the sharp-pointed calyx-lobes; styles reflexed, 

 light green. The fruit, ripening in the autumn of the second season, is usually soli- 

 tary, sessile or nearly so; nut subglobose, depressed or globose-ovoid, about i cm. 

 long, light yellowish brown with a pale hair}^ coating inside; cup saucer-shaped, i 

 to 1.5 cm. across, reddish brown and silky inside, embracing only the base of the 

 nut and covered with close thin hairy scales of a dark reddish brown color. 



Fig. 253. Willow Oak. 



