326 



The Oaks 



shaped or oblong- wedge-shaped, 5 to 15 cm. long, bluntly 3- to 5-lobed above the 

 middle, the apex rounded, base tapering or narrowly rounded; they are Hght green 

 but dull with reddish brown midrib above, whitish woolly, soon becoming quite 

 smooth and somewhat glaucous with prominent brown venation beneath ; the leaf- 

 stalk is ver)' short and stout. The staminate catkins are 5 to 7 cm. long and very 

 slender; calyx hairy; stamens exserted, the anthers notched. The fruit ripens in 

 the autumn of the first season. The nut is 1.5 to 2 cm. long; cup hemispheric. 



45. CHAPMAN'S OAK Quercus Chapmani Sargent 



Qnercus ohtusiloba parvifolia Chapman 



Usually a shrub of sandy pinelands near the coast from South Carolina to 

 Florida; it is most abundant on the western coast of Florida, and sometimes 

 becomes a tree 10 meters tall, with a trunk diameter of 3 dm. 



The branches are stout, the tree usually round-topped. The bark is about 



5 mm. thick, broken into thin flattish 

 scales of a grayish black color. The 

 twigs are slender, densely covered 

 with yellowish hairs, soon becoming 

 nearly smooth and brown to gray. 

 The buds are ovoid, sharp or blunt- 

 pointed, brown, about 3 mm. long. 

 The leaves are obovate to oblong, 5 

 to 10 cm. long, blunt at the apex, nar- 

 rowed or wedge-shaped or broad and 

 rounded at the base; the somewhat 

 revolute margin is wavy or often shal- 

 lowly 3-lobed near the apex; they are 

 rather thick and nearly leathery, dark 

 green, smooth and shining above, 

 lighter green or whitish and persist- 

 ently hairy beneath, usually falling 

 off during the winter, sometimes per- 

 sisting until the new foliage forms. The leaf-stalk is very short. The flowers 

 appear when the leaves are about one third unfolded or later, the staminate in 

 hairy catkins 3 to 5 cm. long, their calyx hairy, the 5 lobes toothed ; stamens ex- 

 serted, their anthers broad, notched and hairy. The pistillate flowers are sessile 

 or nearly so; involucre and calyx densely woolly; styles short, stout and spread- 

 ing. The fruit, ripening the first season, is usually sessile, solitary or 2 together; 

 nut oblong or elHptic, 1.5 to 2.5 cm. long, light brown, shghtly hairy near the 

 apex; cup depressed-hemispheric, 1.5 to 2 cm. across, light brown, slightly hairy 

 inside, embracing nearly one half of the nut and covered by thick hairy scales. 

 The wood is moderately hard, close-grained and yellowish brown. 



Fig. 282. Chapman's Oak. 



