Rock Chestnut Oak 



329 



Michigan and from Ohio and Indiana. Most of the common names of the Yel- 

 low oak are probably applied to this tree also. 



The bark is flaky, scaly and gray. The smooth twigs are yellowish brown, be- 

 coming gray. The leaves are 

 obovate or oblong-obovate, 

 broadest above the middle, the 

 margin coarsely and bluntly or 

 sharply toothed, the apex taper- 

 pointed, the base tapering or 

 rounded ; they are thin but firm, 

 yellow-green and smooth above, 

 paler, smooth or shghtly hair}', 

 with straw-colored prominent 

 venation beneath, turning bright 

 yellow before falHng in the au- 

 tumn; the leaf-stalk is slender, 

 2 to 3 cm. long, thickened and 

 darkened at the base. The fruit ripens the first autumn, is sessile, or very short- 

 stalked; nut ovoid, 1.5 to 2 cm. long, light brown, hairy at the apex; cup deeply 

 saucer- shaped, 12 to 15 mm. across, light brown and roughish inside, thin, em- 

 bracing one third to one half the nut and covered wdth small, thick, grayish-hairy 

 scales. 



The wood is similar to that of the Yellow oak and used indiscriminately as 

 such. 



Fig. 285. Alexander's Oak. 



49. ROCK CHESTNUT OAK Quercus Prinus Linnsus 



A tree usually of sterile hillsides from Maine to Ontario, south to New Jersey, 



Virginia, and in the mountains to Georgia, 

 Alabama and Tennessee, reaching a maxi- 

 mum height of 30 meters, with a trunk di- 

 ameter of 2 m. 



The trunk is usually divided rather low 

 down into several principal branches, the tree, 

 when not crowded, sometimes broader than 

 high. The bark is up to 5 cm. thick, deeply 

 fissured into thick roughish ridges of a brown 

 to nearly black color; on younger stems it is 

 thinner, quite smooth, brownish and some- 

 what shining. The twigs arc stout, purphsh 

 green, usually smooth, passing through vari- 

 ous shades of brown to gray or dark brouTi. 



Fig. 286. Rock Chestnut Oak. The winter buds are ovoid, sharply taper- 



