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The Oaks 



stamens slightly exserted, their anthers ovate, sharp-pointed, smooth and yellow. 

 The pistillate flowers are hairy throughout; styles short, broad and spreading. 

 The fruit ripens the first autumn, usually on short stalks; nut ovoid and exserted, 

 or usually depressed globose and almost entirely enclosed in the cup, light brown 

 and somewhat hairy; cup hemispheric or depressed-globose, 2 to 4 cm. across, 

 bright reddish brown and hairy inside, covered with ovate pale-puberulent more 

 or less united scales, with sharp tips; at the base of the cup these are much 

 thickened, thinner and smaller toward the rim. 



The wood is hard, strong and tough, close-grained, dark brown; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.83. It is very durable and is used for the same purposes as that 

 of the White oak from which it is not commercially differentiated. 



It is also called Swamp overcup oak. Post oak, Swamp post oak. Swamp white 

 oak, and Water white oak. 



55. CALIFORNIA WHITE OAK Quercus lobata Nee 



A characteristic tree, known only from California, where it occurs mainly 

 in valleys of the western part of the State, reaching a maximum height of 30 

 meters, with a trunk diameter up to 3 m. 



The trunk is often short and divided low down into several large limbs, with 



slender pendulous branches, 

 whence the common name 

 ''Weeping oak," by which it is 

 widely known; sometimes it is 

 tall, however, with branches only 

 above. The bark of moderately 

 large trees is up to 4 cm. thick, 

 scaly, orange or brown; at the 

 base of the largest trees, how- 

 ever, it is often 15 cm. thick and 

 fissured into flat plates. The 

 twigs are slender, silky hairy at 

 first, becoming nearly smooth 

 and reddish brown. The buds 

 are ovoid, sharp-pointed, about 

 5 mm. long, yellowish brown. 

 The leaves vary in outline from 

 ovate to obovate, the 6 to 9 lobes 



Fig. 293. California White Oak. 



vary much in shape, either notched or rounded at the apex, the sinuses deep and 

 usually narrow at the bottom, the apex usually rounded, the base wedge-shaped, 

 rounded or heart-shaped; they are thin and firm, dark green and sHghtly hairy 

 above, pale and hairy beneath, with a stout midrib and prominent venation, 

 falling off in the autumn; the leaf-stalk is broad, flattened and hairy, 6 to 12 mm. 



