CHINQUAPIN OAK 



(Quercus Acuminate) 



THIS tree is known as yellow chestnut oak, chinquapin oak, chest- 

 nut oak, pin oak, yellow oak, scrub oak, dwarf chestnut oak, shrub 

 oak, and rock oak. It should not be confused with Quercus prinus, the 

 true chestnut oak, although it is commonly known in so many sections 

 of the country by the latter name ; the names yellow oak, pin oak, 

 and scrub oak are likewise applied to many species, so that the only 

 way to accurately designate members of this great family is to 

 employ their botanical names. However, this species should always 

 be known as the chinquapin oak, which is a distinctive term, and not 

 applied to any other. 



The bark of this tree is light gray and is broken into thin flakes, 

 silvery-white, sometimes slightly tinted with brown, rarely half an inch 

 thick. The branchlets are marked with pale lenticels. 



The leaves of the chinquapin oak are from five to seven inches long, 

 simple and alternate ; they have a taper-pointed apex and blunt, wedge- 

 shaped or pointed base; are sharply toothed. When unfolding they 

 show bright bronze-green above, tinged with purple, and are covered 

 underneath with light silvery down ; at maturity they become thick and 

 firm, showing greenish-yellow on the upper surface and silvery-white 

 below. The midrib is conspicuous and the veins extending outward to 

 the points of the teeth are well-defined. In autumn the leaves turn 

 orange and scarlet and are very showy. The leaves are narrow, hardly 

 two inches wide, and more nearly resemble those of the chestnut than 

 do any other oak leaves. In their broadest forms they are also similar 

 to those of the true chestnut oak, although the difference in the quality 

 and color of the bark, and of the leaves, would prevent either tree from 

 being mistaken for the other. They are crowded at the ends of the 

 branches and hang in such a manner as to show their under surfaces 

 with every touch of breeze. This characteristic gives the chinquapin 

 oak a peculiar effect of constantly shifting color which is one of its most 

 attractive features and which puts the observer in mind of the trembling 

 aspen, although the shading and coloring of the oak is much more 

 striking. 



This tree's range extends from northern New York, along Lake 

 Champlain and the Hudson river westward through southern Ontario, 

 and southward into parts of Nebraska and Kansas; on its eastern bound- 

 ary it extends as far south as the District of Columbia and along the 

 upper Potomac; the growth west of the Alleghany mountains reaches 



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