260 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



prefer to call black oaks. The difference is only a difference in name 

 for the same group of trees. The general dark color of the bark suggests 

 the name to botanists, while the red tint of the wood appeals more to the 

 lumberman, and he prefers the general name red oaks for the group. 

 They mature then* ac<frns the second year, while the trees belonging to 

 the white oak group ripen theirs the first year. There are other differ- 

 ences, some of which are apparent to the casual observer, and others are 

 seen only by the trained eye often aided by the microscope of the 

 dendrologist. Several of the black oaks have leaves with sharp pointed 

 lobes, ending in bristles. This helps to separate them from the white 

 oaks, but not from one another, for the true red oak, the scarlet oak, the 

 yellow oak, the pin oak, and others, have the sharp-pointed lobes on 

 their leaves; while the willow oaks have no lobes or bristles on theirs, 

 yet are as truly in the black oak group as any of the others. The identi- 

 fication of tree species, particularly when they are as much alike as 

 some of the oaks are, is too difficult for the layman if he undertakes to 

 carry it along the whole line ; but it is comparatively easy if confined to 

 the leading woods only. An understanding of the geographical range 

 of a certain tree often helps to separate it from others. The knowledge 

 that a tree does not grow in a particular part of the country, is proof at 

 once that a tree in that region resembling it must be something else. 

 If that principal is borne in mind it will greatly lessen mistakes in identi- 

 fying trees. In accounts of the black oaks in the following pages, a 

 careful delimiting of ranges will be attempted in the case of each. 



The range of red oak extends from Nova Scotia and southern New 

 Brunswick through Quebec and along the northern shore of Lake Huron, 

 west to Nebraska. It covers the Ohio valley and reaches as far south as 

 middle Tennessee. It runs south through the Atlantic states to Virginia, 

 while among the Appalachian mountains the range is prolonged south- 

 ward into northern Georgia. That is the tree's extreme southern limit. 

 It reaches its largest size in the region north of the Ohio river, and 

 among the mountain valleys of West Virginia, and southward to 

 Tennessee and North Carolina. It is a northern species. Toward its 

 southern limit it meets the northern part of the Texan red oak's range 

 (Quercus iexana). There is some overlapping, and in many localities 

 the two species grow side by side. 



The red oak is known by that name in all parts of its range, but in 

 some regions it is called black oak, and in others Spanish oak. The 

 latter name properly belongs to another oak (Quercits digitata) which 

 touches it along the southern border of its range. 



The average size of red oak in the best part of its range is a little 

 under that of white oak, but some specimens are 150 feet high and six 



