T 



SCARLET OAK 



(Quercus Coccinea) 



HE name of scarlet oak is in use in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode 

 Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 

 Delaware, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minne- 

 sota, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, and Ontario ; red oak is the name in 

 North Carolina, Alabama, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Minnesota ; black 

 oak in Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and Spanish oak in 

 North Carolina. 



The name is descriptive of the autumn leaves. Artists dispute 

 among themselves whether the leaves are scarlet, red, or crimson. In 

 their opinion a good deal of difference exists between these colors, ren- 

 dering it quite incorrect to give one color the name of another. As for 

 the artists, they are probably correct in their analysis of colors, but the 

 general public knows the tree as scarlet oak, and it will doubtless be 

 called by that name by most people who speak of the tree in the woods, 

 while those who refer to the wood after it is sawed will speak of it as 

 red oak. 



The leaves of scarlet oak are rather persistent, and remain on the 

 twigs late in the season. The brilliancy of this tree is rendered doubly 

 conspicuous, when it is contrasted with the surrounding sombre, winter 

 colors. 



In appearance the tree is striking for its delicacy of foliage and 

 twigs. The crown is always narrow and, open, and in forest growth is 

 compressed. The height, in good specimens, is about one hundred feet, 

 but it often exceeds that size. In diameter it grows as large as four feet. 

 The mature bark is dark in color and broken into broad, smooth ridges 

 and plates, edged with red. It shows a reddish inner bark when cut and 

 this may be relied upon to identify the tree. The leaves are four or five 

 inches long; deeply sinused, three or four on a side; long, bristle-toothed 

 lobes, broad at the base; acorns bitter, mature in two years; sessile, 

 brown; cup closely drawn in at the edge. 



Its range comprises the northeastern quarter of the United 

 States. Beginning in southern Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, it 

 grows through middle New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa to 

 eastern Nebraska. Southward it extends along the coast through 

 Virginia and inland along the mountains to South Carolina and Georgia. 

 The growth is abundant over most of the range, the favorite habitat 

 being dry, gravelly uplands. It seems to be most abundant along the 

 northern part of the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to New Jersey, 



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