AMERICAN FOREST TREES 279 



ornamental tree than for its wood. It has been planted in this country 

 and in Europe. Its brilliant foliage is greatly admired. No other oak 

 equals it, and it compares favorably with sugar maple, black gum, and 

 dogwood. It is an ornament to parks and private grounds, though the 

 brilliancy of its foliage is seldom exhibited to as good advantage in 

 cultivation as in the native forest where contrasts are more numerous, 

 and nature does its work unhindered by man. The scarlet oak is not a 

 rapid grower, and the form of the tree is not perfectly symmetrical. 

 The spring leaves are red, the summer foliage bright, rich green, the 

 autumn scarlet a variety not equalled by many forest trees. 



WILLOW OAK (Quercus phellos) is named for its leaves which look 

 like those of willow. There is a group of such oaks with leaves similar, 

 and they are known collectively as willow oaks. The one here described 

 may be considered typical of the group. 



This oak is apt to present rather a surprising appearance to those 

 who have seen nothing but those oaks whose leaves are lobed or cleft. 

 It belongs to the red oaks. Like others of this division it has a tendency 

 to hybridize, several varieties being known. Willow oak is a denizen of 

 the southern Atlantic and southeastern states and favors rich, moist 

 soil, either on uplands or on bottoms, along the margins of streams or 

 swamps. It does not go inland as far as the foothills of the ranges and is 

 found most abundantly in the basin of the lower Mississippi. Beginning 

 in New York, the range extends southward into Florida, along the Gulf 

 states, touching Texas, up through Arkansas, touching Missouri and 

 Kentucky, down through western Tennessee and southern Georgia 

 rounding the southern end of the Appalachians. 



Young trees have a slender delicate pendant appearance of twigs 

 and foliage more typical of the willow than of oak; but in time they 

 become more rugged, although the branching and foliage are always 

 more delicate than is usual with oaks. The tree attains a height of 

 eighty feet and a diameter up to four feet, but usually is about half of 

 this. It is clothed in a smooth, brown bark, ridged only in older trees. 

 The leaves are about five inches long and narrow in proportion, are of 

 shiny, leathery texture, dark above and pale below. The acorns are 

 on short stalks, solitary or in pairs, and ripen in two years, are short 

 and rounded and in shallow cups. 



The weight of willow oak is approximately the same as white oak. 

 It is slightly stronger but less elastic. Its annual rings contain broad 

 bands of small open ducts parallel to the thin, dark, medullary rays. 

 The wood is reddish-brown in color, the thick sapwood darker brown. 

 The fuel value is rated the same as white oak, but the wood contains 

 more ash. 



