AMERICAN FOREST TREES 315 



of the rays show a faint purplish or violet tinge which is considered 

 objectionable. But when the wood is worked plain it is dependable 

 and substantial. It makes good flooring, fairly good furniture, finish, 

 vehicles, and agricultural implements. It is perishable when placed in 

 damp situations, and this detracts somewhat from its value as railway 

 ties; but the wood's porous nature indicates that it will readily yield to 

 preservative treatment. 



Since the value of the wood is coming to be understood it is to be 

 expected that less of it will be destroyed than formerly, and that second 

 growth will be given opportunity to hold the ground when old stands are 

 cut. The tree is a prolific seeder, but not every year, and seedlings come 

 up abundantly in sheltered places. Sprouts rise from stumps and grow 

 to vigorous trees. It would seem, therefore, that the tanbark oak will 

 hold at least part of the ground where nature planted it. 



TOUMEY OAK (Quercus toumeyi). No oak in this country has 

 smaller leaves than this. They are usually less than three-fourths of an 

 inch long and half an inch wide, and they hang on petioles one-sixteenth 

 inch long. The leaves have no lobes or notches. They remain all winter 

 and fall in the spring in time to make room for the new crop. The acorns 

 are nearly as long as the leaves and ripen in June of the first year. Few 

 persons ever see this oak, for its known range is restricted to Mule 

 mountain, in Cochise county, southeastern Arizona. It attains a height 

 of twenty-five or thirty feet, and a diameter of six or eight inches. The 

 trunk is not only small, but is of form so poor that it can never be of 

 value for anything but fuel. It divides near the ground into crooked 

 branches. The heart of the tree is light brown, the thick sapwood is 

 lighter. 



WOOLLY OAK (Quercus tomentelld) has apparently been crowded off the American 

 continent and has taken refuge on islands off the southern California coast. As far 

 as known, not a single tree stands on the mainland, but several groves, with a few 

 isolated specimens, are found on Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and Catalina islands, where 

 they are huddled together in the bottoms of sheltered canyons. The leaves are thick, 

 leathery, and are toothed like holly. The trees are evergreen. The acorns do not 

 mature until the second season. They are generally more than an inch long. The 

 scarcity of this oak relegates it to an unimportant place among commercial woods. 

 This seems unfortunate, for the appearance of the wood indicates that it possesses 

 excellent properties. No other oak looks like this wood. It is decidedly yellow, and 

 is dense and firm. The medullary rays are different from those of any other oak. 

 When seen in cross section they are arranged in short, wavy lines, broadest in the 

 middle and tapering toward both ends. The pores are arranged between the rays, 

 and follow wavy lines also. Trees grow with fair rapidity, and the largest on the 

 islands are seventy-five feet high and two in diameter. 



BARREN OAK (Quercus pumila) is called dwarf black oak, or simply scrub oak. 

 Its habit of growing on barren land is responsible for its common name which some 

 people shorten to "bear" oak. It is one of the poorest oaks of the East, and it seldom 



