112 



post and black oaks. In our area this species is never found closely 

 associated with limestone, and reports of this species being found on 

 limestone areas should be referred to Quercus Muhlenbergii. 



Remarks. Wood similar and uses generally the same as white oak. 

 The tree usually grows in such poor situations that it never acquires 

 a large diameter, and it is only when a tree is found in a cove or in richer 

 and deeper soil that it grows to a large size. The amount of this species 

 is very limited and it is therefore of no especial economic importance as 

 a source of timber supply. The bark is rich in tannin. The crests of 

 chestnut oak ridges are often cut bare of this species. The trunks are 

 made into cross ties, and the larger branches are peeled for their bark. 

 The nuts germinate on top of the ground as soon as they fall, or even 

 before they fall. Usually a large percentage germinate. The tree 

 grows rapidly where soil conditions are at all favorable. It is believed 

 that this species should be used to reforest the chestnut oak ridges of 

 the State, and possibly it would be one of the best to employ on the 

 slopes of other poor ridges. 



6. Quercus stellata Wangenheim. POST OAK. Plate 45. Medium 

 to large trees; bark resembles that of the white oak except on old trees 

 the fissures are deeper when compared with a white oak of equal size, 

 and the ridges are usually broken into shorter lengths; twigs stout, 

 yellowish-brown at first, remaining this color more or less to the end of 

 the season, at first densely covered with hairs which remain throughout 

 the season, and usually one year old branchlets are more or less tomen- 

 tose; leaves on hairy petioles 0.3-3 cm. long, generally about 1 cm. 

 long; leaves obovate in outline, corrwnonly 1-2 dm. long and about % 

 as wide, and generally lobed into five principal lobes which are disposed 

 as follows: the two basal are formed by two deep sinuses just below the 

 middle of the leaf which cut off a large roughly triangular portion, one 

 angle of which forms the base, the top two angles prolonged on each 

 side into a rounded lobe which may be long or short; the terminal lobe is 

 produced by two deep sinuses which constrict the blade at about 

 %-}/% its length from the apex; the two basal and two terminal 

 sinuses form the two lateral lobes which in size are equal to about one 

 half of the leaf area; the lateral lobes are generally ascending with the 

 terminal portion usually indented with a shallow sinus which produces 

 two short lobes; the terminal lobe of the leaf commonly has two or 

 three shallow secondary lobes; all the lobes of the leaf are rounded; base 

 of leaf narrowed or rounded; leaves very thick at maturity, when they 

 first appear both surfaces are densely covered with a yellowish pube- 

 scence, at maturity the upper surface is a dark glossy green, and smooth 

 or nearly so, except some leaves retain fascicles of hairs, and the midrib 



