io8 Trees with Simple Leaves. [A m 



and from Central Nebraska and Kansas southwest to 

 the Indian Territory and Texas. 



It is found farther west and northwest than any other 

 oak of the Atlantic forests. In the prairie region it forms 

 the principal growth of the " Oak Openings." 



One of the most valuable and widely distributed oaks 

 of North America, growing sixty to eighty feet in height, 

 or more, with hard, tough wood resembling that of the 

 White Oak. 



" The most interesting thing about this tree, perhaps, 

 is its power, quite unknown in the other White Oaks, of 

 adapting itself to very different climatic conditions, which 

 enables it to live in the humid climate of Maine and 

 Vermont, to flourish in the somewhat drier climate of the 

 Mississippi Valley, and to exist [still farther west] in the 

 driest and most exposed region inhabited by any of the 

 Eastern American oaks." SARGENT. 



Q. m. oliv&fbrmis is a variety found only in a few dis- 

 tricts (near Albany and in Pennsylvania), having narrower 

 and rather more deeply lobed leaves. 



Fig. 56. Swamp White Oak. Q. bicolor, Willd. Q. prinus, var. 



discolor, Michx. 



Leaves, SIMPLE ; ALTERNATE ; EDGE QUITE DEEPLY WAVY- 

 TOOTHED. 



Outline, reverse egg-shape or oval. Apex, blunt-pointed. 

 Base, pointed. 



Leaf, five to eight inches long ; smooth, and rather 

 bright green above ; whitish-downy beneath, becom- 

 ing almost silvery-white ; often with a rather deep 

 hollow just below the middle, and usually abruptly 

 spreading above ; the teeth unequal, longest toward 

 the middle of the leaf, sometimes almost long enough 



