1870 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



of the young branches is frequently 

 covered with a yellowish corky 

 substance, like that which is found 

 on the liquidambar, and some 

 kinds of elm." This oak is found, 

 according to Michaux, in the great- 

 est abundance beyond the Alle- 

 ghanies, in the fertile districts of 

 Kentucky and West Tennessee; 

 and in Upper Louisana, near the 

 Missouri. According to Pursh, 

 it is found within the mountains, 

 on dry slate or limestone hills ; and 

 in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the 

 country of the Illinois; and also on 

 the banks of the Mississippi and the 

 Missouri. The wood, according 

 to Michaux, is inferior to that of the white oak, and is little esteemed in 

 the United States ; but, according to Pursh, the wood is excellent. There 

 are trees in the Horticultural Society's Garden, and at Messrs. Loddiges's. 

 The portrait in our last Volume is from the latter. 



11. Q. OBTUSI'LOBA Michx. The blunt-lobed-/zm/, or Post, Oak. 



Identification. Michx. Quer., No. 1. t. 1.; Pursh, 2. p. 632.; Michx. Arb. Am., 2. p. 36.; Smith 



in Rees's Cycl , No. 78. 

 Synonymes. Q. stellata Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 452., Ait., No. 26., Wangh. Amer., 78. t. 6. f. 15., N. 



Du Ham., 1. p. 180., Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836; Iron Oak, Box white Oak, American Turkey Oak (so 



called, because the acorns, which are sweet, are eaten by the wild turkeys), upland white Oak, 



Amcr. 

 Engravings. Michx. Quer., No. 1. t. 1. ; Arb. Amer., 2. t. 4. ; N. Amer. Syl., 1. t 9. ; Wangli. 



Amer., t. 6. f. 15. ; our fig. 1732. ; and the plate of this tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves oblong, slightly pubescent beneath, sharply wedge- 

 shaped at the base; lobes obtuse, the lower ones deeply sinuated, and the 

 upper ones dilated, and slightly bilobed. Calyx hemispherical. Fruit oval, 

 and rather smal 1. (Michx., adapted 

 The height of this tree, according to 

 Michaux, rarely exceeds 40 ft., with 

 a trunk not more than 15 in. in dia- 

 meter, and a head disproportion- 

 ately large ; owing to the " early 

 division of the trunk into limbs, 

 with which the secondary branches 

 form more acute angles than is 

 usual with other trees. The 

 branches are, also, bent into elbows 

 at certain distances, which renders 

 the tree easily distinguishable, even 

 when the branches have fallen." 

 The bark is thin, and of a greyish 

 white. The wood is yellowish, and 

 with no tinge of red. The leaves 

 are on short petioles, and so deeply lobed as to have almost a star-like shape, 

 whence Wangenheim called it Q. stellata. The upper lobes are much broader 

 than the lower ones ; and the leaf is attenuated at its base. The texture is 

 coriaceous, and the colour is a dusky green above, and greyish beneath. 

 In autumn, the ribs assume a rosy tint, but never that purplish red which is 

 observable in those of the scarlet oak. The acorns, which are produced 

 in abundance, are small, oval, and three parts covered with a slightly rugged 

 greyish cup : they are very sweet, and form a delicious food for squirrels 

 and wild turkeys ; whence the tree is, in America, often called the turkey 

 oak. " In New Jersey, near the sea, and in the vicinity of Philadelphia, 5 ' 



1732 



