TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



45. Quercus Garryana Hook. White Oak. 



Leaves obovate to oblong, pointed at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, coarsely pinnat- 

 ifid-lobed, with slightly thickened revolute margins, coated at first with soft pale lustrous 

 pubescence, at maturity thick and firm or subcoriaceous, dark green, lustrous and gla- 

 brous above, light green or orange-brown and pubescent or glabrate below, 4'-6' long, 

 2'-5' wide, with a stout yellow midrib, and conspicuous primary veins spreading at 

 right angles, or gradually diverging from the midrib and running to the points of the 

 lobes; sometimes turning bright scarlet in the autumn; petioles stout, pubescent, '-!' in 

 length. Flowers: staminate in hirsute aments; calyx glabrous, laciniately cut into ovate 

 acute slightly ciliate or linear-lanceolate much elongated segments; pistillate sessile and 

 coated with pale tomentum. Fruit sessile or short-stalked; nut oval to slightly obovoid and 

 obtuse, I'-l j' long and \'-\' thick, inclosed at the base in a shallow cup-shaped or slightly 

 turbinate cup puberulous and light brown on the inner surface, pubescent or tomentose 



Fig. 271 



on the outer, and covered by ovate acute scales with pointed and often elongated tips, thin, 

 free, or sometimes thickened and more or less united toward the base of the cup, decreasing 

 from below upward. 



A tree, usually 60-70 or sometimes nearly 100 high, with a trunk 2-3 in diameter, 

 stout ascending or spreading branches forming a broad compact head, and stout branchlets 

 coated at first with thick pale rufous pubescence, pubescent or tomentose and light or dark 

 orange color during their first winter, becoming glabrous and rather bright reddish brown 

 in their second year and ultimately gray; frequently at high altitudes, or when exposed 

 to the winds from the ocean, reduced to a low shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, \'-\' 

 long, densely clothed with light ferrugineous tomentum. Bark \'-\' thick, divided by 

 shallow fissures into broad ridges separating on the surface into light brown or gray scales 

 sometimes slightly tinged with orange color. Wood strong, hard, close-grained, fre- 

 quently exceedingly tough, light brown or yellow, with thin nearly white sap wood; in Ore- 

 gon and Washington used in the manufacture of carriages and wagons, in cabinet-making, 

 shipbuilding, and cooperage, and largely as fuel. 



Distribution. Valleys and the dry gravelly slopes of low hills; Vancouver Island and the 

 valley of the lower Fraser River southward through western Washington and Oregon and 

 the California coast-valleys to Marin County; rare and local and the only Oak-tree in 

 British Columbia; abundant and of its largest size in the valleys of western Washington 

 and Oregon; on the islands in the northern part of Puget Sound reduced to a low shrub 



