FOREST TREES. 205 



of little value, except for posts and beams in buildings, where 

 it will not be exposed to moisture. A handsome ornamental 

 tree. There are several varieties. 



Q. Priniis, L. Swamp Chestnut Oak. Leaves ovate, oblong, 

 or oblong-obovate. coarsely and somewhat dentate, with round- 

 ed teeth, downy beneath, and smooth above. Cup globular, or 

 with a top-shaped base, thick, tubercled when old, nearly one 

 half the length of the ovoid acorn, which is about one inch long, 

 with a sweetish edible kernel ; the acorns ripening the first 

 year. A medium to large tree, with reddish, coarse-grained 

 wood, much inferior to white oak. Vermont to Florida, and 

 west to Mississippi, also west of the Alleghanies in Tennessee 

 and Kentucky. 



Q. ptinoUcs, Willd. Chinquapin Oak. Mainly distinguished 

 from Q. Muhlenbergii by its low stature and more undulate than 

 sharp-toothed leaves, on shorter petioles, and commonly deeper 

 cups. Dr. Engelmann says well enough marked eastward, but 

 from Western Missouri to Kansas, it runs into the arborescent 

 Muhlenbergii. A low shrub East, and a doubtful species. 



Q. rubra, L. Red Oak. Leaves oblong, smooth, pale beneath, 

 with eight to twelve entire or sharply toothed lobes. Leaves 

 turning dark red after frost. Acorn an inch long, set in a shal- 

 low cup with fine scales. A very large and common tree, with 

 reddish, very coarse-grained wood, but in some soils, moderately 

 compact, and much used for hewn timber and staves for bar- 

 rels, and similar vessels. Everywhere from Nova Scotia to 

 Florida, and westward to Minnesota and Texas. 



Q. stellata, Wang. Post Oak. Leaves four to six inches long, 

 cut into five to seven roundish divergent lobes, the upper ones 

 the largest and often notched ; grayish downy underneath, and 

 pale and rough above. Acorn about a half inch long, oval, cup 

 encircling one third to one half the nut. A medium sized tree, 

 forty to fifty feet high, with very hard, durable wood, resemb- 

 ling that of the white oak. Massachusetts to Florida, and west- 

 ward to the prairies beyond the Mississippi Valley. 



Q. tinctoria, Bartram. Yellow-Barked Oak, Quercitron or 

 Black Oak. Leaves obovate-oblong, slightly or deeply lobed, 

 the lobes sharply toothed, obtuse at the base, more or less rusty, 

 pubescent when young. Acorns nearly round, one half to two 

 thirds of an inch long, set in a rather deep, conspicuously scaly 

 top-shaped cup. A large tree, sixty to eighty feet or more in 



