FAGACEAE 



Hill's Oak. Northern Fin Oak. Black Oak 



Quercus ellipsoidalis, E. J. Hill 



HABIT. A tree 50-60 feet high, with a short trunk 2-3 

 feet in diameter; forming a rather narrow, oblong crown of up- 

 right and horizontal branches. Many small, drooping branches 

 are sent out near the ground, which eventually die ; and it is to 

 the stubs or pins which persist about the trunk that the appela- 

 tion Pin Oak is due. 



LEAVES. Alternate, simple, 3-7 inches long and about as 

 broad; oval to nearly orbicular; narrowly 5-7-lobed by deep, 

 wide, rounded sinuses, the lobes few-toothed, bristle-tipped ; 

 thin and firm; lustrous, bright green above, paler beneath, both 

 sides glabrous except for the tufts of 'hairs in the axils of the 

 veins beneath; petioles slender, glabrous. 



FLOWERS. May, with the leaves; monoecious; the stam- 

 inate in puberulous catkins 2-3 inches long; the pistillate red, 

 tomentose, borne on stout, tomentose, i-3-flowered peduncles; 

 calyx 2-5-lobed or -parted, glabrous except at the apex, which 

 is fringed with long, twisted hairs; corolla o; stamens 2-5, with 

 short filaments; stigmas 3, recurved, dark red. 



FRUIT. Autumn of second season; short-stalked or nearly 

 sessile acorns; cup top-shaped, with scales thin, puberulous, in- 

 closing one-third to one-half of the nut; nut ellipsoid, Yi^A inch 

 long, light brown, puberulous ; kernel yellow, bitter. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud Y^A inch long, ovoid, 

 rather obtuse, slightly angular, lustrous, red-brown. 



BARK. Twigs bright red-brown, covered with matted, 

 pale hairs, becoming glabrous, dark gray or brown; thin, dull 

 gray to dark brown, rather smooth or closely ribbed on the 

 trunk; inner bark yellow. 



WOOD. Heavy, 'hard, strong, coarse-grained, red-brown, 

 with thin, paler sapwood. 



DISTRIBUTION. South-western part of the Lower Pen- 

 insula, but limits not definitely known. 



HABITAT. Well-drained uplands, especially on clays; 

 occasionally on the borders of ponds and in low woods. 



NOTES. A new and comparatively little known species,, 

 115 



