OAK. 293 



Fruit usually in pairs and matures the first year; borne on 

 slender erect peduncles from one and one-half to two and one- 

 half inches long. The rather deep cup- incloses about one-third 

 of the acorn, which is oblong-oval in form and about one inch 

 long. Bark, gray, flaky, especially on young trees or branches. 

 A large tree, attaining commonly a height of about seventy 

 feet in this section, with a diameter of three or four feet. Easily 

 recognized by the flaky bark of the young growth and the small 

 dwarfed, twisted and generally pendulous branches, which often 

 occur on the larger limbs and trunk. 



Distribution. From Maine to Minnesota and Missouri, and 

 from Ontario south to northern Kentucky and Arkansas, where 

 it is generally found along the borders of streams and swamps, 

 in moist, fertile soil. 



Propagation. By seed, as for white oak. 



Properties of wood. Heavy, hard, strong and tough; liable to 

 check badly in seasoning. Color light brown, with sapwood of 

 about the same shade. Durable in contact with the soil. Spe- 

 cific gravity 0.7662; weight of a cubic foot 47.75. 



Uses. The Swamp White Oak is excellent for carriage build- 

 ing, cooperage, agricultural implements, railway ties, fence posts, 

 cabinetmaking, interior finish of houses and for fuel. 



Quercus macrocarpa. Bur Oak. Mossy-Cup Oak. Bur 

 White Oak. 



Leaves large, ovate or oblong, lyrate-pinnatifid or deeply 

 sinuate-lobed or parted, the lobes sparingly toothed or entire, 

 irregular, downy or pale beneath and bright green above, turn- 

 ing to a dull yellow before falling in autumn. Cup (cupule) 

 deep, thick, woody, conspicuously imbricated with hard, thick 

 pointed scales, the upper ones generally awned so as to make 

 a mossy, fringed border, but this is occasionally lacking. 

 Acorns ovoid, almost spherical, half or wholly inclosed by the 

 cup. Bark rougher and darker colored than that of the White 

 Oak. A large tree, varying greatly in form, sometimes growing 

 100 feet high and six or seven feet through the trunk, but in 

 this section seldom over seventy feet high and three feet 

 through. 



Distribution. From New Brunswick and Nova Scotia west- 

 ward to Manitoba, Montana and Kansas, and southwestward to 



