130 THE BEECH FAMILY. 



Q. latirzfbh'a, laurel oak or water oak, {Plate XL V.) grows with a stately 

 trunk and dense round-topped crown to sometimes the height of eighty or 

 one hundred feet. With its very lustrous green leaves and the nearly black 

 bark of its tall stem, it forms one of the most pleasing individuals of the 

 family, at times appearing almost as impressive as the live oak. Along the 

 coast from Wilmington, N. C, to Louisiana it is frequent and attains its 

 best development in eastern Florida. Through the cities it is much planted. 

 Its oblong-oval leaves with their groov^ed, yellow petioles and bristle 

 tipped apices are in general entire, although those of the young shoots are 

 sometimes undulately-lobed. 



Q. Phellos, willow, or peach-leaved oak, was before it became well known 

 regarded by botanists as being quite a remarkable individual. It is tall and 

 attractive with narrowly oblong or linear, entire leaves from one and a half 

 to two and a half inches long. At both ends they are pointed, the apex 

 showing a bristle tip. When they are mature they become smooth and lus- 

 trous on both sides. In texture they are thick, something like leather. 

 The very small and pretty acorns have a flat saucer-shaped cup which 

 hardly covers more than a quarter of the nut. About Florida the tree 

 blooms as early as March through moist woods and in swamps. 



Q. brevifblia, blue Jack, is a small and shapely species of oak which 

 thrives in sandy places from North Carolina to Florida and westward. Its 

 oblong-lanceolate, entire leaves are wedge shaped, or rounded at their bases 

 and have thick, undulating margins. Some of them, however, show lobes 

 of various sliapes near the apices, or along the sides. The acorns which 

 sit closely on the twigs are borne very profusely. In the field of usefulness 

 the wood is only valuable for fuel. 



Q. pinnila, running oak, is a shrub which spreads itself by stolons and 

 covers acres and acres of sandy, barren soil along the coast region. Its 

 small elliptical, or oblanceolate and entire leaves have very short petioles 

 and are pointed at both ends, the apices being bristle-tipped. In texture 

 they are stiff and leather-like with a pale, greyish down underneath. The 

 nuts which are well sunken in a rounded, saucer-shaped cup ripen at the 

 end of the first season. It seems that every year this oak is more or less 

 demolished by forest fires and it has therefore but the season's growth to 

 make its very fine showing. 



Q. myrtifbUa, scrub oak, another shrub, forms by means of its rigid 

 stems an interwoven growth and covers as low thickets acres along the 

 sea shore's sandy ridges, and borders various islands from South Carolina 

 to Florida and Louisiana. It may be distinguished by its obovate or oblong- 

 lanceolate leaves with their entire and revolute margins and which are 

 bristle-tipped at their apices. On their upper sides they are intensely 



