434 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



POST OAK 

 Box White Oak, Iron Oak. 



Quercus stellata Wang. 

 Q. minor Sarg. ; Q. obtusiloba Michx. 



HABIT In New England a small tree with height in southern 

 section up to 60 ft., with trunk diameter of 3 ft.; at northern limit 

 a shrub 10-35 ft. high with trunk diameter of y 2 -l ft.; in the open 

 forming a broad dense, round-topped head with stout spreading 

 branches. 



BARK Flaky; similar to that of White Oak but rather darker, 

 rougher, corresponding more to type of White Oak bark with short 

 oblong ridges; ^-1 inch in thickness. Twigs when y 2 inch to 1 inch 

 in diameter begin to acquire a flaky bark with loose, dark gray scales 

 lifting at sides and ends. 



TWIGS Stout, light orange, reddish-brown; the younger growth by 

 its light color, in striking contrast with darker, older growth which is 

 often almost black; young twigs covered, at least in part, with short, 

 dense orange-brown down, rough to the touch, often not easily noticed 

 without a hand-lens. Late in season down may become almost black 

 and disappear from the more exposed parts of twig. Bases of leaf- 

 scars projecting with a sudden curve from the twig. LENTICELS 

 pale, minute. LEAVES often persistent, oblong, obovate, thick with 

 generally 5 rounded lobes, the middle pair much the largest. PITH 

 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



BUDS Broadly ovate, often as broad as long and hemispherical, 

 blunt, rarely acute, generally under 3 mm. long, sometimes up to 6 mm. 

 in length. BUD-SCALES bright reddish-brown, sparingly downy. 



FRUIT Maturing in autumn of first year, single or in pairs or 

 clustered; sessile or short-stalked. NUT ovate, to oblong 1.5-2 cm. 

 long, generally covered with pale down at apex. CUP covering 

 %-% the nut, top-shaped or cup-shape.d, scales rather thin and flat, 

 only slightly knobby, pale, woolly. Meat sweet. 



COMPARISONS Readily distinguished from White Oak which it most 

 nearly resembles by rough, dirty orange-brown down which is to be 

 found more or less completely covering twigs. Buds are blunter, 

 shorter, generally more nearly hemispherical and of a brighter reddish 

 tinge. 



DISTRIBUTION Doubtfully from southern Ontario; south to Florida; 

 west to Kansas, Indian Territory and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Mostly in sterile soil near the sea-coast; 

 Massachusetts southern Cape Cod from Falmouth to Brewster, the most 

 northern station reported, occasional; the islands of Naushon, Martha's 

 Vineyard where it is rather common, and Nantucket where it is rare; 

 Rhode Island along the shore of the northern arm of Wickford harbor. 



IN CONNECTICUT Local. Usually in rocky ground on and near the 

 coast; East Lyme and Old Lyme, Branford, New Haven, Orange and 

 Milford, and westward; extending inland as far as Hamden; on Mt. 

 Carmel and Huntington at 350 ft. elevation. 



WOOD Very heavy, hard, close-grained, durable in contact with 

 soil, difficult to season, light or dark brown, with thick lighter colored 

 sapwood; used for fuel, fencing, railroad ties and sometimes in the 

 manufacture of carriages, for cooperage and in construction. 



