450 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



SCARLET OAK 



Quercus coccinea Muench. 



HABIT A tree of medium size, 30-50 ft. high with trunk diameter of 

 1-3 ft., larger further south; trunk tends to be continuous into the 

 crown, narrowed and giving off ascending branches above and 

 horizontal, often terminally declined branches below; limbs long and 

 comparatively slender for an Oak, forming a rather narrow, open head. 



BARK Of young trunks and limbs smooth, light brown, on older 

 trunks and limbs up to 2.5 cm. thick, divided by shallow furrows into 

 irregular ridges which in general are neither so regularly flat-topped 

 as the ridges of the Red Oak nor so roughly broken up as those of the 

 Black Oak. The bark therefore may be considered as intermediate in 

 character between these two species. Inner bark, reddish not bitter. 



TWIGS Mediumly stout to slender, light red to orange red. LENTI- 

 CELS numerous, minute, pale, inconspicuous. LEAVES broadly 

 oval or obovate, with bristle-tipped lobes separated by deep rounded 

 sinuses. PITH 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



BUDS Broadly oval to ovate, narrowed above to a typically rather 

 blunt apex, widest at or slightly below middle, dark reddish-brown, 4-8 

 mm. long, pale woolly above middle, lower half mostly free from wool. 

 BUD-SCALES numerous, free from distinct longitudinal striations. 



FRUIT Maturing in autumn of second season, sessile or short-stalked, 

 singly or in pairs. NUT oval to oblong, variable in shape, 1 to 2.5 

 cm. long, light reddish-brown, occasionally striate. CUP thin, top- 

 shaped or cup-shaped, constricted at base, enclosing % to % of nut. 

 Scales, light reddish-brown, thin, closely overlapping, slightly downy, 

 tips of scales at rim typically appressed against the nut not spread- 

 ing. Meat pale yellow, slightly bitter. Immature acorns appressed, 

 rather smooth and shiny, light brown, main basal scales generally 

 reaching less than halfway up giving appearance of 2 rows of scales. 



COMPARISONS The size and shape of the acorn cup as well as the 

 greater woolliness of the upper part of the buds distinguish this species 

 from the Red Oak. From the Black Oak it is distinguished by the 

 appressed scales of acorn cup, by the fatter buds which are less woolly, 

 and that only above the middle, and by the pale inner bark. See also 

 under Black Oak. 



DISTRIBUTION Most common on dry, sandy soil. Ontario; south to 

 the middle states and along the mountains to North Carolina and Ten- 

 nessee; reported from Florida; west to Minnesota, Nebraska and Mis- 

 souri. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine valley of the Androscoggin, southward; 

 New Hampshire and Vermont not authoritatively reported by recent 

 observers; Massachusetts more common in the eastern than western 

 sections, sometimes covering considerable areas; Rhode Island common. 



IN CONNECTICUT Frequent throughout. 



WOOD Heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, light or reddish-brown, 

 with thick darker colored sapwood, less valuable than wood of Red Oak 

 but used for the same purposes. 



