454 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



BEAR OAK 



Black Scrub Oak. 



Quercus ilicifolia Wang. 



Q. nana Sarg. ; Q. pumila Sudw. 



HABIT Usually a shrub 3-10 ft. high, though frequently becoming 

 tree-like and reaching a maximum height of 25 ft. with a trunk 

 diameter of % to 1 ft.; trunk short; branches stiff, contorted, slender, 

 spreading and forming a wide flat or round-topped head. 



BARK Thin, dark brown, smooth, except for small, close, thin scales 

 on older trunks, never however breaking into large, flaky scales. 



TWIGS Slender, yellowish-green to reddish-brown, covered with 

 greenish-yellowish to reddish down which often disappears from expos- 

 ed parts of the twig during the winter but which can generally be found 

 in protected parts at the tips, bases or between the ridges of the season's 

 shoots. LENTICELS minute, pale, inconspicuous on shoots of season. 

 Leaves often breaking off above place of attachment leaving base of leaf- 

 stalk projecting throughout winter (see illustration). LEAVES small, 

 obovate, nearly entire or with 3-7 bristle-tipped lobes, downy beneath. 

 PITH 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



BUDS Ovate to conical, sharp or blunt pointed, small, generally not 

 over 3 mm. long. BUD-SCALES dark chestnut brown, generally 

 minutely hairy on the margins. 



FRUIT Maturing in second season, produced in great abundance, 

 clustered along the stem, generally in pairs or rarely singly, sessile 

 or generally short stalked. NUT varying in shape, ovate to spheri- 

 cal, 10-15 mm. long, light brown, shining, generally more or less 

 longitudinally striate. CUP top-shaped to rather deeply saucer- 

 shaped, more or less constricted at base, thick, enclosing about ^ the 

 nut; scales of cup reddish-brown, slightly downy, thin, closely over- 

 lapping with free tips of upper scales forming a fringe-like border 

 to cup. 



COMPARISONS The Dwarf Chinquapin Oak is the only one likely 

 to be confused with the Bear Oak. The points of difference between 

 the two species may be found in Comparisons under Dwarf Chinquapin 

 Oak. 



DISTRIBUTION Dry sandy or rocky sterile ground. Maine; south 

 to Ohio and the mountain regions of North Carolina and Kentucky; 

 west to the Alleghany mountains. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine frequent in eastern and southern sec- 

 tions and upon Mount Desert Island; New Hampshire as far north as 

 Conway, more common near the lower Connecticut; Vermont in the 

 eastern and southern sections as far north as Bellows Falls; Massachu- 

 setts and Rhode Island abundant, forming in favorable situations, dense 

 thickets, sometimes covering several acres. 



IN CONNECTICUT Rare in northwestern part of the state, local, 

 frequent or common elsewhere. 



WOOD Too scant to be of any economic value. 



