The Oaks 



Upon the mountain slopes this oak .s scrubby in growth, 

 but in the rich loam of the lower valley land it is a lofty tree, 

 which often loses its lower limbs by the crowding of young conifers 

 about it. The crown expands, the outer branches become 

 pendulous, and the tree assumes the shape of a tall Etruscan vase 

 — a common form of our American elms. 



The whiteness of the wood makes it popular for the interior 

 finish of houses, as well as for the coarser staple uses to which 

 white oak is devoted. Its fault is checking as it dries. It takes 

 two years to season properly. 



Robert Douglas, the great botanical explorer, named this 

 tree in honour of Nicholas Garry, secretary of the Hudson Bay 

 Company, in recognition of the courtesies and substantial aid 

 rendered by him to scientists studying the flora of the Northwest. 



Live Oak (Quercus Virginiana, Mill.) — Evergreen tree, 50 

 to 75 feet high, with thick trunk and horizontal limbs of great 

 length forming a low, spreading dome, like an old apple tree. 

 Often shrubby. Bark reddish brown, scaly, with shallow fissures; 

 twigs rigid, slim, hoary at first. Wood light brown or yellow 

 (sap wood nearly white), close grained, lustrous, compact with 

 hardly distinguishable annual rings, heavy, tough, strong, durable, 

 easy to split, hard to work. Buds globose, brownish, small. 

 Leaves evergreen, leathery, elliptical or oblanceolate, entire, 

 rarely wavy margined, and spiny tipped above the middle, 2 to 5 

 inches long, dark green above, paler beneath, brownish yellow in 

 late winter, falling when new leaves appear. Flowers in March, 

 April; staminate in hairy catkins; pistillate 3 to 5-flowered on 

 long spikes with bright red stigmas. Acorns annual, brown, 

 stalked, pointed, i inch long, in thin cup with tapering base and 

 small, closely appressed scales; nut sweet, ^ to § of it embraced by 

 the cup. Preferred habitat, dry sandy soil near the coast. Dis- 

 tribution, islands and coast from Virginia to Florida, west to 

 Mexico, and in Lower California. Uses: Superb avenue and 

 ornamental tree in the South. Grows rapidly and is easily 

 transplanted. Lumber better in all respects than that of Quercus 

 alba, even. 



The evergreen live oak of the South is one of the handsomest 

 of all our native trees in cultivation. Specimen trees in New 

 Orleans, Charleston and other cities certainly challenge the 

 observer to mention a more perfect example of all that is to be 



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