The Oaks 



The Durand Oak (Quercus breviloba, Sarg.) is a Southern, 

 blue-leaved white oak, 80 to 90 feet high, with bark and leaf 

 linings as silvery as its California cousin's. These leaves, which 

 are leathery and scarcely 3 inches long, have indistinctly wavy 

 margins, and tend to broaden at the tip, ending in three lobes. 

 An ovate nut of moderate size sits in a thin saucer with hairy 

 scales. 



In the bayou region of the South, and on the dry prairies of 

 Alabama it is a fme, tall tree, with lumber equal to the best white 

 oak; but west of the middle of Texas it decreases in size and 

 becomes an almost evergreen shrub which is worthless except for 

 fuel. It grows in thickets on sterile bluflfs, even across the 

 Mexican border. 



White Oak (Quercus alba, Linn.) — A large tree, 60 to 1 50 

 feet high, 3 to 8 feet in trunk diameter, tall in the forest, low and 

 broad domed in the open fields. Bark pale grey, broken into 

 small, thin plates. IVood tough, strong, heavy, hard, durable, 

 light brown, with prominent medullary rays. Buds short, round, 

 smooth, clustered at tip of twigs. Leaves alternate, 5 to 9 inches 

 long, obovate or oblong in outline, with 7 to 9 rounded or finger- 

 shaped lobes with deep, rounded sinuses between; petioles stout; 

 colour red at first, with white silky lining, then bright green above, 

 paler beneath ; in autumn deep red, pale purplish beneath. Flowers 

 in May, with half-grown leaves; staminate catkins, hairy, 2^ to 3 

 inches long, yellow; pistillate, i to 2 on short stems, stamens 

 bright red. Acorns annual, on short or long stems; cup shallow, 

 thin, with closely appressed scales; nut of long, shiny, brown, 

 f to I inch long, sweet, edible. Preferred habitat, rich, well- 

 drained soil. Distribution, southern Maine to Florida; west to 

 Minnesota, Kansas and Texas. Uses: A lumber tree of highest 

 rank. Its bark is used in tanneries in the making of leather. 

 The wood is used in naval architecture, in house building and 

 inside finishing, for furniture, agricultural implements, cooperage, 

 railroad ties and fuel. 



The white oak is the noblest tree of its race; king by common 

 consent, in our forests of broad-leaved trees. It is the embodi- 

 ment of strength, dignity and independence. The Briton has but 

 one native oak on which to spend his loyalty and devotion. We 

 have fifty kinds — all American — but the white oak is chief among 

 them all. In this opinion the lumberman and the tree lover 



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