The Oaks 



rays) than any other species. Its durability, hardness and fine 

 colour are exceptional among oaks. So great is the demand for it 

 in the fmer decorative arts employing wood that it is going out 

 of use in general construction where inferior woods can be sub- 

 stituted. Roots of white oak, sawed, planed and polished, present 

 a wood of extraordinary beauty. It is pale yellow in colour, 

 tinged with oHve, and shows a feathered grain of intricate and 

 graceful pattern. The lustre of it is equal to that of mahogany or 

 rosewood. Fifty years ago Nuttall cited an instance of an English 

 cabinetmaker paying five pounds sterling for the roots of a single 

 tree, counting that furniture veneered with it would vie with the 

 finest. 



Bur or Mossy-cup Oak (Quercus macrocarpa, Michx.) — A 

 large tree, 75 to 160 feet high, with spreading branches, and 

 irregular, round head. Bark greyish brown, deeply furrowed, 

 becoming scaly; branches roughened with thick, corky ridges; 

 twigs winged or smooth, stout, and pubescent at first. IVood 

 brown, v/ith paler sap wood, close grained, heavy, hard, durable 

 in soil; medullary rays conspicuous. Buds small, blunt pointed, 

 pubescent. Leaves obovate, alternate, 6 to 12 inches long, 3 to 6 

 inches wide, 5 to 7-lobed; sinuses rounded, shallow or deep, 

 middle ones often wider, opposite and nearly reach the midrib; 

 petioles short, grooved; summer colour lustrous dark green, with 

 pale, or silvery pubescent lining; autumn colour yellow or brown. 

 Flowers with half-grown leaves in May; staminate in hairy yellow 

 catkins; pistillate, with hairy red scales and bright red stigmas. 

 Acorns annual, ^ to 2 inches long, ovoid, variable in size and shape, 

 pubescent, in deep (rarely shallow) cup, brown, hairy, with loose 

 scales and mossy fringe. Kernel white, sweet. Preferred habitat, 

 rich, well-drained soil. Distribution, Nova Scotia to Montana; 

 south to Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. Uses: Sam.e as 

 Q. alba. Picturesque park tree. Easily transplanted when 

 young. 



The bur oak is a rugged-looking tree, more picturesque than 

 its near relative, the white oak, which is conventional and sym- 

 metrical Vv'hen it has its own way in growing. The bur oak 

 flings out its antlered arms without regard for balance and sym- 

 metry, and casts off the bark of its shaggy limbs with utter 

 indifference to any law of neatness. Broad corky wings are seen 

 even on young twigs, and these are stout and curiously gnarled. 



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