The Oaks 



superior to both, while in hardiness and rapidity of growth it is 

 the equal of either. 



The Texan Red Oak (Quercus Texana, Buckl.), tallest of 

 American oaks, and one of the handsomest, grows from Iowa to 

 Indiana and south to Texas and Florida. It is closely related 

 to the red and scarlet oaks, showing the characteristic acorns of 

 the former and the leaves of the latter. 



Possibly the giant red oak that stood on the borders of the 

 Bayou St. Barb in Louisiana, fifty years ago, "44 feet in girth 

 and tall according," was of this Texan species. Quercus rubra 

 does not grow so far south. 



Black Oak, Yellow Oak {Quercus velutina, Lam.) — A tree 

 70 to 90 feet, rarely 150 feet high, with narrow, open head of 

 slender branches, occasionally wide spreading and short trunked. 

 Bark usually very dark grey or brown, thick, with rough broken 

 ridges and deep furrows; inner layers orange yellow, rich in tannin. 

 fVood light reddish brown, coarse grained, with annual layers 

 strongly marked and thin medullary rays, hard, strong, heavy, 

 not tough. Buds large, pointed, angled, downy. Leaves alternate, 

 4 to 10 inches long, 2 to 6 inches wide, deeply cut into 7 to 9 

 broad, bristly toothed lobes with rounded sinuses, thick, almost 

 leathery texture, lustrous, dark green above, smooth, or somewhat 

 hairy, brownish beneath; petioles long, yellow, flattened; autumnal 

 colour brownish yellow, rarely reddish. Flowers, May, with half- 

 open leaves; hairy, reddish, stigmas bent back. Acorns biennial, 

 solitary or in pairs, short stalked; nut ovoid, smooth, in cup of 

 loose scales; rim fringed, not incurved; kernel yellow, bitter. 

 Preferred habitat, rich, moist soil. Distribution, Maine to Florida; 

 west to Minnesota, Kansas and eastern Texas. Uses: Rarely 

 planted for ornament and shade. Wood used in cooperage, for 

 furniture and in general construction; bark in tanning and dyeing. 



Since early spring I have been watching life kindle and glow 

 in the top of a grim old black oak. I knew the tree then by its 

 black bark and its large, downy winter buds, and the velvety 

 scurf on its young shoots. Still another sign, constant the year 

 round, proclaimed this tree a black oak beyond question. Under 

 the rough outer bark is an orange-yellow inner layer, easily 

 reached by a little digging in one of the furrows. No other oak 

 need be confused with this species if the observer carries a pocket 

 knife. 



215 



