306 TREES IN WINTER 



CHINQUAPIN OAK 

 Chestnut Oak, Yellow Oak. 



Quercus Muhlenbergii Engelm. 

 Q. acuminata Houba. 



HABIT — Small to medium sized tree 30-40 ft. high with a trunk 

 diameter of 1-2 ft.; in basin of the Mississippi reaching- an exception- 

 al heig-ht of 160 feet; trunk buttressed at base in older specimens, 

 branches comparatively small forming narrow, round-topped head. 



BARK — Thin, flaky, broken into loose grayish or sometimes slightly 

 brownish scales. 



T\VIGS — Rather slender, light orange to reddish-brown, smooth. 

 LENTICELS — pale, inconspicuous. LEAVES — resembling those of 

 Chestnut with large, incurved, glandular-tipped teeth or rarely with 

 wavy margin resembling the leaf of the Chestnut Oak. PITH^ 

 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



BUDS — Narrowly ovate to conical, sharp-pointed, 3-5 mm, long. BUD- 

 SCALES — light chestnut brown, slightly hairy on edges, appearing 

 longitudinally striate if held toward light and viewed with a hand- 

 lens. Buds similar to those of Chestnut Oak but smaller. 



FRUIT — Maturing the first season, sessile or short-stalked, singly or 

 in pairs. NUT — broadly ovate to oval,. 15-20 mm. long, narrowed and 

 rounded at pale downy apex, light chestnut brown. CUP — thin, rather 

 shallow cup-shaped enclosing about Yz or less of the nut; scales pale 

 brown, woolly, slightly knobby at base of cup, the brownish tips of the 

 scales sometimes forming a slight fringe at rim of cup. Meat sweet, 

 edible. 



COMPARISONS — The Chinquapin Oak resembles the Chestnut Oak on 

 the one hand and the Dwarf Chinquapin Oak on the other. It is 

 distinguished from the former by its flaky, gray bark, and the smaller 

 size of buds and acorns; from the latter by its sharp-pointed buds and 

 larger size. 



DISTRIBUTION — Rare and local in the Atlantic states, usually on 

 limestone soil, on dry hillsides, rocky ridges and rich bottoms. Ontario; 

 south to Delaware and District of Columbia, along the mountains to 

 northern Alabama; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma 

 and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Vermont — Gardner's Island, Lake Champlain, 

 Ferrisburg; Connecticut — rare; calcareous ridges in the northwestern 

 part of the state; Canaan, Salisbury, also along the Housatonic river 

 in Kent, New Milford and bordering tide water in Milford. 



WOOD — Heavy, very hard, strong, close-grained, durable, with thin, 

 light-colored sapwood, largely used in cooperage, for wheels, fencing 

 and railroad ties. 



