310 TREES IN" WINTER 



CHESTNUT OAK 

 Rock Chestnut Oak, Rock Oak. 



Quercus Prinus L. 



HABIT — A medium sized or small tree, 25-50 ft. high with a trunk 

 diameter of l-2l^ ft.; further south much larger, reaching 100 ft. in 

 height; trunk tall, straight, continuous, or divided rather low down into 

 large spreading limbs, forming broad open head, sometimes broader 

 than high, 



BARK — Brown to black, deeply fissured into long, more or less con- 

 tinuous, thick, rough ridges which are somewhat flattened on surface or 

 on older trees more characteristically rounded or sharp-edged, a section 

 through one of the ridges forming thus an inverted letter "V" with its 

 apex somewhat rounded or in younger specimens flattened; bark of 

 young trees and of smaller branches smooth. 



TWIGS — Stout, light orange to reddish-brown, smooth with some- 

 what bitter taste. LENTICELS — pale, generally inconspicuous. LEAVES 

 — oblong, lanceolate to obovate, wavy-margined with 10-16 pairs of 

 primary veins. PITH — 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



BL'DS — Narrowly ovate-conical, sharp-pointed, 4-10 mm, long. BUD- 

 SCALES — light chestnut brown, slightly hairy toward apex and on 

 margins, appearing longitudinally striate if viewed toward light with a 

 hand-lens. Margins of scales tend to lose their brown color and to 

 become light or dark gray. 



FRUIT — Maturing the first season, short-stalked, singly or in pairs. 

 NUT — shiny, light chestnut brown, oval to ovate to nearly cylindrical, 

 variable in size and relative thickness; 20-35 mm. long; from three 

 times to less than twice as long as broad. CUP — thin, deep, top- 

 shaped to hemispherical, covering Vs or less of nut; scales reddish- 

 brown, woolly, more or less knobby especially toward base of cup. Meat 

 sweet. 



COMPARISONS — The Chestnut Oak is readily distinguished from 

 the other members of the "White Oak group by the fact that its bark 

 is not flaky. Its firm, round-ridged bark is definitely characteristic 

 when typically developed. The buds resemble somewhat those of the 

 Red Oak, but are somewhat lighter in color with edges of scales 

 bleached, are much narrower and for the most part conical, with the 

 widest part at or very near the base, whereas the buds of the Red Oak 

 when typically developed, are much fatter, with the widest part about 

 a third of the distance from the base. The bark of the Red Oak, 

 moreover, has flat ridges. 



DISTRIBUTION — Woods, rocky ridges and hillsides. Along the Cana- 

 dian shore of Lake Erie; south to Delaware and along the mountains 

 to Georgia, extending nearly to the summit of Mt. Pisgah in North 

 Carolina; west to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine — Saco river and Mt. Agamenticus, near 

 the southern coast; New Hampshire — belts or patches in the 

 eastern part of the state and along the southern border. Hinsdale, 

 Winchester, Brookline, Manchester, Hudson; Vermont; western part of 

 the state throughout, not common; abundant at Smoke mountain at 

 an altitude of 1,300 feet, and along the western flank of the Green 

 mountains at least in Addison county; Massachusetts — eastern sections. 

 Sterling. Lancaster, Russell, Middleboro, rare in Medford and Sudbury, 

 frequent on the Blue Hills; Connecticut — occasional near the coast; 

 frequent or common elsewhere; Rhode Island — locally common. 



WOOD — Heavy, hard, strong, rather tough, close grained, durable in 

 contact with the soil, largely used for fencing, railroad ties, ranking 

 next to the White Oak for this purpose, and for fuel. The bark is 

 rich in tannin and is consumed in large quantities in tanning leather. 



