316 TREES IN" WINTER 



SCARLET OAK 



Quercus coccinea Muench. 



HABIT — A tree of medium size, '30-50 ft. high with trunk diameter 

 of 1-3 ft., larger further south; trunk tends to be continuous into the 

 crown, narrowed and giving off ascending branches above and 

 horizontal, often terminally declined branches below; limbs long and 

 comparatively slender for an Oak, forming a rather narrow, open head. 



BARK^ — Of young trunks and limbs smooth, light brown, on older 

 trunks and limbs up to 2.5 cm. thick, divided by shallow furrows into 

 irregular ridges which in general are neither so regularly flat-topped 

 as the ridges of the Red Oak nor so roughly broken up as those of the 

 Black Oak. The bark therefore may be considered as intermediate in 

 character between these two species. Inner bark, reddish not bitter. 



TWIGS — Mediumly stout to slender, light red to orange red. LENTI- 

 CELS — numerous, minute, pale, inconspicuous. LEAVES — broadly 

 oval or obovate, with bristle-tipped lobes separated by deep rounded 

 indentations. PITH — 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



BUDS — Broadly oval to ovate, narrowed above to a typically rather 

 blunt apex, widest at or slightly below middle, dark reddish-brown, 4-8 

 mm. long, pale woolly above middle, lower half mostly free from wool. 

 BUD-SCALES — numerous, free from distinct longitudinal striations. 



FRUIT — Maturing in autumn of second season, sessile or short-stalksd, 

 singly or in pairs. NUT — oval to oblong, variable in shape, 1 to 2.5 

 cm. long, Jight reddish brown, occasionally striate. CUP — thin, top- 

 shaped or cup-shaped, constricted at base, enclosing % to % of nut. 

 Scales, light reddish-brown, thin, closely overlapping, slightly downy, 

 tips of scales at rim typically appressed against the nut — not spread- 

 ing. Meat pale yellow, slightly bitter. Immature acorns appressed, 

 rather smooth and shiny, light brown, main basal scales generally 

 reaching less than halfway up giving appearance of 2 rows of scales. 



COMPARISONS — The size and shape of the acorn cup as well as the 

 greater woolliness of the upper part of the buds distinguish this species 

 from the Red Oak. From the Black Oak it is distinguished by the 

 appressed scales of acorn cup, by the fatter buds which are less wolly, 

 and that only above the middle and by the pale inner *bark. See also 

 under Black Oak. 



DISTRIBUTION — Most common on dry, sandy soil. Ontario; south to 

 the middle states and along the mountains to North Carolina and Ten- 

 nessee; reported from Florida; west to Minnesota, Nebraska and Mis- 

 souri. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine — valley of the Androscoggin, southward; 

 New Hampshire — common about Manchester; Vermont — not authori- 

 tatively reported by recent observers; Massachusetts — more common in 

 the eastern than western sections, sometimes covering considerable 

 areas; Connecticut and Rhode Island — common. 



WOOD— Heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, light or reddish-brown, 

 with thick darker colored sapwood, less valuable than wood of Red Oak 

 but used for the same purposes. 



