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BLACK OAK 



Yellow-barked Oak, Quercitron, Yellow Oak. 



Quercus velutina Lam. 

 Q. coccinea, var. tinctoria A.DC. ; Q. tinctoria Bartr. 



HABIT — One of our largest oaks 50-75 ft. high with a trunk diameter 

 of 2-4 ft., reaching its greatest development in Ohio basin with a 

 maximum height of 150 ft.; somewhat similar in general habit to the 

 Scarlet Oak; limbs generally somewhat stouter; head may be wide 

 spreading or narrowed oblong. 



BARK — Dark gray to blackish, often lighter near the seashore, up to 

 4 cm. thick, very rough, broken by deep furrows into thick t-idges which 

 are further divided by cross fissures giving an appearance of irregular 

 block-like strips. The bark is roughened especially at the base of 

 trunk even "in quite young trees. The young bark in beginning to 

 fissure for a time may have flattened ridges resembling those of Red 

 Oak, but they are soon transversely roughened. Inner bark orange- 

 yellow, intensely bitter; this with the buds forms the most distinctive 

 character. 



TWIGS — Stout, reddish-brown or reddish, mottled with gray; tasting 

 bitter if chewed and coloring saliva yellowish. LENTICELS — scattered, 

 generally large, conspicuous. LEAVES — obovate to oblong with broad 

 bristle-pointed lobes sometimes indistinguishable from those of Scarlet 

 Oak. Large, thin-walled, spherical insect galls formed on leaves seem 

 to be most common on the Black Oak. (See plate.) PITH — 5-pointed, 

 star-shapei. 



BTDS — Ovate to conical, large 6-12 mm. long, narrowed above to a 

 rather sharp point, generally 5-sided, strongly angled, covered except 

 basal row of scales with dense, pale yellowish-gray to dirty-white wool. 

 BUD-SCALES — numerous, not distinctly longitudinally striate. 



FRriT — Maturing in autumn of second year, singly or in pairs, sessile 

 or short-stalked, deep cup-shaped to top-shaped. NUT — ovate-oblong, 

 variable in shape, 1-2 cm. long, light reddish-brown, frequently 

 coated with soft down, often striate. CUP — thin, deeply cup to top- 

 shaped, more or less constrijcted at base; scales, of cup thin, light 

 reddish-brown, finely woolly, closely overlapping at base, loosely 

 overlapping above with free tips horizontally wrinkled and forming a 

 loose more or less spreading fringe-like border to cup. Meat yellower 

 and more bitter than that of the Scarlet Oak. Immature acorns appressed 

 or recurved toward twig, slightly woolly; main scales extending nearly 

 to the top giving the appearance of a single row of scales. 



COMPARISONS — The three most common trees of the Black Oak group 

 (the Red, the Black and the Scarlet) are readily distinguished by their 

 bud characters. Those of the Black Oak are densely pale woolly over 

 whole surface, those of Scarlet Oak are less densely pale woolly, and 

 the woolliness is confined to upper half. They are more nearly oval 

 than those of the Black Oak, the widest part being toward the middle. 

 The Red Oak Buds are generally free from pale woolliness 

 though having often rusty hairs at extreme apex; in dis- 

 tinction from the Scarlet Oak the widest part is nearer 

 the base. The yellow bitter inner bark and the yellow discol- 

 oration of the saliva when the twigs are chewed distinguish the Black 

 Oak from the other two. The Red Oak has flat-topped ridges, these in 

 the Black Oak are broken into rough blocks, while the bark of the 

 Scarlet Oak is intermediate between the two types. The acorns of 

 the Red Oak are large with large shallow saucer-shaped cups, those 

 of the Scarlet and Black are smaller, and have deeper cups. The cup 

 scales of the Black Oak form a loose fringe at the rim and are wrinkled, 

 those of the Scarlet are closely over-lapping and form no fringe. The 

 acorn characters are distinctive for the Red Oak but are not so good 

 quite in .separating the Black and Scarlet Oaks from each other, 

 although when typically developed the acorns of the two trees can be 

 readily distinguished. The bark characters can be used when typically 

 developed in separating the Red from the Black Oak but are not as 

 decisive as bud or inner bark characters. 



DISTRIBUTION — In poor soils; on dry gravelly plains and ridges. 

 Southern and western Ontario; south to the Gulf states'^ west to Min- 

 nesota, Kansas. Oklahoma and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine — York county; New Hampshire — valley 



of the lower Merrimac and eastward, absent on the highlands, reappear- 

 ing within three or four miles of the Connecticut, ceasing at North 

 Charlestown; Vermont — western and southwester sections; Massachu- 

 setts — abundant eastward; Connecticut and Rhode Island — frequent. 



WOOD — Heavy, hard, strong though not tough, coarse-grained and 

 liable to check in drying, bright brown tinged with red, with thin lichter 

 colored sapwood; of little value except as fuel. The bark abounds in 

 tannic acid and is largely used in tanning, as a yellow dye and an 

 astringent in medicine. 



