62 TREES 



broad and rounded like that of a white oak, and in the 

 woods, where competition is keen, the trunk may reach one 

 hundred and fifty feet in height. 



The red oak leaf is large, smooth, rather thin, its oval 

 broken by triangular sinuses and forward-aiming lobes, 

 that end in bristly points. The blade is broadest between 

 the apex and the middle, where the two largest lobes are. 

 No oak has leaves more variable than this. 



Under the dark brown, close-knit bark of a full-grown 

 red oak tree is a reddish layer that shows in the furrows. 

 The twigs and leaf -stems are red. A flush of pink covers 

 the opening leaves, and they are Hned with white down 

 which is soon shed. 



The bloom is very abundant and conspicuous, the fringe- 

 like pollen-bearing aments four or five inches long, droop- 

 ing from the twigs in clusters, when the leaves are half- 

 grown in May. 



The acorns of the red oak are large, and set in shallow 

 saucers, with incurving rims. Few creatures taste their 

 bitter white kernels. 



The Willow Oak 



Q. PhelloSy Linn. 



The willow oak has long, narrow, pointed leaves that 

 suggest a willow, and not at all an oak. The supple twigs, 

 too, are willow-like, and the tree is a lover of the waterside. 

 But there is the acorn, seated in a shallow, scaly cup, like 

 a pin oak's. There is no denying the tree's family con- 

 nections. 



A southern tree, deservedly popular in cities for shade 

 and ornamental planting, it is nevertheless hardy in 



