BLACK OAK 



deep scallops reaching almost to the midrib. They suggest that material must 

 be cheap or else there has been lavish expense in their creation, if so much has 

 been cut out. 



HENRY D. THOREAU. 



A Scarlet Oak growing in the open forms a round dome- 

 like head whose lower branches frequently sweep the ground. 

 Its leaves are a bright shining green, borne on slender peti- 

 oles so that they respond to every zeph- 

 yr's breath. Their spring-time tint is 

 bright pink and silvery white, but by the 

 time the flowers come the leaves are 

 pale green, growing darker as they grow 

 older, but never even in midsummer do 

 they become dark green. The especial 

 Scarlet Oak, Quercus glory of the species lies in the brilliant 

 coccima.^ Acorns color which the leaves assume late in 

 autumn. The autumnal tints of other 

 oaks are beautiful, but they pale their fires before the ruddy 

 gleam of the Scarlet. 



The acorns greatly resemble those of the Black Oak, but 

 the kernel is white instead of yellow. This difference is 

 characteristic and persistent and may often decide the ques- 

 tion of species for a doubtful tree. 



BLACK OAK. YELLOW OAK 



Quercus velutlna. Quercus tinctbria. 



A tree ordinarily seventy to eighty feet high ; in the lower Ohio 

 valley reaching one hundred and fifty feet with slender branches and 

 narrow open head. Prefers the glacial drift, but is found on the 

 mountain side ; ranges farther south than any other of the Red Oak 

 group. 



Bark. Dark brown or black on old trees, deeply furrowed, scaly; 

 on young trees, stems and branches, smooth. Inner bark is deep 

 orange yellow, heavily charged with tannic acid and largely used in 

 tanning. Branchlets stout, covered with rusty tomentum at first, 

 later they become reddish brown, finally dark brown. 



357 



