OAK FAMILY 



aments short ; anthers yellow. Pistillate flowers are sessile or borne 

 on short peduncles, involucral scales reddish, tomentose ; stigmas 

 bright red. 



Acoriis. — Annual, sessile or stalked, solitary, variable in size and 

 shape. Nut oval or ovate, pubescent, from one-half to two inches 

 in length ; cup cup-shaped, rarely shallow but usually deep, enclos- 

 ing from one-third to nearly the entire nut, light brown, downy inside, 

 outside dark brown, tomentose, covered with large imbricated scales 

 which near the rim become half free and form a fringe-like border. 

 Kernel white. 



The Bur Oak ranges from Manitoba to Texas and from 

 the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast. 

 It goes farther to the northwest than any other of our eastern 

 oaks, it varies in size from a shrub in Manitoba, to a magnifi- 

 cent tree one hundred and sixty feet high in southern Illinois. 

 It is the most abundant oak of Kansas and of Nebraska, it 

 forms the scattered forests known as " The Oak Openings " 

 of Minnesota. 



Three marked characters distinguish the Bur Oak. Its 

 leaves have a peculiar though variable outline which is un- 

 mistakable, rarely if ever are two alike, yet all bear so marked 

 a resemblance that there is no difficulty in distinguishing 

 them. Every Bur Oak leaf is somewhere, usually about the 

 middle, cut by two opposite sinuses nearly to the midrib. 



The terminal lobe so formed may 

 itself be lobed or toothed or re- 

 pand, the lower division may be 

 lobed or entire, but with all these 

 variations the leaves retain a 

 general similarity. 



In the spring they are yellow 

 green as they burst from the bud 

 and do not like so many others 

 take on a stain of red. At first 

 they are downy and woolly but 

 soon become smooth and shining. 

 The leaves spread out horizontally from the new shoots and 

 the aments hang down in thick clusters. Their autumn col- 



336 



Bur Oak, Qiiercus macrocarpa. 

 Acorns %' to 2' long. 



