Trees of New York kilale 191 



FAGACEAE 



Quercus coccinea Muench. 



Scarlet Oak 



Habit — A medium sized tree GO-80 feet in heiglit with a trunk diameter of 

 2-3 feet, often much smaller. Crown in the open narrow, irregular, 

 rounded or oblong, with A^-ide-spreading basal. branches, in dense stands 

 greatly reduced. 



Leaves — Alternate, broadly obovate to oval, 3-6 inches long, 2i/^-4 inches 

 ■wide, acute at the apex, truncate or cuneate at the base, 7-9-lobed, the 

 lobes repandly dentate and bristle-tipped at the apex and separated by 

 deep, wide, rounded sinuses which extend over half way to the midrib. 

 At maturity the leaves are thin, firm, glabrous, lustrous and dark green 

 above, and paler below. Petioles slender, lV^-2i/2 inches long. 



Flowers — Appearing in May or early June when the leaves are about half 

 grown, monoecious. Staminate flowers in interrupted, filiform, pendulous, 

 hairy anients 3-4 inches long, borne on the gi'owth of the preceding season 

 or from the axils of the inner scales of the terminal bud. Calyx cam- 

 panulate, greenish red, pubescent, cut into 4-5 ovate, acute lobes. 

 Stamens 4-5, with glabrous, pale yellow anthers. Pistillate flowers in 

 groups of 2-3 (or solitary), pedunculate, borne in the axils of the leaves 

 of the season, each, subtended by the broadly ovate, hairy, involucral 

 scales. Calyx campanulate, shaUowly lobed. Pistil consisting of a 3- 

 celled (rarely 4-5-celled) ovary surmounted by 3 elongated, spreading, 

 strap-shaped, red styles stigmatic on the inner surface. 



Fruit — An acorn, borne solitary or in pairs, sessile or long pedunculate, 

 ripening the second season. Xut ovoid, pale reddish brown and often 

 striate, round-pointed at the apex, i/4-l inch long, enclosed for one-tliird 

 to one-half of its length in the cup. Cup turbinate, thin, pale reddish 

 brown within, reddish broA\-n with closely appresssed scales ■\\ithout. 



Winter characters — Twigs slender, pale-lenticellate, smooth, lustrous, light 

 reddish brown, at length dark brown. Buds alternate, those near the 

 branch-tip clustered about the terminal bud, broadly ovate, acute, dark 

 reddish bro-\\-n, somewhat pubescent. Mature bark dark brown, thin, 

 divided by shallow furrows into irregular ridges, scaly at the surface. 



Habitat — Prefers light sandy or gravelly soils in company with Eed and 

 Black Oak. 



Kange — Southern Maine west to southern ^Minnesota and eastern Nebraska^ 

 south to North Carolina and Nebraska. Zones A, B, and C. 



Uses — The wood of tMs species is inferior to that of Quercus rubra but is 

 put to the same uses. The tree is desirable ornamentally because of its 

 beautiful foliage which turns scarlet in the autumn, but is subject to 

 early decay resulting in windbreak. 



