127 
14. Quercus velutina Lamarck. Biack Oak. YELLOW Oak. 
Plate 57. Bark on trunks deeply fissured, thick, not scaly, dark 
brown to nearly black, rarely light brown, inner bark deep orange, 
bark on young branchlets smooth and dark brown; winter buds 
ovate, taper-pointed, hairy, scales blunt, rusty pubescent, about 8 
mm. (1/3 inch) long; leaves obovate to oblong, very variable in 
size and form, usually 12-18 em. (5-7 inches) long, 5-9 lobed, 
usually 7-lobed, truncate or wedge-shaped at the base, the laterel 
lobes varying from ovate to obovate, the sinuses generally deep and 
wide and rounded at the base, although the margins of some of the 
obovate type are very shallow lobed, hairy when they first appear, 
becoming at maturity thin and firm, smooth, glossy and a bright 
green above, paler or a yellow green beneath, usually smooth, some- 
times with hairs in the axils of the veins, or rarely the whole under 
surface covered with hairs; the leaves on some individuals approach 
the scarlet oak in shape, but on the whole are a little larger; peti- 
oles 2-8 em. (24-3 inches) long, usually smooth, sometimes hairy; 
acorns sessile or nearly so, solitary or in pairs; nut ovoid, oblong, 
or subglobose, 1.5-2 em. (144-34 inch) long, more or less covered 
with hairs, especially near the summit and the part enclosed by 
the cup, enclosed for about half its length in the cup-shaped cup; 
cup rounded at the base, hairy within; scales hight brown, rather 
blunt pointed, hoary pubescent, loose above the middle, sometimes 
appearing as a fringe. 
Distribution. Maine, Ontario and Minnesota south to Florida 
and west to Texas. Found throughout Indiana in dry, sandy, and 
sterile soil. In the northern counties on the gravelly hills it is fre- 
quent or common; in some of the dry sandy areas and on the dune 
region of Lake Michigan it is the principal species, and sometimes 
forms almost pure stands. In the east central part of the State 
it varies from very rare to somewhat frequent. In Wells County 
a few trees are found in two localities only about 20 miles apart. 
In the western and southern parts of the State it is frequent to 
common on dry, sandy or gravelly soil and on the sterile hills. 
While not so uniformly distributed throughout the State as the 
white oak, yet in point of number it nearly equals it, or may even 
exceed it. 
The published records of the distribution are as follows: Clark 
(Baird and Taylor) and (Smith); Clay (Wilson); Delaware (Phin- 
ney); Delaware, Jay, Randolph and Wayne (Phinney); Fountain 
(Brown); Franklin (Haymond) and (Meyncke); Gibson (Schneck); 
Hamilton (Wilson); Jefferson (Coulter); Knox (Ridgway) and 
