Quercus 1 243 



p. 1250. Both Q. rubra and Q. palustris have saucer-like or flat acorn-cupules, 

 those of the former being large and thick ; those of the latter species thin and 

 small. The cupules of Q. coccinea are deep and turbinate, with a peculiar scaly 

 stalk. 



Distribution ^ 



The red oak is one of the largest and most common trees in the eastern parts 

 of Canada and the United States. It is abundant in southern Nova Scotia, New 

 Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario, and in the northern and central States, attaining 

 its largest size in the region north of the Ohio river. Its western limit is marked 

 by a line drawn from lake Namekagon in Burril County, Wisconsin, through eastern 

 Minnesota, eastern Nebraska, and the Blue river in Kansas. Its southern and 

 south-western limits are not clearly defined, as it is replaced to the southward by 

 Q. Schneckii, which has hitherto been generally confounded with it. Its occurrence 

 in Indian Territory, eastern Texas, southern Missouri and Arkansas is doubtful. 

 It is common in the mountainous parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, and reaches its 

 most southerly point, so far as is known, in the Red Mountains near Birmingham, 

 Alabama, where a few isolated stunted specimens have been found. On the Atlantic 

 slope it is common everywhere in New England, except in the mountains, in New 

 York outside the Adirondacks, and throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

 Farther south it extends along the AUeghanies as far as northern Georgia. 

 Towards the north it is confined to altitudes below 500 ft., in Kansas and Missouri 

 below 1000 ft., while in Virginia it ascends to 3500 ft., and in western North 

 Carolina to 5000 ft. 



The red oak thrives best where the rainfall is considerable, 32 to 53 in. 

 annually being registered over its area of distribution. It ceases to grow west of 

 the 90th meridian, where the rainfall falls below 30 in. The climate in which it 

 flourishes is characterised by great extremes of temperature, the thermometer often 

 falling during the long winter to — 30° Fahr., and attaining in summer a maximum of 

 90° to 95° Fahr. It grows well on porous sandy, or on gravelly clay soils, which are 

 well-drained ; and is not found on very wet or on very dry ground. It is intolerant 

 of shade, except when quite young. It is not subject to disease or serious insect 

 attacks, and is rarely overthrown by the wind. 



In the forest it is usually associated with numerous other species, as other 

 kinds of oak, chestnut, lime, elms, and hickories ; and where the canopy is dense 

 and a good layer of humus exists attains a greater height than any other American 

 oak, and in a shorter time, trees 150 ft. high and 5 ft. in diameter being not 

 uncommon in favourable situations ; but on drier and poorer soil it does not exceed 

 100 ft. The stems of forest-grown trees are usually buttressed at the base, and 

 are exceptionally straight and of uniform diameter, and are often free of branches 

 to 40 or 50 ft. The red oak, on account of its abundance over a wide area, and its 

 rapidity of growth, producing timber of commercial value quicker than any other 



' Compiled in part from notes by Professor C. Mohr, in the Bureau of Forestry, Washington, D.C. 



