Quercus i^oi 



Garden of Trinity College, Dublin, and is now about 25 ft. high, with a bole 9I ft. 

 m height and 2 ft. 5 in. in girth. Mr. S. G. Wild reports that it is healthy and 

 vigorous, and not affected by the winter's cold. It produced acorns in 1905, which 

 apparently did not ripen. /^ ^ v 



QUERCUS ALBA, White Oak 



Quercus alba, Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 996 (1753) ; Loudon. Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1864 (1838); Sargent, 

 Silva N. Amer. viii. 16, tt. 356, 357, 358 (1895), and Trees N. Amer. 259 (1905). 



A tree, attaining in America 150 ft. in height and 18 ft. in girth. Bark grey, 

 on young trees broken into long thin loose irregular scales ; on old trunks about 

 2 in. thick, and divided into broad flat scaly ridges. Young branchlets glabrous, 

 shining. Buds ovoid, obtuse, reddish brown, \ in. long. Leaves (Plate 336, Fig. 

 33) deciduous in winter, turning reddish before they fall, occasionally withering 

 and persistent during winter, about 7 in. long and 4 in. broad, obovate, cuneate at 

 the base, obtuse at the apex, with seven to nine lobes ; terminal lobe truncate, 

 sinuate, or with three lobules, of which the two lateral are unequal in size ; lateral 

 lobes oblong, usually entire, variable in width and depth ; lateral nerves ending in 

 some of the sinuses as well as in the lobes ; upper surface dark green, glabrous ; 

 lower surface pale, covered with a very minute pubescence, only discernible with a 

 strong lens, no conspicuous hairs being present on the midrib or nerves ; petiole 

 \ in. long, glabrous. 



Fruit ripening in the first year, sessile or on a slender stalk, both forms 

 sometimes occurring on the same branch, single or in pairs ; acorn edible, ovoid, 

 rounded at the apex, shining, f in. long, enclosed for one-quarter of its length in a 

 hemispherical cupule, which is covered with tomentose scales thickened and tuber- 

 culate in the lower ranks, thin and membranous towards the rim. Individual 

 trees, believed to be hybrids ^ of Q. alba with other oaks, have been observed in 

 different parts of North America, the most noteworthy being that with Q. macrocarpa. 

 See p. 1304. 



The White Oak has a wide distribution, extending northward to lat. 46° in 

 southern New Brunswick, south-western Quebec, and southern Ontario ; westward 

 through southern Michigan and Wisconsin to southern Minnesota, south-eastern 

 Nebraska, and eastern Kansas ; and southward to northern Florida and the Gulf 

 States as far as the Brazos river in Texas. It is one of the most common oaks of 

 the Mississippi basin and of the Atlantic states, growing both on fertile uplands and 

 on alluvial soil, which is not too moist. It is abundant and of large size in Ontario 

 and the northern borders of the United States, furnishing the "Canadian oak" exported 

 to England, which is now supplemented by large supplies from Ohio and Indiana, and 

 even from Kentucky and west Virginia, by way of the Great Lakes. The tree is 

 most abundant and of its largest size in the alluvial lands of the lower Ohio basin, 



1 These are described and figured by Sargent, Silva N. Amer. viii. i8, tt. 359, 360, 361 (1895). 



