OAK FAMILY 



Wood. — Pale brown, sapwood the same ; heavy, hard, strong, 

 tough, coarse-grained, checks in drying. Used in construction, in- 

 terior finish of houses, carriage and boat building, agricultural im- 

 plements, railway ties, fuel and fencing. Sp. gr., 0.7662 ; weight 

 of cu. ft., 47.75 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Pale chestnut brown, hairy, ovate, one-fourth of 

 an inch long. 



Leaves. — Alternate, five to six inches long, two to four inches 

 broad, obovate or oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and wedge- 

 shaped at base, margin coarsely sinuate-dentate or sometimes 

 almost pinnately lobed, apex rounded, sometimes acute ; mid- 

 rib stout, pale, rounded above ; primary veins conspicuous. 

 They come out of the bud convolute, pale bronze green, hairy 

 above, coated below with silvery tomentum ; when full grown 

 are thick, bright yellow green above, pale green, downy, often sil- 

 very white, below. In autumn they turn dull yellow bronze. 

 Petioles short, stout, grooved and flattened. Stipules linear, brown, 

 caducous. 



Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate flowers 

 are borne in hairy aments three to four inches long ; calyx yel- 

 lowish-green, hairy, five to nine-lobed ; lobes narrow, acute, short- 

 er than the stamens ; filaments slender, anthers yellow. Pistillate 

 flowers are borne on tomentose or long peduncles, in few-flowered 

 spikes ; involucral scales covered with thick rusty tomentum ; stig- 

 mas bright red. 



Acorns. — Annual, on long peduncles, often in pairs. Nut pale 

 chestnut brown, oval, broad at base, pubescent at apex, an inch 

 to an inch and a half long ; cup, cup- 

 shaped, light brown and downy with- 

 in, chestnut brown without, roughened 

 toward the base by the thickened tips 

 of the acute scales, higher on the cup 

 these are small, crowded, often free, 

 and sometimes form a fringe about the 

 rim. Kernel, white, sweet. 



Unlike the White Oak whose 

 leaves unfold a beautiful red, those 

 of the Swamp White come out a 

 <;,„ ™ wh , n,, n bronze green ; their autumnal tint 



Swamp White Oak. Qtu^rcu^ ^ 



platanotdcs. Acorns i' to IS a dull yelloW withoUt 3. glcam of 



''^'' '°"^- red ; this quickly changes to a pale 



yellow brown. 

 The famous Wadsworth oak, so named from the estate on 

 which it grew, was a Swamp White Oak. It stood for many 



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