Turkey Oak 



287 



pressed-hairy scales. The leaves are obovate to ovate in outline, 8 to 20 cm. long; 

 the 3 to 5 lobes are oblong, ovate or narrowly lanceolate, bristle-tipped, sometimes 

 coarsely toothed, the sinuses rounded and deep, the base wedge-shaped. They are 

 thick and stiff, yellowish green and shining, with a broad, raised midrib above, 

 paler, shining and smooth, except for the tufts of hairs in the axils of the princi- 

 pal veins beneath, turning brown or dull yellow before falling in the autumn; 

 leaf-stalk stout, flattened and grooved, 0.5 to i cm. long. The flowers appear in 

 March or April with the leaves, the staminate in clustered slender hairy, simple 

 or branched catkins 10 to 12.5 cm. long; calyx with 4 or 5 sharp lobes; anthers 



Fig. 239. — Turkey Oak. 



oblong, pointed, and yellow. The pistillate flowers are on short, hairy stalks, 

 their involucral scales bright red and hairy, their styles elongated and dark red. 

 The fruit ripens in the autumn of the second year, usually solitary on a stout 

 stalk about 6 mm. long; nut ovoid to oblong, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, dull, white- woolly 

 at the apex; cup top-shaped, 1.5 to 2 cm. across, thin, light reddish brown, slightly 

 hairy on inner surface, embracing about one third of the nut, its upper scales thin, 

 ovate to oblong, blunt, hairy, inflexed over the edge of cup so as to form a rim or 

 border about 3 mm. wide. 



The wood is hard, strong, rather coarse-grained, light reddish brown; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.73. It is extensively used for fuel but not known to be used for 

 other purposes. 



This tree is valuable on account of its rapid growth in the sterile soils in which 



