300 



The Oaks 



lobed, or sometimes s-lobed, the apex bristle-pointed, sharp or rounded, the base 

 narrowly wedge-shaped; they are thickish and firm, dull green and smooth on 

 both sides, or sometimes with tufts of brown hairs beneath, the rounded midrib 

 raised on the upper surface, the venation conspicuous; they usually persist into 

 the winter before falling; the leaf-stalk is stout, flattened and grooved, 2 to 7 mm. 

 long. The flowers appear from February to April, the staminate in clustered slen- 

 der-stenmied catkins 5 to 7.5 cm. long, their calyx hairy, its 4 or 5 lobes ovate 

 and blunt; stamens 4 or 5, slightly exserted, their anthers oblong, notched and 

 yellow. The pistillate flowers are on short hairy stalks, the hairy involucral scales 

 shorter than the calyx-lobes; styles short, reflexed, red. The fruit, ripening in 

 the autumn of the second season, is sessile or nearly so, mostly soHtary; nut sub- 

 globose, I to 1.3 cm. long, yellowish brown, hairy and striped; shell thick, hairy 

 inside; cup saucer-shaped or hemispheric, 12 to 15 mm. across, yellow and silky 

 inside, embracing one fourth to one third of the nut, covered with ovate sharp- 

 pointed close scales, which are reddish brown and hairy. 



The wood is hard and strong, close-grained and light brown ; its specific gravity 

 is about 0.72. It is extensively used for fuel. 



It is also called Spotted oak. Duck oak. Punk oak, and Possum oak. 



17. SMALL FRUITED OAK — Quercns microcaipa SmaU 



This shrub sometimes becomes a crooked branched tree 5 meters tall, 

 known only from the rocky soils of Little Stone Mountain, Georgia. 



It is 



■Small-fruited Oak. 



Fig. 252. 



The twigs are slender and quite smooth and dark brown. The winter buds 

 are ovoid, about 4 mm. long, slightly hairy and light brown. The leaves are 



