Rock Chestnut Oak 



329 



Michigan and from Ohio and Indiana. Most of the common names of the Yelr. 

 low oak are probably applied to this tree also. 



The bark is flaky, scaly and gray. The smooth twigs are yellowish brown, be- 

 coming gray. The leaves are 

 obovate or oblong-obovate, 

 broadest above the middle, the 

 margin coarsely and bluntly or 

 sharply toothed, the apex taper- 

 pointed, the base tapering or 

 rounded ; they are thin but firm, 

 yellow-green and smooth above, 

 paler, smooth or slightly hairy, 

 with straw-colored prominent 

 venation beneath, turning bright 

 yellow before falling in the au- 

 tumn; the leaf-stalk is slender, 

 2 to 3 cm. long, thickened and 

 darkened at the base. The fruit ripens the first autumn, is sessile, or very shbrt- 

 stalked; nut ovoid, 1.5 to 2 cm. long, light brown, hairy at the apex; cup deeply 

 saucer-shaped, 12 to 15 mm. across, light brown and roughish inside, thin, em- 

 bracing one third to one half the nut and covered with small, thick, grayish-hairy 

 scales. 



The wood is similar to that of the Yellow oak and used indiscriminately as 

 such. 



Fig. 285. — Alexander's Oak. 



49. ROCK CHESTNUT OAK — Quercus Prinus Linnaeus 



A tree usually of sterile hillsides from Maine to Ontario, south to New Jersey, 



Virginia, and in the mountains to Georgia, 

 Alabama and Tennessee, reaching a maxi- 

 mum height of 30 meters, with a trunk di- 

 ameter of 2 m. 



The trunk is usually divided rather low 

 down into several principal branches, the tree, 

 when not crowded, sometimes broader than 

 high. The bark is up to 5 cm. thick, deeply 

 fissured into thick roughish ridges of a brown 

 to nearly black color; on younger stems it is 

 thirmer, quite smooth, brownish and some- 

 what shining. The twigs are stout, purplish 

 green, usually smooth, passing through vari- 

 ous shades of brown to gray or dark brown. 



Fig. 286. — Rock Chestnut Oak. The winter buds are ovoid, sharply taper- 



