MacDonald's Oak 



337 



long. The flowers appear from February to April, when the leaves are about one 

 half unfolded. The staminate catkins are hairy, 5 to 7.5 cm. long; calyx- lobes 

 6 to 8, sharp-pointed, hairy and pale yellow; stamens exserted, oblong, notched, 

 smooth and yellow. The pistillate flowers are usually sohtary, stalkless; involucral 

 scales broad and woolly; styles short, broad and spreading. The fruit ripens the 

 first season, and is sessile or very nearly so; nut narrowly oblong-conic, rather 

 hairy, 3 to 5 cm. long, its seed sweetish; cup depressed -hemispheric or saucer- 

 shaped, 2 to 2.5 cm. across, pale hairy inside, embracing very little of the nut, 

 covered with thick whitish-hairy scales, the uppermost thinner and more slender 

 tipped than the lower. 



The wood is quite hard but brittle, close-grained and light brown; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.74. It is difficult to season properly and is scarcely ever used 

 except for fuel. The nuts, which are usually abundant, are gathered and stored 

 for food by the Indians. 



It is also known as Valley oak. White oak. Swamp oak, and Roble. 



56. MACDONALD'S OAK — Quercus MacDonaldi Greene 



A tree of the islands off the coast of southern California where it grows along 

 streams, reaching a height of 10.5 meters, with a trunk diameter of 4.5 dm. It is 

 also called Island oak. 



The bark is close and gray. The branches are numerous, forming a compact 

 round head. The twigs are 

 slender, densely hairy at first 

 becoming nearly smooth. The 

 winter buds are about 3 nun. 

 long, oval and sharp-pointed. 

 The leaves are spatulate-oblong 

 or obovate, 5 to 7 cm. long; the 

 5 to 9 lobes are blunt or sharp- 

 pointed and bristle-tipped, the 

 lower portion narrow and en- 

 tire, the narrowed base unequal; 

 they are thick and firm, smooth 

 above, densely hairy at first be- 

 coming less so and prominently 

 reticulate beneath. The fruit 

 ripens the first season, and is 



sessile; the nut is conic or ob- ^^°- 294- — MacDonald's Oak. 



long-conic, 2 to 4 cm. long, sharp-pointed; cup deeply hemispheric, embracing 

 about one third of the nut and covered by thick tuberculate scales. 



Quercus dumosa Nuttall, with which this species has been confused, is a 

 shrub with smaller leaves and acorns, widely distributed in Cahfomia. 



