126 THE TREE BOOK 



oak leaves for their emblem, because their be- 

 loved Prince Charlie (King Charles II) saved 

 his life, when fleeing from Cromwell, by hiding 

 in an oak. The Charter Oak, of Hartford, is 

 the most famous American oak tree. 



There are in all more than three hundred dis- 

 tinct species of the oak. They belong to the 

 great natural family of cup-bearers. The 

 chestnut and the beech are near relatives. 

 Fifty species of oak are found in North Amer- 

 ica, more than twenty of them being located 

 east of the Mississippi River. Suppose we take 

 a trip into the woods and see how many of these 

 species we can locate. We shall have no diffi- 

 culty in spotting the trees as oaks, even at a 

 distance, for they may be known by their irregfu- 

 lar, crooked growth. Oak trees also have a 

 foliage peculiar to themselves. The leaves are 

 of a firm texture, with a glossy upper surface, 

 and most of them are deeply scalloped, as 

 though each little point reached out eagerly for 

 sunlight. An oak tree, beyond the age of twenty 

 years, may also be known by its fruits, the 

 acorns, which scatter the ground in every direc- 

 tion and furnish the creatures of the forest with 

 tempting food. Oak woods also emit a peculiar 

 fragrance almost as strong in its way as the 

 "piney" scent of the evergreens. The oak 



