OAK FAMILY 



Wood. — Bright brown tinged with red, sapwood paler; heavy, 

 hard, strong, coarse-grained, checks in drying. Sp. gr., 0.7045 ; 

 weight of cu. ft., 43.90 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Brown, ovate, angled, obtuse, covered with to- 

 mentum, one-fourth to one-half inch long. 



Leaves. — Alternate, five to six inches long, three to four inches 

 wide, ovate or obovate, usually seven-lobed and sometimes divided 

 nearly to the middle by wide, rounded sinuses into narrow, obovate, 

 dentate lobes with stout bristle-pointed teeth ; or sometimes the 

 lobes are nearly entire, tapering gradually from a broad base, 

 each tipped with a bristle ; or the sinuses are shallow, the heavy 

 part of the leaf toward the apex, the lobes broad-dentate or sinu- 

 ate-dentate, but always tipped with a bristle. The terminal lobe is 

 oblong, elongated, acute, with large or small teeth ; or, it is broad 

 and coarsely repandly-dentate. They come out of the bud convolute, 

 bright crimson, covered with white hairs above, and coated below 

 with silvery-white tomentum. The lobes are tipped with long white 

 hairs. When full grown the leaves are thick, leathery, dark shining 

 green above and yellow green, brownish, or tawny, more or less 

 pubescent below ; midribs stout, primary veins conspicuous. In 

 autumn they turn brown, or dull red, or yellow and brown and fall 

 late, sometimes remaining until spring. Petioles long, yellow, gen- 

 erally flattened on upper side. Stipules linear, hairy, caducous. 



Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate flowers 

 borne in the axils of brown, hairy, fugacious bracts, in hairy or to- 

 mentose aments four to six inches long. Calyx of staminate flower, 

 hairy, reddish ; lobes ovate, shorter than the four stamens ; anthers 

 acute, yellow. Pistillate flowers borne on short tomentose peduncles, 

 reddish ; involucral scales ovate, shorter than the acute, hairy calyx- 

 lobes ; stigmas reflexed, bright red. 



Acorns. — Ripen in autumn of second year, sessile, or stalked, soli- 

 tary or in pairs ; nut ovate-oblong, obovate, oval, or hemispherical, 

 broad and rounded at base, rounded at apex, light reddish brown 

 often striate, frequently pubescent, from one-half to one inch long ; 

 cup cup-shaped or turbinate, embraces one-third to one-half the 

 nut, covered with chestnut brown scales which at base are closely 

 appressed but above are looser, and at the rim form a fringe-like 

 border. Kernel yellow and bitter. 



The name Black Oak refers evidently to the color of the 

 bark of the trunk which is almost or quite black. The inner 

 bark is deep yellovi? and this characteristic is persistent and 

 unchanging. Before the era of modern dyes this inner bark 

 was highly prized because of a yellow dye which was obtained 

 from it called quercitron. 



The tree is protean in the form of its leaves. Besides its 



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