OAK FAMILY 



own well distinguished types it varies toward the red oaks 

 on the one side and the scarlet oaks on the other. But what- 

 ever the individual leaf the foliage mass is always beautiful. 

 In early spring the unfolding leaves are red, the freshest of 

 them nearly scarlet. The long, white, silky hairs are dense 

 on the upper velvety surface and the under surface is white 

 with tomentum. As the red fades out and before the green 

 darkens there, is a time when the tree mass takes on a silvery 

 greenish white through which the sunlight plays with magical 

 effect. The deeply divided leaves are borne on rather long 

 petioles which are bent down at first but soon spread out 

 from the branches. The new shoots are yellowish green, 

 sometimes stained dark red but covered with rusty down. 

 The divided leaves give the foliage a feathery appearance and 

 the long yellow aments respond to the slightest impulse, so 

 that a light wind transforms the tree into a misty, shimmer- 

 ing mass. The exquisite effects of spring-time coloring must 

 be caught at the supreme moment, they do not remain un- 

 changed for a day, scarcely for an hour. 



The mature leaf is dark green, in texture always thick, firm 

 and almost leathery. The surface is always shining, some- 

 times showing a " wet gloss." The petioles are usually long 

 and somewhat slender so that these shining leaves move 

 freely, apart from the motion of the branch, and toss the sun- 

 light from a thousand glittering points as they wave in the 

 summer breeze. In autumn their tint is usually brownish 

 yellow, rarely running into dark red, but even then the brown 

 leaves shine as in midsummer and dance in the November 

 sunlight as if it were May. 



These leaves often remain upon the tree all winter long, 

 successfully resisting the rough buffeting of storm and wind 

 and falling only when pushed off by the growing buds of 

 spring. I once knew a pair of robins who selected an oak 

 bough thickly covered with these winter leaves for their 

 nesting place. The nest was built, the eggs were laid, and 

 all went well in the sheltered nook. But, by the time the 

 mother bird was sitting, the bursting buds pushed off the 



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