OAK FAMILY ." ? 



eleven to thirteen pairs of primary veins. The foHage mass 

 is a Hght yellow green, the tree in the open becomes round- 

 topped. The acorns are large, long-oval, usually in pairs and 

 borne in deep cups which are rough outside and very downy 

 within. They are endowed with the power of quick germina- 

 tion and scarcely reach the ground before the shell breaks 

 and the radicle protrudes. The kernel is sweetish and eager- 

 ly eaten by the squirrels. The fruit is never abundant. 



YELLOW OAK. CHESTNUT OAK. CHINQUAPIN 



QiicrcHs acuniinctta. 



A tree varying from thirty to one hundred or one hundred and 

 sixty feet high, head small, narrow, round-topped. Prefers a lime- 

 stone soil, ranges from New York westward through southern On- 

 tario to southeastern Nebraska and eastern Kansas, southward in 

 the Atlantic region to the District of Columbia, and west of the 

 AUeghanies southward to the Gulf of Mexico. 



Bark. — Light silvery gray, sometimes white, scaly. Branchlets 

 reddish green at first, then dark brown, finally gray or brown. 



Wood. — Dark brown, sapwood pale brown ; heavy, hard, strong, 

 close-grained, durable in contact with the soil. Used for fencing, 

 cooperage, manufacture of wheels and railway ties. Sp. gr., 0.8605 J 

 weight of cu. ft., 53.63 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Pale chestnut brown, ovate, acute, one-fourth of 

 an inch long. 



Leaves. — Alternate, tour to seven inches long and two to five inches 

 broad, oblong or lanceolate, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, sinu- 

 ately toothed, teeth acute or rounded, each tipped with a small gland- 

 ular point, apex acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud 

 convolute, bronze green, hairy above, tomcntose below, when full 

 grown are thick, light yellow green above, pale often silvery white, 

 downy below ; midribs stout, yellow ; primary veins conspicuous. In 

 autumn they turn deep yellow and scarlet. Petioles slender, slightly 

 flattened. Stipules linear or lanceolate, brown, caducous. 



Flowers. — May, when leaves are one-third grown. Staminate flow- 

 ers borne in hairy aments, three or four inches long; calyx light yel- 

 low, hairy, deeply six to eight-parted; filaments short; anthers yel- 

 low. Pistillate flowers sessile or borne in short spikes, tomentose ; 

 stigmas bright red. 



342 



