98 TIMBER TREES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



moist land ; and most abundant in the mountains where it is 

 frequently 130 feet high and 6 or 7 feet in diameter. (Fig. 22.) 

 At high elevations it is often found with the chestnut oak on dry 

 ridges, and there attains an average height of 60 to 70 feet. In 

 the Piedmont plateau it is often confounded with the black oak. 

 It bears acorns plentifully about every second year, though two 

 seed years in succession are not unusual. Young seedlings are 

 common in the woods and endure heavy shade well, but need a 

 light cover for rapid growth. Young trees are very sensitive to 

 fire. Only small specimens sprout well from the stump. After 

 lumbering the regrowth usually consists of the same species mixed 

 with chestnut oak, scarlet oak, white oak, and chestnut. 



The thin, glossy leaves are oblong, wedge-shaped at the base, 

 and usually dilated toward the end, with 5 or 6 lobes on each side 

 separated by rounded, rather shallow notches. The thick, oblong, 

 broad-based acorn is dark brown and seated in a shallow small- 

 scaled cup which is either short-stalked or sessile. The ovate 

 pointed winter-buds are dark brown and smooth. The tap-root 

 develops early in life, and after the plant is well started a system 

 •of large lateral roots is formed. 



The wood is heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, and inclined 

 -to check: light brown or red in color; the sapwood somewhat 

 darker. It is used for clapboards, cooperage, interior finish, and 

 the manufacture of furniture. The bark is occasionally used for 

 tanning. Large quantities have been cut in North Carolina for 

 local use, but a great amount is still standing in the western 

 ^counties. 



Quercus texana, Buckley. 



(TEXAS RED OAK. SWAMP RED OAK.) 



A large tree, with a narrow pyramidal crown, shallow-furrowed 

 striped gray and black or mottled bark, and smooth gray branches, 

 reaching a height of nearly 200 feet and a diameter of 4 to s 

 feet. 



It occurs from Iowa south to Texas and east to the eastern 

 part of Virginia and central Georgia; reaching its greatest devel- 

 opment on the alluvial lands of the lower Mississippi river. It 

 grows to a greater height than any other American oak. 



