Handbook of Teees of the J>[oetiieeist States 



Canada. 159 



This curious Oak in forests occasionally at- 

 tains the li eight of 70 or SO ft., and when 

 isolated from otiiei' trees develops an ovoid or 

 rounded quite synniietrical top with many slen- 

 der branches. The trunks are sometimes 3 or 

 4 ft. in thickness, columnar and vested in a 

 snioothish barl<, somewhat roughened on old 

 trunks hy shallow longitudinal ridges. It in- 

 habits the margins of swamps and streams and 

 sandy uplands most abundantly in the south- 

 ern states (though not in the immediate vicin- 

 ity of the coast I and in the lower ulississippi 

 basin. It is a hand-omc tree and especially 

 curious to those wliose familiarity with the 

 oaks is limited to the broad-leaved species of 

 the northern states. This tree to them seems 

 to have the leaves of a willow and the acorns 

 of an oak — a feature wdiich gives it its com- 

 mon name. 



lis wood is used to some extent for lumber 



and shingles, but mainly for fuel and charcoal. 



A en. ft. when ab.^olutely dry weighs 411. ,i7 lbs."" 



hraip<i oblnne-lancpolate 2i/^-.5 in. Ion£?, acute at 

 botb eDfIs with very short petiole and usually 

 iiristle-tipped, entire or with siii^btly nndulat'^ 

 and revoiute rDartrins : revniiite in the hud and 

 iiebt green and pubescent wlien they unfold but 

 finally lustrous lieht ^reon. paler and usually 

 e'abrous with pubescent midribs !)fr'neatb, Flnirfr-^j 

 starainate calyx .yellow, puhesrpnt. 4-.')-lnbed : pis- 

 tillate with short: glabrous peduncles and slender 

 recurved stiamas. Frnii sessile or witli short 

 stalks, usually solitary, with sub^lohose or hemis- 

 pherical pale-pubeseent nut and thin fiat saucer- 

 shaped cup enveloping only its base and covered 

 with small thin closely imbricated scales. 



