OAK FAMILY 



aments short ; anthers yellow. Pistillate flowers are sessile or borne 

 on short peduncles, involucral scales reddish, tomentose ; stigmas 

 bright red. 



Acorns. — Annual, sessile or stalked, solitary, variable in size and 

 shape- Nut o\-.il or o\ate, pubescent, from one-half to two inches 

 in length ; cup cup-shaped, rarely shallow but usually deep, enclos- 

 ing from one-third to nearly the entire nut, light brown, downy inside, 

 outside dark brown, tomentose, covered with large imbricated scu.les 

 which near the rim become half free and form a fringe-like border 

 Kernel white. 



The Bur Oak ranges from jNIanitoba to Texas and from 

 the foot-hills of tlie Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast. 

 It goes farthei' to the northwest than any other of our eastern 

 oaks, it varies in size from a shrub in Manitoba, to a magnifi- 

 cent tree one iiundred and sixt\' feet high m southern Illinois. 

 It is the most abundant oak of Kansas and of Nebraska, it 

 forms the scattered forests known as " The Oak Openings " 

 of jNIinnesota. 



Three inarked characters distinguish the Bur Oak. Its 

 leaves have a pectiliar though variable outline which is un- 

 mistakable, rarelv if ever are tv.'o alike, yet all bear so marked 

 a resemblance that there is no difficulty in distinguishing 

 them. Every Bur Oak leaf is somewhere, usually about the 

 middle, cut by two opposite sinuses nearly to the midrib. 



Tlie terminal lobe so formed may 

 itself be lobed or toothed or re- 

 pand, the lower division may be 

 lobed cir entire, but with all these 

 variations the leaves retain a 

 general siniilaritv. 



In the spring they are yellow 

 green as they burst from the bud 

 and do not like so many others 

 take on a stain of red. At first 

 they are downy and woolly but 

 soon become smooth and shining. 

 The leaves spread out horizontally from the new shoots and 

 the aments hang down in thick clusters. Their autumn col- 



336 



Bur Oak. QiLCrnii 

 Acorns J2' 10 ; 



