48 Trees of North Carolina 



62. Quercus Phellos L. Willow Oak.* 



A common tree of the low grounds and flats of the 

 coastal plain and extending more sparingly into the 

 Piedmont. Leaves small, narrow, willow-like, point- 

 ed at both ends; acorns small, not abundant. It is 

 related to the Water Oak, but is of larger size and of 

 longer life. As an ornamental tree, it has no su- 

 perior, and reaches in Chapel Hill a circumference 

 of 12 feet at 5 feet from the ground, and a spread of 

 72 feet (Episcopal 'Manse). Dates of flowering: 

 March 25, 1903; April 6, 1909; March 28, 1910; 

 April 19, 1915 ; April 13, 1916. 



63. Quercus laurifolia Michx. Laurel Oak. 



This is a beautiful, nearly evergreen oak occurring 

 in moist woods and along streams in a rather narrow 

 strip along the coast. It is intermediate in appear- 

 ance between the Willow Oak and the Water Oak. 

 Leaves thick, usually without lobes, sometimes with a 

 few notches, evergreen in large part, some falling 

 from the periphery of the tree during the winter; 

 acorns much like those of the Water Oak, borne 

 very abundantly and almost all viable. 



The Laurel Oak is becoming very popular as an 



* Hybrid Oaks are often met with and it is sometimes hard to 

 recognize the parents. In Chapel Hill there is a tree across the 

 road from the cemetery that seems to be a hybrid of the Willow 

 Oak and Spanish Oak, and another, by the rock wall east of the 

 class athletic field that seems a hybrid of the Willow Oak and 

 Black .Tack Oak. A tree similar to the last stands by the road 

 leading from the Raleigh Road to the Mason farm. Some of its 

 leaves are over 9 inches long. In the herbarium we have collections 

 that appear to be hybrids of Willow Oak and Black Jack Oak from 

 Davie County, and of Willow Oak and Water Oak from Chatham 

 County. 



