Handbook of Trees of the IS^oetheen States and Canj 



\DA. 



159 



This curious Oiik in forests Occasionally at- 

 tains the height of 70 or 80 ft., and when 

 isolated from other trees develops an ovoid or 

 rounded quite symmetrical top with many slen- 

 der branches. The trunks are sometimes 3 or 

 4 ft. in thickness, columnar and vested in a 

 smoothish bark, somewhat roughened on old 

 trunks by 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) and in the lower Mississippi 

 basin. It is a handsome tree and especially 

 curious to those whose 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 which gives it its com- 

 mon name. 



Its wood is used to some extent for lumber 



and shingles, but mainly for fuel and charcoal. 



A cu. ft. when absolutely dry weighs 46.57 Ibs.i 



T.eaves oblong-lanceolate 21^-5 in. long, acute at 

 both ends with very short petiole and usually 

 bristle-tipped, entire or with slightly undulate 

 and revolute margins : revolute in the bud and 

 light green and pubescent when they unfold hut 

 Anally lustrous light green, paler ,ind usually 

 irlabrous with pubescent midribs bpneath. Floivers: 

 stamlnate calyx yellow, pubescent. 4-.'>-lobed : pis- 

 tillate with short glabrous peduncles and slender 

 recurved stigmas. Fruit sessile or with short 

 stalks, usually solitary, with subglohose or hemis- 

 pherical pale-pubescent nut and thin flat saucer- 

 shaped cup enveloping only its base and covered 

 with small thin closply imbricated scales. 



1. A. W., XI, 271. 



