Handbook of Trees of the Northeex States and Canada. 177 



The Chestnut Onk ii?iuiilly attains a height 

 of from 60 to 70 ft., but in forests where 

 conditions are especially favorable sometimes 

 100 ft., with trunk .3 or 4 ft in diameter vested 

 in a dark firm broadlj' ridged bark. A tree 

 of this species of exceptional thickness of 

 trunk, as well as being famous from historic 

 association, is the " Washington Oak," located 

 on the east bank of the Hudson Kiver near 

 Fishkill. It is 7 ft. in diameter and the esti- 

 mated age of the tree, based upon the known 

 age of a fallen companion, is eight or ten 

 centuries. 1 



The Chestnut Oak inhabits well drained 

 slopes, uplands and rocky ridges in company 

 with the Shag-bark and Pig-nut Hickories, 

 various Oaks, the Tulip-tree, etc. 



A cubic foot of its absolutely dry wood 



weighs 46.73 lbs., and is used for the same 



purposes as that of the White Oak.2 Its bark 



is used for tanning leather. 



Leaves from oblong-lanceolate to obovate, ob- 

 tuse, acute or acuminate at apex, from obtuse to 

 subcordate at base, coarsely crenate, with 10 to 

 16 pairs of straight primary veins, glabrous dark 

 green above, paler and puberulous beneath. 

 Flotcers: staminate with 7-9 calyx lobes; pistillate 

 with short dark i"ed stigmas. Fruit single or in 

 pairs with pedicels shorter than the petioles ; nut 

 ovoid-oblong, lustrous brown, from 1-1 ^4 in. long 

 and about half immersed in the thin pubescent 

 cup which is somewhat roughened outside by the 

 thickened centers and free tips of its scales. 



1. A. W., Ill, 67. 



