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SCARLET OAK (Qurcus coccinea Muencli.) 



SCARLET OAK, also known as pin, .Spanish or 

 spotted oak, occurs usually on dry, rocky, or 

 sandy soils, throughout the uplands of the lower 

 mountains, but is nowhere very abundant or of hrst 

 importance. It usually reaches a height of 60 or »0 

 feet, with a trunk diameter of 2 or 3 feet, and is 

 sometimes larger. The branches droop at the ends 



and form a narrow, 

 open crown and the 

 trunk tapers rapidly. 

 The bark 

 on young 

 Btems i s 

 smooth 

 and light 

 brown. On 

 old trunks 

 it is di- 

 vided into 

 ridges not 

 so rough 

 as those of 

 the black 

 oak and 

 not so flat- 

 topped a a 

 those of 

 the north- 

 ern red oak. The bark is often mottled or spotted 

 with gray. The inner bark is reddish. 



The leaves are simple, alternate, somewhat oblong 

 or oval, 3 to 6 inches long, 2i/^ to 4 inches wide, 

 usually 7-lobed, the lobes bristle-pointed and sepa- 

 rated by rounded openings extending at least two- 

 thirds of the distance to the midrib, giving the leaves 

 a very deeply "cut" appearance. The leaves turn a 

 brilliant scarlet in the autumn before falling. The 

 flowers are of two kinds on the same tree and ap- 

 pear when the leaves are two-thirds or one-half 

 grown. The fruit takes 2 years to mature. The 

 acorn is one-half to 1 inch long, reddish brown, 

 often striped, and about half -enclosed in the cup. 



The wood is heavy, hard, strong and coarse- 

 grained . The lumber is sold as red oak and has the 

 same uses. It is usually somewhat inferior in qual- 

 ity and sometimes known as pin oak. Scarlet oak 

 is used considerably in ornamental planting. 



Leaf, 



SCAKLET OAK 

 one-third natural size. 



Twig one-half 

 natural size. 



44 



