LXX. CORYLA‘CEE: QUE’RCUS. 869 
1531. Q. ribra. 1582. Q. ribra 
The bark is comparatively smooth, of a dark colour, very thick; and, though 
in old trees it cracks, yet it never scales off as in the sections A’Ibe and 
Prinus. The wood is reddish and coarse-grained ; and its pores are often so 
large as to admit the entrance of a hair. ‘The leaves, when they first come 
out in spring, are of a fine sulphur colour; when fully expanded, they are 
smooth and shining on both sides, large, deeply laciniated, and sometimes 
slightly rounded at the base, especially on old trees; and, before they fall, they 
turn of a deep purplish red. According to the younger Michaux, the leaves 
on old trees often nearly resemble those of Q. falcdta. The leaves of Q. 
falcdta are, however, always downy beneath; while those of Q. ribra are 
smooth. The leaves of Q. ribra die off of a more purplish red than those of 
most of the other kinds in this section; but they often become yellow before 
they fall. They vary much in shape, from the age of the plant, or the soil and 
situation in which it has grown. Fig. 1581., copied from the elder Michaux’s 
Histoire des Chénes, shows the leaves of a seedling a year old; fig. 1582., from 
the same work, those of a tree bearing acorns. 
¥ 15. Q. cocci’nEA Willd. The scarlet Oak. 
Identification. Willd. Sp. P1.,4. 446. ; Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 199.; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 2. 
p.- 630. . 
By - Q@ ribra @ Ait. ed, 1. 3. p, 357. 
agree tags: Wang. Forst., t.9.; Michx. Quer., t. 31, 32.; N. Amer. Syl., 1. t. 25.5 the plate of 
this tree in Arb. Brit., Ist edit., vol. viii. ; and our figs. 1583. and 1584. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves smooth, oblong, deeply and widely sinuated, on 
long stalks : lobes divaricated, acute, sharply toothed, bristle-pointed. Calyx 
of the fruit turbinate, half as long as the nut. (Willd.) A large deciduous 
tree. Pennsylvania to Georgia. Height 80 ft. Introduced in 1691. 
The leaves, which are chiefly distinguished from those of Q, rubra by 
having longer petioles, are of a beautiful green, shining on both sides ; and, 
on old trees, laciniated in a very remarkable manner, having usually four deep 
sinuses on each side, very broad at bottom. The leaves begin to change with 
the first cold ; and, after several sucessive frosts, turn to a brilliant scarlet, 
instead of the dull red of those of Q. rubra. These leaves differ very greatly 
in shape at different stages in the growth of the tree. When quite young, 
they are scarcely lobed at all, as may be seen by jig. 1583., which is taken 
from Michaux’s Histoire des Chénes, and represents a seedling a year old; and 
Jig. 1584., a sprig and acorn from an old tree, copied from Michaux. Amidst 
all the varieties, however, in the shape of the leaf of the scarlet oak, it may 
always be distinguished from that of Q. ribra by the different hue which it 
assumes in autumn; the colour of Q. coccinea being always a bright scarlet, 
cr yellowish red, of more or less intensity; and that of Q. rubra a dull 
3K 5 
