THE BEECH, CHESTNUT, AND OAKS 



The specific name, rubra, was given to it on 

 account of the rich, red midrib and veins of 

 the leaves. 



It is the oak which is found farthest north, 

 and it grows in all kinds of soil from Nova 

 Scotia southward to Northern Georgia. The 

 red oak was one of the earliest American trees 

 introduced into Europe. 



Scarlet Oak ^ ^("'S^^ ^rc':, 60 to 80 ject high. 



Quercus coccinea xkc bark is grayish and not 

 deeply furrowed. Slender twigs, ivitJt small 

 alternate leaj-scars. Small buds, the tips being 

 half as hairy as those of the black oak, while the 

 bases are smooth. The acorn is one-half or 

 more enclosed in a coarsely scaled cup. Its 

 kernel is bitter. 



The scarlet oak is the most brilliant member 

 of the oak family. In summer its leaves are a 

 shining green, in autumn they turn more glow- 

 ingly red than those of any other oak, and in 

 winter its buds and stems are smooth, and show 

 more color than those of the other members of 

 the genus. Its outline is less spreading in shape 

 than those of oaks generally, and the bark of the 

 trunk is not so coarsely furrowed as the black 

 oak's, nor so smooth as that of the red oak. 



The wood is heavy and hard, and is used for 

 the same purposes as red oak. 



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