OAK FAMILY 
Wood.—Bright brown tinged with red, sapwood paler; heavy, 
hard, strong, coarse-grained, checks in drying. Sp. gr., 0.7045 ; 
weight of cu. ft., 43.90 lbs. 
Winter Buds.—Brown, ovate, angled, obtuse, covered with to- 
mentum, one-fourth to one-half inch long. 
Leaves.— Alternate, five to six inches long, three to four inches 
wide, ovate or obovate, usually seven-lobed and sometimes divided 
nearly to the middle by wide, rounded sinuses into narrow, obovate, 
dentate lobes with stout bristle-pointed teeth ; or sometimes the 
lobes are nearly entire, tapering gradually from a broad base, 
each tipped with a bristle ; or the sinuses are shallow, the heavy 
part of the leaf toward the apex, the lobes broad-dentate or sinu- 
ate-dentate, but always tipped witha bristle. The terminal lobe is 
oblong, elongated, acute, with large or small teeth; or, it is broad 
and coarsely repandly-dentate. They come out of the bud convolute, 
bright crimson, covered with white hairs above, and coated below 
with silvery-white tomentum. The lobes are tipped with long white 
hairs. When full grown the leaves are thick, leathery, dark shining 
green above and yellow green, brownish, or tawny, more or less 
pubescent below; midribs stout, primary veins conspicuous. In 
autumn they turn brown, or dull red, or yellow and brown and fall 
late, sometimes remaining until spring. Petioles long, yellow, gen- 
erally flattened on upper side. Stipules linear, hairy, caducous. 
Fiowers.—May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate flowers 
borne in the axils of brown, hairy, fugacious bracts, in hairy or to- 
mentose aments four to six inches long. Calyx of staminate flower, 
hairy, reddish ; lobes ovate, shorter than the four stamens ; anthers 
acute, yellow. Pistillate flowers borne on short tomentose peduncles, 
reddish ; involucral scales ovate, shorter than the acute, hairy calyx- 
lobes ; stigmas reflexed, bright red. 
Alcorns.—Ripen in autumn of second year, sessile, or stalked, soli- 
tary or in pairs ; nut ovate-oblong, obovate, oval, or hemispherical, 
broad and rounded at base, rounded at apex, light reddish brown 
often striate, frequently pubescent, from one-half to one inch long ; 
cup cup-shaped or turbinate, embraces one-third to one-half the 
nut, covered with chestnut brown scales which at base are closely 
appressed but above are looser, and at the rim form a fringe-like 
border. Kernel yellow and bitter. 
The name Black Oak refers evidently to the color of the 
bark of the trunk which is almost or quite black. The inner 
bark is deep yellow and this characteristic is persistent and 
unchanging. Before the era of modern dyes this inner bark 
was highly prized because of a yellow dye which was obtained 
from it called quercitron. 
The tree is protean in the form of its leaves. Besides its 
358 
