OAK FAMILY 
of dense tawny tomentum. Cup turbinate, deep, covers une-third 
to two-thirds of nut, is thick, pale brown and downy within, without 
it is covered by large, reddish brown, loosely imbricated scales, 
coated with tomentum. Ontop of cup are rows of smaller scales 
which form a thick rim around the inner surface. 
Black Jack is such a peculiar name fora tree that on hear- 
ing it for the first time, one immediately asks for an explana- 
tion. The authorities are silent on the 
subject so one can develop his own 
theory without fear or favor, This oak 
varies from shrub to small tree. Its 
very presence marks the sterility of the 
soil. Its wood is worthless compared 
with that of other oaks. It is the pariah 
of its kind. Since very early times Jack 
has, in certain ways, been used as a 
word of opprobrium. A worthless fel. 
low was a Jack. What more likely, 
than that the first settlers of this coun- 
try finding this worthless oak upon worthless land should 
name it in opprobrium the Jack Oak. As the bark was dark, 
almost black, it became Black Jack Oak and oak soon drop- 
ping out, it became as we know it to-day—Black Jack. 
Black Jack, Quercus mart- 
laudica. Acorn 34/ long. 
The leaves of this oak are extremely variable, always obo- 
vate or pear-shaped they vary from a form having no lobes 
at all to one of three lobes and one of five lobes. 
SHINGLE OAK. LAUREL OAK 
Quercus imbricaria, 
A tree usually fifty to sixty feet high, maximum height one hun- 
dred, with broad pyramidal head when young, becoming in old age 
broad-topped and open. A tree of the mid-continent; rare in the 
east, abundant in the lower Ohio valley. Reaches its largest size in 
southern Ilinois and Indiana. 
Bark.—Light brown, sealy ; on young stems light brown, smooth. 
Branchlets slender, dark green and shining at first, later become 
light brown, finally dark brown. 
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