72 



Common Trees 



BLACK OAK 



Quercus velutina, Lambert 



THE BLACK Oak is one of the biggest oaks native to the 

 eastern states reaching a height of 100 feet and 4 feet in 

 diameter. By its bark one can always recognize this tree. 

 Its outer bark is black and its inner bark is distinctly yellow. 



The leaves are simple, alternate, 4 to 10 inches long, 3 to 

 6 inches wide, usual- 

 ly 7-lobed with bris- 

 tle tips. The lower 

 leaf surfaces are pale 

 green to rusty brown. 



The flowers are 

 similar to those of 

 other oaks. 



The fruit is an acorn 

 maturing in two sea- 

 sons. Cups are cup- 

 shaped, light-brown, 

 often slightly fringed 

 along margin, enclose 

 Yi of nut. Nuts are 

 H to 1 inch long, 

 light reddish-brown. 



The bark on older 

 trunks is black, thick, 

 very rough. Twigs 

 are stout, angular, 

 reddish-brown, often 

 hairy. Buds are large, 

 sometimes Yi of an 

 inch long, angular, 

 covered with a coating of yellowish or dirty-white hairs. 



The wood is similar to that of Red Oak. 



The Black Oak is found from Maine to Ontario, south 

 to Florida and Texas. It occurs throughout New York, 

 especially on dry uplands and gravelly plains northward to 

 Lake Champlain and westward to Lake Erie. 



The Black Jack Oak (Quercus Marylandica, Muench) 

 occurs locally on Long Island and Staten Island in New 

 York. It can be distinguished by its large leaves which usu- 

 ally spread abruptly near the tips, are widest between the tip 

 and the middle, and hairy on the lower surface. 



BLACK OAK 



One-fourth natural size. 

 • Twig section, enlarged. 



