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Common Trees 



SCRUB OAK 



Quercus ilicifolia, Wangenheim 



THE SCRUB OAK, also called Bear Oak, Ground Oak, and 

 Barren Oak, is the smallest member of the Black Oaks 

 native to eastern North America. It rarely extends 15 feet 

 in height and 5 inches in diameter. 



SCRUB OAK 

 One-third natural size. 



The leaves are simple, alternate, 2 to 5 inches long, \ x /i 

 to 3 inches wide, 3 to 7-lobed, with bristle tips, dark green 

 and glossy above, whitish beneath, leathery in texture. 



The flowers appear with the leaves and are of two kinds. 

 The pollen-bearing are arranged in drooping tassels; the 

 acorn - producing occur in few - flowered clusters on new 

 growth. 



The fruit is an acorn maturing in two seasons. The nut 

 is light-brown, about Yi of an inch broad and long, half 

 enclosed in cup. The cup is reddish-brown, scaly,^ stalkless, 

 hairy within. The acorns are produced in large numbers and 

 occur in dense clusters. 



The bark is smooth, grayish to dark-brown. The twigs 

 are grayish to dark-brown. The buds are small, blunt- 

 pointed, chestnut-brown. The wood is of no commercial 

 importance, but is used locally for fuel. 



The Scrub Oak is found from Maine to Ohio and south 

 to North Carolina and Kentucky. It is found on dry sterile 

 soil and burned-over areas on Long Island, Staten Island, 

 the highlands of the Hudson, the sandy plains of central New 

 York and locally westward. 



