47 



oaks, but are usually of medium size and set in shallow cups. 

 They mature the first year. This is our rarest oak. It occurs 

 sparingly in the rich woods on the southside of Black Creek. 



Post Oak (Quercus stellata Wang.). 



A good-sized tree, but smaller normally than the white oak, 

 which, as its nearest relative, it resembles considerably. The 

 leaves have deeper and broader lobes than those of the white 

 oak, and are not white beneath, and the acorns are smaller. This 

 is one of our commonest trees, and occurs both in rich woods and 

 in the sand hills. 



Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea Wang.). 



A large tree with rather smooth bark. The leaves are smooth, 

 deeply cut and bright green on both sides, and. the acorn is large, 

 with a shallow cup. This is not an abundant oak with us, but it 

 is plentiful in our richer woods. In the valley of Black Creek 

 and on the adjoining hillsides the scarlet oak is quite at home. 

 The great old oak on Home Avenue in the corner of the old Law 

 Place is of this species. 



The Northern botanists do not yet properly understand the dis- 

 tribution of this tree in the South. In the seventh edition of 

 Gray's Manual (1908), it is said to extend south to North Caro- 

 lina. Sargent's Manual of Trees of North America extends it 

 "along the Alleghany Mountains to North Carolina." In his 

 "North American Trees" (1908), Britton gives its occurrence as 

 "from Maine to Minnesota, North Carolina and Missouri." 

 Hough's "Handbook of the Trees," etc., (1907) marks an improve- 

 ment as its printed chart shows the species extending as low as 

 piedmont South Carolina and Georgia. In the "Timber Trees 

 and Forests of North Carolina," by Pinchot and Ashe, the exten- 

 sion is given as "South to North Carolina," although their distri- 

 bution map shows the species extending abundantly down to 

 the South Carolina line for a distance of over 200 miles. Only 

 Small allows the possibility of the occurrence of the tree in our 

 district. 



These errors have persisted in spite of the fact that Michaux 



