BL w K JACK \K 



marilandica H#< ch. 



The Oak Family 



i \(, \i i \i 



Habit and Habitat : A small to medium sized tree, :' high, 



with a trunk diameter of i-i i inches, or occasionally 40-50 feet high 

 and 18-24 inches in diameter, more frequently a tall shrub, the mori 

 less twisted and spreading branches forming an ovoid or rounded crown, 

 often with drooping lower branches. Black Jack is found as a rule in 

 dry and more or loss barren si' 



Leaves and Buds: Leaves alternate, simple, 1-7 inches long and 



about the same in width, broadly-obovate, more or K-ss shallowly •'!- 

 lobed at the tip, the lobes entire or toothed, bristle-tipped, very variable 

 in size and shape, thick and firm, more or loss leathery, dark yellow 

 en and very shiny above, yellow, orange color or brown and scurfy- 

 hairy beneath, turning brown or yellow in the autumn before falling; 

 petioles stout, yellow, smooth or hairy, V6-9G inch long. Buds ovate or 

 oval, prominently angled, light reddish-brown, rusty-hairy, about ' ; inch 

 Ion 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers produced in May with the lea\ 

 the staminate in catkins. Staminate catkins slender, hoary, 2-4 inches 

 long; calyx thin and papery. 4-o-parted, tinged with red, pale hairy on 

 the outer surface; stamens ending in a short-pointed tip, dark red. Pis- 

 tillate flowers borne on short rust-hairy stalks, coated with thick rusty 

 down, in the axils of the leaves; stigmas dark red, recun The 



acorns solitary or in pairs, maturing at the end of the second season, 

 short-stalked; acorn cup top-shaped, with large, reddish-brown, rusts- 

 hairy scales, inclosing one-half to two-thirds of the nut or a'"^n; 

 acorn about % inch long, oblong, full and rounded at the ends, rather 

 broader below than above the middle, yellowish-brown, kernel yellowish, 

 not edible. 



Bark, Twigs and Wood: The bark on the main trunk is 1-1 'i 

 inches thick, deeply furrowed into nearly square plates 1-3 inches long 

 ered with small closely appressed. dark brown or nearly black scales. 

 Stout branchlets at first covered with a thick, pale coat of hairs, light 

 brown and scurfy-scaly during the first summer, becoming reddish-' rown 

 and more or less smooth the first winter and finally brown or ashy gray. 

 The wood of black jack is hard, heavy, strong, tough, dark brown, with 

 thick lighter colored sapwo-d; largely used for fuel and in the manu- 

 facture of charcoal. Map 15. 



Distribution in the State: Black jack is rather common throuehout 

 eastern Unit atcs south of New York and Michigan and extending 



westward to eastern Texas. Oklahoma, Missouri and [owa. The B] 

 has bar*]? entered the southeastern corner of Nebraska and bai moved 

 from Richardson county to Nemaha and Pawnee counties. This is an 

 interesting iPustration of a tree, common farthi itward, which has 



just reached Nebraska. 



Remark-: The peculiar dark ik-like leavi 



clu at th- of the twigs and the tine scaly bark should help 



in the identii of this species which ii ijrs a low scmb , '*y 



ith us. I shall welcomi of this ^ for our h< 



barium. 



■"»— 



