The Trees of Texas 63 
yellowish green, lustrous above, paler and somewhat hairy 
beneath. Flowers in long catkins. Fruit a closed woody bur 
with straight prickles ripening in the autumn and opening 
with the first frosts. Nut compressed sharp pointed °4’-1’ with 
sweet edible seed. 
Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri and Texas. 
The wood hard, strong, close grained, light with little sap 
wood. It is used for railroad ties and fence posts. 
3. QUERCUS (Tournefort) L. The Oaks. 
Large forest trees or shrubs with simple, alternate decid- 
uous or evergreen leaves which are entire toothed or lobed. 
The leaves are rather thick and woody and remain on the tree 
either throughout the winter or until nearly all other decidu- 
ous leaves have fallen. The staminate flowers are borne in 
long, slender, pendulous catkins, the pistillate solitary or in 
clusters. The fruit is a nut borne in a shallow woody cup. 
In the so-called white oaks, the fruit ripens the first year, 
while in the black oaks, it does not mature until the second. 
The oaks comprise more species than any other genus of trees 
within our area, and are frequently difficult to identify with 
certainty, as a number of the species readily hybridize. The 
oak is one of our most valuable sources of timber, furnishing 
a large part of the hard woods. It is also cultivated exten- 
sively for shade and ornament. 
I. Mature leaves, entire, notched or lobed, rarely 
bristle tipped; fruit maturing the first 
MOONEE PT Se oltre ME es cloia « fia aeaauag ae White Oaks. 
A. Leaves deciduous. 
1. Leaves lobed, the lobes rounded, never 
tipped with bristles. 
a. Leaves smooth beneath, 3-9 lobed.. 1 Q. alba. 
b. Leaves hairy beneath. 
(1) Leaves oblong-obovate, usually 5- 
lobed with stellate hairs above.. 2 Q. stellata. 
(2) Leaves deeply lobed, cup fringed 
by the awned scales............- 3 Q. macrocarpa. 
(3) Leaves deeply 5-9 lobed, nut 
often nearly enclosed in the cup 4 Q. lyrata. 
2. Leaves’ straight veined, variously 
toothed or notched, but not deeply 
