THE TREES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 65 



ent situations, it being sometimes narrow and very 

 little, if at all, broader at the upper than at the lower 

 end, so as to resemble very much that of the Shingle 

 Oak. But any one who is familiar with the common 

 form and habit of the Water Oak will not be easily 

 deceived in its varieties. 



13. Black. Jack. (Q. nigra, Linn.) — This small 

 and generally unsightly tree, easily recognized at a 

 distance, when it is of much size, by its lower limbs 

 hanging downwards, sometimes to the very ground, 

 is found as far north as New Jersey and extends into 

 the Western States, as well as southward to Florida. 

 In this State we meet with it in various soils and sit- 

 uations from the coast to the mountains, seldom ex- 

 ceeding 30 feet in height and 12 inches in diameter. 

 In the largest stocks the wood is heavy and compact, 

 but coarse grained and porous in the smaller ones. 

 When exposed to the weather it is subject to rapid 

 decay, and is not of any value in the arts. For fuel 

 it is among the best woods we have. The leaves are 

 large (6 to 9 inches long), of a dark green above, 

 and of a rusty color beneath. On young shoots, as 

 is frequent on other trees, the leaves are often twice 

 their ordinary size, and divided into several segments, 

 as in the Red Oaks, 



We now come to a Division of the Oaks known as 

 that of the Red Oaks, in which there is such a confu- 

 sion of popular names that they will be of little ser- 

 vice in designating the species. There is no uni- 

 formity in their application in different parts of the 



