66 THE TREES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



State, and within the same neighborhood the same 

 name may be given to different species, or different 

 names to the same species. This is not very surpris- 

 ing, since there is so much resemblance among them, 

 and as there is apparently a tendency to crosses 

 among the members of this Division. It is indeed 

 sometimes rather difficult to determine whether a par- 

 ticular tree belongs to one or other of two or three 

 pretty well marked species. I shall therefore be 

 obliged to describe the following more minutely 

 than I have the preceding, though I shall only notice 

 the most common or typical forms. The names 

 given below are those by which the species are most 

 commonly known in different parts of the United 

 States. 



14. Spanish Oak. (Q. falcata, Michx.) — This is 

 generally known in this State, I think, by the name 

 of Bed Oak, though sometimes called as above. It 

 is also, in some parts, denominated Turkey Oak, from 

 a vague resemblance between the form of the leaf 

 (when it has but three divisions) and the track of a 

 turkey. It is to be distinguished, even at some dis- 

 tance, from other species of this section by the gray- 

 ish down on the underside of the leaves and on the 

 young shoots upon which they grow, giving the tree 

 a very different hue from that of the others. The 

 leaves, too, have narrower divisions (3 to 7 in num- 

 ber) than the others, generally entire, and slightly 

 curved backwards. The manner in which the clus- 

 ters of leaves hang down from the ends of the 



