TREES AND SHRUBS FURNISHING MEDICINAL BARKS. 



19 



Habitat and range. — The white oak is found in woods from Maine to Minne- 

 sota, south to Florida and Texas, but is most abundant in the Middle States. 



It is indigenous to this country. 

 Description of tree. — In dense woods 



this stately tree sometimes reaches a 



height of 150 feet. Usually it is about 



60 to SO feet high, the trunk about 3 to 



4 feet in diameter, and with many 



wide-spreading branches. The bark is 



grayish and comes off in thin scales 



i fig. 11). When young, the leaves are 



red and hairy, becoming smooth and 



thin when older, with a light green 



upper surface and paler lower surface 



furnished with prominent veins. In 



autumn they turn a beautiful red. 



The leaves are 4 to 7 inches long, and 



about half as wide, borne on stems 



about half an inch in length; they 



are divided into from 3 to 9 oblong, 



blunt lobes, with entire or toothed 



margins (fig. 12). About the time that 



the leaves appear, the very small 



greenish or yellowish flowers are pro- 

 duced. The male flowers are borne 



in slender, usually drooping aments, 



or spikelike clusters, and the female 



flowers singly. The fruits (acorns) 



mature the first autumn, and are 



about 1 inch in length, about one-fourth covered by the scaly 



The white oak is a member of the beech family (Fagacese). 



Description of bar]:. — The dried bark 

 of the white oak is official in the 

 United States Fharmaeopoeia. As 

 found in the stores it is in nearly flat 

 pieces about one-eighth of an inch or 

 more in thickness, rough and fibrous 

 on the outside, with the outer layer re- 

 moved, brownish, and the inside with 

 short, coarse grooves, the whole break- 

 ing with a coarse, tough, and splintery 

 fracture. The odor is rather strong, 

 reminding one somewhat of tanbark, 

 and the taste very astringent. The 

 Pharmacopoeia adds that it does not 

 tinge the saliva yellow when chewed. 

 Collect ion. prices, and uses. — The best 

 time for collecting white-oak bark is in 

 the spring, as at that time it is said to 

 contain the greatest amount of tannic 

 acid. The outer layer is first scraped 



White oak (Quercus alba), trunk, 

 cup (fig. 12) 



Fig. 12. — White oak (Quercus alba), 

 and acorns. 



leaves 



off. As directed by the United States Pharmacopoeia, the bark should be "collected 

 from trunks or branches 10 to 25 years of age, and deprived of the periderm." 

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