148 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
Sp. 10. Tue Rep Oar. Quercus rubra. L. 
Figured very poorly in Abbot’s Insects of Georgia, IT, Plate 103;* well in 
Michaux; Sylva,I, Plate 28. The prevailing character of the leaves, at the 
north, 1s given in Plate 26: also figured in Plate 10 of this volume. 
The red oak is the most northern of the oaks. According to 
Dr. Richardson, it is found as far north as the Saskatchawan, 
and the rocks at Lake Namakeen. It is common in all the New 
England, Middle, and Southern States, as far as Georgia, and 
on the western declivities of the Alleghanies. Like the elm, it 
comes to its greatest perfection im Massachusetts, perceptibly 
diminishing in vigor and luxuriance of growth, farther towards 
the north, and not increasing in either towards the south. ‘This 
tree is found in every part of Massachusetts, growing freely in 
every variety of soil, even the poorest. It is known by several 
names, the red, the black, and the gray oak. The most general, 
as the most appropriate name, 1s the red oak, as the mid-rib 
and veins of the leaves are often of a rich red color in the latter 
part of autumn; and the leaves turn to a uniform dark red 
before they fall. 
The trunk is of a dark greenish ashen grey, continuing smooth 
longer than any other tree of the genus, and never becoming 
extremely rough. ‘The bark on the recent branchlets is of a 
polished brown with minute dots; during the next year it has 
a pearly hue which it exchanges for a deep green, gradually 
turning to the uniform, greenish gray of the trunk. 
The leaves are oblong or lance-shaped in their general out- 
line, larger towards the end, and contracted towards the base. 
The lobes are five or six on each side, separated by a rounded, 
not very deep, sinus; the lobes sharp and terminating in bnis- 
tles. ‘The leaf is obtuse or, more commonly, acute at base; the 
* The acorns 1n this figure show that the red oak 1s intended; the leaves are 
very poorly done. The 14th plate i Abbot’s work was probably intended to rep- 
resent the scarlet oak, certainly not Quercus rubra, as Sir J. E. Smith supposed it 
to be. The S6th 1s evidently the figure of a variety of the Quercus tinctoria, ( Quer- 
cus tenctoria sinuosa,) as the elder Michaux considered it. Abbot’s plate 50 rep- 
resents, probably, the leaves of the black jack oak, Quercus nigra of Willdenow ; 
possibly those of Quercus aquatica; certainly not those of Quercus rubra. 
