BEAR OAK. 
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diameter, but commonly does not exceed half these dimensions. Its trunk 
is generally crooked, and is covered with a very hard, thick and deeply 
furrowed bark, of which the epidermis is nearly black, and the cellular 
tissue of a dull red. The summit is spacious even in the midst of the 
woods. The leaves are yellowish, and somewhat downy at their unfold- 
ing in the spring ; when fully expanded they are of a dark green above, 
rusty beneath, thick, coriaceous, and dilated towards the summit like a pear. 
In the autumn they turn reddish and fall with the earliest frost. 
The oldest trees bear only a few handsful of acorns, which are large, 
and half covered with very scaly cups. 
When the stock is more than 8 inches in diameter, the wood is heavy 
and compact ; but coarse-grained and porous before it has reached this 
size. As it speedily decays when exposed to the weather, it is not used 
in the arts. It forms excellent fuel, and is sold at Philadelphia only one 
dollar a cord less than Hickory, while other kinds of wood are a third 
cheaper. 
The species deserves the attention of amateurs in Europe, for the sin- 
gularity of its foliage. 
PLATE XX. 
J1 branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size, 
BEAR OAK. 
Q.UERCUS BANisTERi, Q.folUs loHge pctiolatis, acutangulo^quinque-lobis, mar- 
gine integris, sicbtus cinereis ? cupula subturbinatâ ^ glande sub globosâ. 
This diminutive species is known in the Northern and Middle States by 
the names of Bear Oak, Black Scrub Oak and Dwarf Red Oak, of which 
the first is the most common in New Jersey, where the shrub abounds. 
The latin specific name was given it in honour of Banister, an English 
writer, by whom it was first introduced to notice. 
I do not lemember to have seen the Bear Oak in the lower part of the 
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