Part 27

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in New England; grows well in all except very wet soils, in all open exposures and in light shade; like all oaks, difficult to transplant unless prepared by frequent transplanting in nurseries, from which it is not readily obtainable in quantity; grows very slowly and nearly uniformly up to maturity; comparatively free from insect enemies but occasionally disfigured by fungous disease which attacks immature leaves in spring. Propagated from seed.

1. Winter buds. 2. Flowering branch. 3-4. Sterile flower, front view. 5. Fertile flower, side view. 6. Fruiting branch. 7-8. Variant leaves.

=Quercus stellata, Wang.=

Q. obtusiloba, Michx. Q. minor, Sarg.

POST OAK. BOX WHITE OAK.

=Habitat and Range.=

Doubtfully reported from southern Ontario.

In New England, mostly in sterile soil near the sea-coast; Massachusetts,--southern Cape Cod from Falmouth to Brewster, the most northern station reported, occasional; the islands of Naushon, Martha's Vineyard where it is rather common, and Nantucket where it is rare; Rhode Island,--along the shore of the northern arm of Wickford harbor (L. W. Russell); Connecticut,--occasional along the shores of Long Island sound west of New Haven.

South to Florida; west to Kansas, Indian territory, and Texas.

=Habit.=--Farther south, a tree of the first magnitude, reaching a height of 100 feet, with a trunk diameter of 4 feet; in southern New England occasionally attaining in woodlands a height of 50-60 feet; at its northern limit in Massachusetts, usually 10 to 35 feet in height, with a diameter at the ground of 6-12 inches. The trunk throws out stout, tough, and often conspicuously crooked branches, the lower horizontal or declining, forming a disproportionately large head, with dark green, dense foliage. Near the shore the limbs often grow very low, stretching along the ground as if from an underground stem.

=Bark.=--Resembling that of the white oak, but rather a darker gray, rougher and firmer; upon old trunks furrowed and cut into oblongs; small limbs brownish-gray, rough-dotted; season's shoots densely tawny-tomentose.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, rounded or conical, brownish, scales minutely pubescent or scurfy. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-8 inches long, two-thirds as wide, thickish, yellowish-green and tomentose upon both sides when young, becoming a deep, somewhat glossy green above, lighter beneath, both sides still somewhat scurfy; general outline of leaf and of lobes, and number and shape of the latter, extremely variable; type-form 5-lobed, all the lobes rounded, the three upper lobes much larger, more or less subdivided, often squarish, the two lower tapering to an acute, rounded, or truncate base; sinuses deep, variable, often at right angles to the midrib; leafstalk short, tomentose; stipules linear, pubescent, occasionally persistent till midsummer. The leaves are often arranged at the tips of the branches in star-shaped clusters, giving rise to the specific name stellata.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, connecting thread woolly; calyx 4-8 parted, lobes acute, densely pubescent, yellow; stamens 4-8, anthers with scattered hairs: pistillate flowers single or in clusters of 2, 3, or more, sessile or on a short stem; stigma red.

=Fruit.=--Maturing the first season, single and sessile, or nearly so, or in clusters of 2, 3, or more, on short footstalks: cup top-shaped or cup-shaped, 1/3-1/2 the length of the acorn, about 3/4 inch wide, thin; scales smooth or sometimes hairy along the top, acutish or roundish, slightly thickened at base: acorn 1/2-1 inch long, sweet.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in New England; prefers a good, well-drained, open soil; quite as slow-growing as the white oak; seldom found in nurseries and difficult to transplant. Propagated from the seed.

1. Winter buds. 2. Flowering branch. 3. Sterile flower, back view. 4. Sterile flower, front view. 5. Fertile flower. 6. Fruiting branch.

=Quercus macrocarpa, Michx.=

BUR OAK. OVER-CUP OAK. MOSSY-CUP OAK.

=Habitat and Range.=--Deep, rich soil; river valleys.

Nova Scotia to Manitoba, not attaining in this region the size of the white oak, nor covering as large areas.

Maine,--known only in the valleys of the middle Penobscot (Orono) and the Kennebec (Winslow, Waterville); Vermont,--lowlands about Lake Champlain, especially in Addison county, not common; Massachusetts,--valley of the Ware river (Worcester county), Stockbridge and towns south along the Housatonic river (Berkshire county); Rhode Island,--no station reported; Connecticut,--probably introduced in central and eastern sections, possibly native near the northern border.

South to Pennsylvania and Tennessee; west to Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Indian territory, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 40-60 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-3 feet; attaining great size in the Ohio and Mississippi river basins; trunk erect, branches often changing direction, ascending, save the lowest, which are often nearly horizontal; branchlets numerous, on the lowest branches often declined or drooping; head wide-spreading, rounded near the center, very rough in aspect; distinguished in summer by the luxuriance of the dark-green foliage and in autumn by the size of its acorns.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and branches ash-gray, but darker than that of the white oak, separating on old trees into rather firm, longitudinal ridges; bark of branches sometimes developed into conspicuous corky, wing-like layers; season's shoots yellowish-brown, minutely hairy, with numerous small, roundish, raised dots.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds brown, 1/16 to 1/8 inch long, conical, scattered along the shoots and clustered at the enlarged tips. Leaves simple, alternate, 6-9 inches long, 3-4 inches broad, smooth and dark green above, lighter and downy beneath; outline obovate to oblong, varying from irregularly and deeply sinuate-lobed, especially near the center, to nearly entire, base wedge-shaped; stalk short; stipules linear, pubescent.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile catkins 3-5 inches long; calyx mostly 5-parted, yellowish-green; divisions linear-oblong, more or less persistent; stamens 10; anthers yellow, glabrous: pistillate flowers sessile or short-stemmed; scales reddish; stigma red.

=Fruit.=--Maturing the first season; extremely variable; sessile or short-stemmed: cup top-shaped to hemispherical, 3/4-2 inches in diameter, with thick, close, pointed scales, the upper row often terminating in a profuse or sparing hairy or leafy fringe: acorn ovoid, often very large, sometimes sunk deeply and occasionally entirely in the cup.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in New England; in general appearance resembling the swamp white oak, but better adapted to upland; grows rather slowly in any good, well-drained soil; difficult to transplant; seldom disfigured by insects or disease; occasionally grown in nurseries. Propagated from seed. A narrower-leafed form with small acorns (var. olivaeformis) is occasionally offered.