Section 1. Flowers in Unisexual Aments (_female Flowers of Juglans and

Quercus solitary or in spikes); ovary inferior (superior in Leitneriaceæ_) when calyx is present.

V. SALICACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, alternate simple stalked deciduous leaves with stipules, soft light usually pale wood, astringent bark, scaly buds, and often stoloniferous roots. Flowers appearing in early spring usually before the leaves, solitary in the axils of the scales of unisexual aments from buds in the axils of leaves of the previous year, the male and female on different plants; perianth 0; stamens 1, 2 or many, their anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; styles usually short or none; stigmas 2—4, often 2-lobed. Fruit a 1-celled 2—4-valved capsule, with 2—4 placentas bearing below their middle numerous ascending anatropous seeds without albumen and surrounded by tufts of long white silky hairs attached to the short stalks of the seeds and deciduous with them; embryo straight, filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons flattened, much longer than the short radicle turned toward the minute hilum.

The two genera of this family are widely scattered but most abundant in the northern hemisphere, with many species, and are often conspicuous features of vegetation.

CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA.

Scales of the aments laciniate; flowers surrounded by a cup-shaped often oblique disk; stamens numerous; buds with numerous scales. 1. Populus. Scales of the aments entire; disk a minute gland-like body; stamens 1, 2 or many; buds with a single scale. 2. Salix.

1. POPULUS L. Poplar.

Large fast-growing trees, with pale furrowed bark, terete or angled branchlets, resinous winter-buds covered by several thin scales, those of the first pair small and opposite, the others imbricated, increasing in size from below upward, accrescent and marking the base of the branchlet with persistent ring-like scars, and thick roots. Leaves involute in the bud, usually ovate or ovate-lanceolate, entire, dentate with usually glandular teeth, or lobed, penniveined, turning yellow in the autumn; petioles long, often laterally compressed, sometimes furnished at the apex on the upper side with 2 nectariferous glands, leaving in falling oblong often obcordate, elliptic, arcuate, or shield-shaped leaf-scars displaying the ends of 3 nearly equidistant fibro-vascular bundles; stipules caducous, those of the first leaves resembling the bud-scales, smaller higher on the branch, and linear-lanceolate and scarious on the last leaves. Flowers in pendulous stalked aments, the pistillate lengthening and rarely becoming erect before maturity; scales obovate, gradually narrowed into slender stipes, dilated and lobed, palmately cleft or fimbriate at apex, membranaceous, glabrous or villose, more crowded on the staminate than on the pistillate ament, usually caducous; disk of the flower broadly cup-shaped, often oblique, entire, dentate or irregularly lobed, fleshy or membranaceous, stipitate, usually persistent under the fruit; stamens 4—12 or 12—60 or more, inserted on the disk, their filaments free, short, light yellow; anthers ovoid or oblong, purple or red; ovary sessile in the bottom of the disk, oblong-conical subglobose or ovoid-oblong, cylindric or slightly lobed, with 2 or 3 or rarely 4 placentas; styles usually short; stigmas as many as the placentas, divided into filiform lobes or broad, dilated, 2-parted or lobed. Fruit ripening before the full growth of the leaves, greenish, reddish brown, or buff color, oblong-conic, subglobose or ovoid-oblong, separating at maturity into 2—4 recurved valves. Seeds broadly obovoid or ovoid, rounded or acute at the apex, light chestnut-brown; cotyledons elliptic.

Populus in the extreme north often forms great forests, and is common on the alluvial bottom-lands of streams and on high mountain slopes, ranging from the Arctic Circle to northern Mexico and Lower California and from the Atlantic to the Pacific in the New World, and to northern Africa, the southern slopes of the Himalayas, central China, and Japan in the Old World. Of the thirty-four species now generally recognized fifteen are found in North America. The wood of many of the American species is employed in large quantities for paper-making, and several species furnish wood used in construction and in the manufacture of small articles of wooden ware. The bark contains tannic acid and is used in tanning leather and occasionally as a tonic, and the fragrant balsam contained in the buds of some species is occasionally used in medicine. The rapidity of their growth, their hardiness and the ease with which they can be propagated by cuttings, make many of the species useful as ornamental trees or in wind-breaks, although planted trees often suffer severely from the attacks of insects boring into the trunks and branches. Of the exotic species, the Abele, or White Poplar, Populus alba L., of Europe and western Asia, and its fastigiate form, and the so-called Lombardy Poplar, a tree of pyramidal habit and a form of the European and Asiatic Populus nigra L., and one of its hybrids, have been largely planted in the United States.

Populus, of obscure derivation, is the classical name of the Poplar.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Stigmas 2, 2-lobed, their lobes filiform; leaf stalks elongated, laterally compressed; buds slightly resinous. Leaves finely serrate; winter-buds glabrous. 1. P. tremuloides (A, B, F, G). Leaves coarsely serrate; winter-buds tomentose or pubescent. 2. P. grandidentata. Stigmas 2—4, 2-lobed and dilated, their lobes variously divided; buds resinous. Leaf-stalks round. Leaves tomentose below early in the season, broadly ovate, acute or rounded at apex. 3. P. heterophylla (A, C). Leaves glabrous or pilose below. Leaves dark green above, pale, rarely pilose below. Ovary and capsule glabrous. 4. P. tacamahacca (A, B, F). Ovary and capsule tomentose or pubescent. 5. P. trichocarpa (B, F). Leaves light green on both surfaces, glabrous. Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate. 6. P. angustifolia (F). Leaves rhombic-lanceolate to ovate. 7. P. acuminata (F). Leaf-stalks laterally compressed. Leaves without glands at apex of the petiole, coarsely serrate, thick. Pedicels shorter than the fruit. Disk cup-shaped. Branchlets stout; capsule ⅓′—½′ long. 8. P. Fremontii (G, H). Branchlets slender; capsule not more than ¼′ long. 9. P. arizonica (F, H). Disk minute. Branchlets glabrous; leaves broad-ovate to deltoid, long-pointed and acuminate at apex. 10. P. texana (C). Branchlets pubescent; leaves broad-ovate, abruptly short-pointed or acute at apex. 11. P. McDougallii (G, H). Pedicels 2 or 3 times longer than the fruit; leaves broadly deltoid, abruptly short-pointed. 12. P. Wislizenii (E, F). Leaves furnished with glands at apex of the petiole. Branchlets stout; leaves thick. Winter-buds puberulous; leaves coarsely serrate; branchlets light yellow. 13. P. Sargentii (F). Winter-buds glabrous; leaves less coarsely serrate; branchlets gray or reddish brown. 14. P. balsamifera (A, C). Branchlets slender; leaves thin, ovate, cuneate or rounded at base, finely serrate. 15. P. Palmeri (E).

1. Populus tremuloides Michx. Aspen. Quaking Asp.

Leaves ovate to broad-ovate or rarely reniform (var. reniformis Tidestrom) abruptly short-pointed or acuminate at apex rounded or rarely cuneate at the wide base, closely crenately serrate with glandular teeth, thin, green and lustrous above, dull green or rarely pale below, up to 4½′ long and broad with a prominent midrib, slender primary veins and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, compressed laterally, 1½′—3′ long. Flowers: aments 1½′—2½′ long, the pistillate becoming 4′ in length at maturity; scales deeply divided into 3—5 linear acute lobes fringed with long soft gray hairs; disk oblique, the staminate entire, the pistillate slightly crenate; stamens 6—12; ovary conic, with a short thick style and erect stigmas thickened and club-shaped below and divided into linear diverging lobes. Fruit maturing in May and June, oblong-conic, light green, thin-walled, nearly ¼′ long; seeds obovoid, light brown, about 1/32′ in length.

A tree, 20°—40° high, with a trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, slender remote and often contorted branches somewhat pendulous toward the ends, forming a narrow symmetrical round-topped head, and slender branchlets covered with scattered oblong orange-colored lenticels, bright red-brown and very lustrous during their first season, gradually turning light gray tinged with red, ultimately dark gray, and much roughened for two or three years by the elevated leaf-scars. Winter-buds slightly resinous, conic, acute, often incurved, about ¼′ long, narrower than the more obtuse flower-buds, with 6 or 7 lustrous glabrous red-brown scales scarious on the margins. Bark thin, pale yellow-brown or orange-green, often roughened by horizontal bands of circular wart-like excrescences, frequently marked below the branches by large rows of lunate dark scars. Wood light brown, with nearly white sapwood of 25—30 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Southern Labrador to the southern shores of Hudson’s Bay and northwesterly to the mouth of the Mackenzie River, through the northern states to the mountains of Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, eastern and central Iowa and northeastern Missouri; common and generally distributed usually on moist sandy soil and gravelly hillsides; most valuable in the power of its seeds to germinate quickly in soil made infertile by fire and of its seedlings to grow rapidly in exposed situations; westward passing into the var. aurea Daniels, with thicker rhombic to semiorbicular or broad-ovate generally smaller leaves, usually pale on the lower surface, rounded or acute and minutely short-pointed at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, often entire with slightly thickened margins, or occasionally coarsely crenately serrate, with inconspicuous reticulate veinlets, turning bright golden yellow in the autumn before falling.

A tree occasionally 100° high with a trunk up to 3° in diameter, with pale often white bark, becoming near the base of old stems 2′ thick, nearly black, and deeply divided into broad flat ridges broken on the surface into small appressed plate-like scales.

Distribution. Valley of the Yukon River to Saskatchewan, and southward through the mountain ranges of the Rocky Mountain region to southern New Mexico, the San Francisco Mountains of Arizona, and westward to the valley of the Skeena River, British Columbia, western Washington and Oregon, the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the high mountains of southern California, and eastward to North and South Dakota and western Nebraska; on the mountains of Chihuahua, and on the Sierra de Laguna, Lower California.

Populus tremuloides var. vancouveriana Sarg.

Populus vancouveriana Trel.

Leaves broadly ovate to semiorbicular, abruptly short-pointed or rounded at apex, rounded or slightly cordate at the broad base, coarsely crenately serrate and sometimes obscurely crispate on the margins, when they unfold covered below and on the petioles with a thick coat of long matted pale hairs, and slightly villose, glabrous or nearly glabrous above, soon glabrous, and at maturity thick dark green, lustrous and scabrate on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 3′—4½′ long and broad, with a prominent midrib and primary veins; petioles slender, compressed, becoming glabrous, 2′—3′ in length. Flowers: staminate aments slightly villose; pedicels pubescent; disk of the flower puberulous toward the base; flowers as in the species; pistillate aments 2′—2¼′ long, becoming 3′—3½′ in length at maturity; the rachis, pedicels and slightly lobed disk of the flower densely villose-pubescent; ovary conic, pubescent, with a short style and stigma divided into narrow divergent lobes. Fruit on pedicel not more than 1/24′ in length, oblong-conic, pubescent or glabrous, ¼′ long.

A tree 30°—36° high, with a trunk 12′—16′ in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a round-topped head, stout, reddish brown pubescent or puberulous branchlets often becoming glabrous during their first summer. Winter-buds acute, tomentose, pubescent or glabrous.

Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia and shores of Puget Sound; Tualitin, Washington County, and valley of the Willamette River at Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon.

2. Populus grandidentata Michex. Poplar.

Leaves semiorbicular to broad-ovate, short-pointed at apex, rounded, abruptly cuneate or rarely truncate at the broad entire base, coarsely repand-dentate above with few stout incurved teeth, covered like the petioles early in the season with white tomentum, soon glabrous, thin and firm in texture, dark green above, paler on the lower surface, 2′—3′ long, 2′—2½′ wide, with a prominent yellow midrib, conspicuously forked veins, and reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, laterally compressed, 1½′—2½′ long. Flowers: aments pubescent, 1½′—2½′ long, the pistillate becoming 4′—5′ long at maturity; scales pale and scarious below, divided above into 5 or 6 small irregular acute lobes covered with soft pale hairs; disk shallow, oblique, the staminate entire, the pistillate slightly crenate; stamens 6—12, with short slender filaments and light red anthers; ovary oblong-conic, bright green, puberulous, with a short style, and spreading stigmas divided nearly to the base into elongated filiform lobes. Fruit ripening before the leaves are fully grown, often more or less curved above the middle, light green and puberulous, thin-walled, 2-valved, about ⅛′ long; pedicel slender, pubescent, about 1/12′ in length; seeds minute dark brown.

A tree, often 60°—70° high, with a trunk occasionally 2° in diameter, slender rather rigid branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and stout branchlets marked by scattered oblong orange-colored lenticels, coated when they first appear with thick hoary deciduous tomentum, becoming during their first year dark red-brown or dark orange-colored, glabrous, lustrous, or covered with a delicate gray pubescence, and in their second year dark gray sometimes slightly tinged with green and much roughened by the elevated 3-lobed leaf-scars; generally smaller, and usually not more than 30°—40° tall. Winter-buds terete, broadly ovoid, acute, with light bright chestnut-brown scales, pubescent during the winter especially on their thin scarious margins, about ⅛′ long and not more than half the size of the flower-buds. Bark thin, smooth, light gray tinged with green, becoming near the base of old trunks ¾′—1′ thick, dark brown tinged with red, irregularly fissured and divided into broad flat ridges roughened on the surface by small thick closely appressed scales. Wood light brown, with thin nearly white sapwood of 20—30 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Rich moist sandy soil near the borders of swamps and streams; Nova Scotia, through New Brunswick, southern Quebec and Ontario to northern Minnesota, southward through the northern states to Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, and eastern (Muscatine County) and central Iowa, and westward to central Kentucky and Tennessee; passing into the var. meridionalis Tidestrom with broad-ovate acuminate leaves with more numerous teeth, often 4′—5′ long and 3′ wide; the common form in Maryland, northern Delaware, the piedmont region of Virginia and North Carolina, southern Ohio, and southern Indiana and Illinois; rare northward to northern New England.

3. Populus heterophylla L. Swamp Cottonwood. Black Cottonwood.

Leaves broadly ovate, gradually narrowed and acute, short-pointed or rounded at apex, slightly cordate or truncate or rounded at the wide base, usually furnished with a narrow deep sinus, finely or coarsely crenately serrate with incurved glandular teeth, covered as they unfold with thick hoary deciduous tomentum, becoming thin and firm in texture, dark deep green above, pale and glabrous below, with a stout yellow midrib, forked veins and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, 4′—7′ long, 3′—6′ wide; petioles slender terete tomentose or nearly glabrous 2½′—3½′ in length. Flowers: staminate aments broad, densely flowered, 1′ long, erect when the flowers first open, becoming pendulous and 2′—2½′ long; scales narrowly oblong-obovate, brown, scarious and glabrous below, divided into numerous elongated filiform light red-brown lobes; disk oblique, slightly concave; stamens 12—20, with slender filaments about as long as the large dark red anthers; pistillate aments slender, pendulous, few-flowered, 1′—2′ long, becoming erect and 4′—6′ long before maturing, their scales concave and infolding the flowers, linear-obovate, brown and scarious, laterally lobed, fimbriate above the middle, caducous; disk thin, irregularly divided in numerous triangular acute teeth, long-stalked; ovary ovoid, terete or obtusely 3-angled, with a short stout elongated style and 2 or 3 much-thickened dilated 2 or 3-lobed stigmas. Fruit on elongated pedicels, ripening when the leaves are about one third grown, ovoid, acute, dark red-brown, rather thick-walled, 2 or 3-valved, about ½′ long; seeds obovoid, minute, dark red-brown.

A tree, 80°—90° high, with a tall trunk 2°—3° in diameter, short rather slender branches forming a comparatively narrow round-topped head, and stout branchlets, marked by small elongated pale lenticels, coated at first with hoary caducous tomentum, becoming dark brown and rather lustrous or ashy gray, or rarely pale orange color and glabrous or slightly puberulous, or covered with a glaucous bloom in their first winter, growing darker in their second year and much roughened by the large thickened leaf-scars; usually much smaller and at the north rarely more than 40° tall. Winter-buds slightly resinous, broadly ovoid, acute, with bright red-brown scales, about ¼′ long and about one half the size of the flower-buds. Bark on young trunks divided by shallow fissures into broad flat ridges separating on the surface into thick plate-like scales, becoming on old trunks ¾′—1′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and broken into long narrow plates attached only at the middle and sometimes persistent for many years. Wood dull brown, with thin lighter brown sapwood of 12—15 layers of annual growth; now often manufactured into lumber in the valley of the Mississippi River and in the Gulf states, and as black poplar used in the interior finish of buildings.

Distribution. Southington, Connecticut, and Northport, Long Island, southward near the coast to southern Georgia, and the valley of the lower Apalachicola River, Florida, through the Gulf states to western Louisiana, and through Arkansas to southeastern Missouri, western Kentucky and Tennessee, southern Illinois and Indiana, and in central and northern Ohio (Williams, Ottawa and Lake Counties); in the north Atlantic states in low wet swamps, rare and local; more common south and west on the borders of river swamps; very abundant and of its largest size in the valley of the lower Ohio and in southeastern Missouri, eastern Arkansas, and western Mississippi.

4. Populus tacamahacca Mill. Balsam. Tacamahac.

Populus balsamifera Du Roi, not L.

Leaves ovate-lanceolate, gradually narrowed and acuminate at apex, cordate or rounded at base, or narrow-elliptic and acute or acuminate at the ends, finely crenately serrate, with slightly thickened revolute margins, coated when they unfold with the gummy secretions of the bud, glabrous, or puberulous on the under side of the midrib, becoming thin and firm in texture, deep dark green and lustrous above, pale green or glaucous and more or less rusty and conspicuously reticulate-venulose below, 3′—5′ long, 1½′—3′ wide, with thin veins running obliquely almost to the margins; petioles slender, terete, 1½′ long, glabrous or rarely puberulous. Flowers: aments long-stalked, the pistillate becoming 4′—5′ long before the fruit ripens, glabrous or pubescent; scales broadly obovate, light brown and scarious, often irregularly 3-parted at apex, cut into short thread-like brown lobes; disk of the staminate flower oblique, short-stalked; stamens 20—30, with short filaments and large light red anthers; disk of the pistillate flower cup-shaped; ovary ovoid, slightly 2-lobed, with two nearly sessile large oblique dilated crenulate stigmas. Fruit ovoid-oblong, acute and often curved at apex, 2-valved, light brown, about ¼′—⅓′ long, nearly sessile or short-stalked, ½′—⅛′ in length; seeds oblong-obovoid, pointed at apex, narrowed and truncate at base, light brown, about 1/12′ long.

A tree, often 100° high, with a tall trunk 6°—7° in diameter, stout erect branches usually more or less contorted near the end, forming a comparatively narrow open head, and glabrous or occasionally pubescent branchlets marked by oblong bright orange-colored lenticels, much roughened by the thickened leaf-scars, at first red-brown and glabrous or pubescent, becoming bright and lustrous in their first winter, dark orange-colored in their second year, and finally gray tinged with yellow-green; usually much smaller toward the southern limits of its range. Winter-buds saturated with a yellow balsamic sticky exudation, ovoid, terete, long-pointed; terminal 1′ long, ⅓′ broad; axillary about ¾′ long, 1/16′ broad, with 5 oblong pointed concave closely imbricated thick chestnut-brown lustrous scales. Bark light brown tinged with red, smooth or roughened by dark excrescences, becoming on old trunks ¾′—1′ thick, gray tinged with red, and divided into broad rounded ridges covered by small closely appressed scales. Wood light brown, with thick nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Low often inundated river-bottom lands and swamp borders; Labrador to latitude 65° north in the valley of the Mackenzie River, and to the Alaskan coast, south to northern New England and New York, central Michigan, Minnesota (except in southern and southwestern counties), Turtle Mountains, Rolette County, North Dakota, the Black Hills of South Dakota, northwestern Nebraska (basin of Hat Creek), and in Colorado; the characteristic tree on the streams of the prairie region of British America, attaining its greatest size on the islands and banks of the Peace, Athabasca, and other tributaries of the Mackenzie; common in all the region near the northern boundary of the United States from Maine to the western limits of the Atlantic forests; the largest of the sub-Arctic American trees, and in the far north the most conspicuous feature of vegetation; passing into the variety Michauxii Farwell, with more cordate leaves, slightly pilose on the under side of the midrib and veins; common from Aroostook County, Maine, to the Province of Quebec, Newfoundland, and the shores of Hudson Bay.

Often planted at the north for shelter or ornament.

Populus candicans Ait., the Balm of Gilead of which only the pistillate tree is known, has often been considered a variety of the North American Balsam Poplar. This tree has been long cultivated in the northeastern part of the country and has sometimes escaped from cultivation and formed groves of considerable extent, as on the banks of Cullasagee Creek on the western slope of the Blue Ridge in Macon County, North Carolina. The fact that only one sex is known suggests hybrid origin but of obscure and possibly partly of foreign origin.

5. Populus trichocarpa Hook. Black Cottonwood. Balsam Cottonwood.

Leaves broad-ovate, acute or acuminate at apex, rounded or abruptly cuneate at base, finely crenately serrate, glabrous, dark green above, pale and rusty or silvery white and conspicuously reticulate-venulose below, 3′—4′ long, 2′—2½′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent, puberulous, pilose or rarely glabrous, 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers: aments stalked, villose-pubescent, the staminate densely flowered, 1½′—2′ long, ⅓′ thick, the pistillate loosely flowered, 2½′—3′ long, becoming 4′—5′ long before the fruit ripens; scales dilated at the apex, irregularly cut into numerous filiform lobes, glabrous or slightly puberulous on the outer surface; disk of the staminate flower broad, slightly oblique; stamens 40—60, with slender elongated filaments longer than the large light purple anthers; disk of the pistillate flower deep cup-shaped, with irregularly crenate or nearly entire revolute margins; ovary subglobose, coated with thick hoary tomentum, with 3 nearly sessile broadly dilated deeply lobed stigmas. Fruit subglobose, nearly sessile, pubescent, thick-walled, 3-valved; seeds obovoid, apiculate at the gradually narrowed apex, light brown, puberulous toward the ends, 1/12′ long.

A tree, 30°—100° high, with a trunk 1°—3° in diameter, erect branches forming an open head, and slender branchlets terete or slightly angled while young, marked by many orange-colored lenticels, glabrous or when they first appear coated with deciduous rufous or pale pubescence, reddish brown during their first year, gradually becoming dark gray, and roughened by the greatly enlarged and thickened elevated leaf-scars. Winter-buds resinous, fragrant, ovoid, long-pointed, frequently curved above the middle, ¾′ long and ¼′ thick, with 6 or 7 light orange-brown slightly puberulous scales scarious on the margins. Bark ½′—2½′ thick, ashy gray, deeply divided into broad rounded ridges broken on the surface into thick closely appressed scales. Wood light, dull brown, with thin nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. In California in small groves with widely scattered individuals on the coast ranges, the western slope of the Sierra Nevada up to elevations of 6000°—8000°, and on the southern mountains to Mt. Palomar in San Diego County; on the California islands, and on the western slopes of the San Pedro Mártir Mountains, Lower California.

On the high Sierra Nevada and in northern California passing into the var. hastata A. Henry, differing in its thicker leaves, usually longer in proportion to their width, often long-acuminate, rounded or cordate at base, frequently 5′ or 6′ long and 3′ or 4′ wide, with glabrous petioles and larger sometimes nearly glabrous capsules on glabrous or pubescent aments, sometimes 10′—12′ in length, and in its glabrous young branchlets.

A tree sometimes 200° high, with a trunk 7°—8° in diameter, and the largest deciduous-leaved tree of northwestern North America. The wood is largely used in Oregon and Washington for the staves of sugar barrels and in the manufacture of wooden ware.

Distribution. In open groves on rich bottom lands of streams from Siskiyou County, California, to southern Alaska; eastward in the United States through Oregon and Washington to western and southern Idaho; and to the mountains of western Nevada; in British Columbia to the valley of the Columbia River; on the banks of the east fork of the Kaweah River, Tulare County, California, at 10,000° above the sea.

6. Populus angustifolia James. Narrow-leaved Cottonwood.

Populus fortissima A. Nels & Macbr.

Leaves lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, elliptic or rarely obovate, narrowed to the tapering acute or rounded apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, finely or on vigorous shoots coarsely serrate, thin and firm, bright yellow-green above, glabrous or rarely puberulous and paler below, 2′—3′ long, ½′—1′ wide, or on vigorous shoots occasionally 6′—7′ long, and 1½′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib and numerous slender-oblique primary veins arcuate and often united near the slightly thickened revolute margins; petioles slender, somewhat flattened on the upper side, and in falling leaving small nearly oval obcordate scars. Flowers: aments densely flowered, glabrous, short-stalked, ½′—2½′ long, the pistillate becoming 2½′—4′ long before the fruit ripens; scales broadly obovate, glabrous, thin, scarious, light brown, deeply and irregularly cut into numerous dark red-brown filiform lobes; disk of the staminate flower cup-shaped, slightly oblique, short-stalked; stamens 12—20, with short filaments and large light red anthers; disk of the pistillate flower shallow, cup-shaped, slightly and irregularly lobed, short-stalked; ovary ovoid, more or less 2-lobed, with a short or elongated style and 2 oblique dilated irregularly lobed stigmas. Fruit broadly ovoid, often rather abruptly contracted above the middle, short-pointed, thin-walled, 2-valved; pedicels often ⅓′ long; seeds ovoid or obovoid, rather obtuse, light brown, nearly ⅛′ long.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk rarely more than 18′ in diameter, slender erect branches forming a narrow and usually pyramidal head, and slender glabrous or rarely puberulous branchlets marked by pale lenticels, at first light yellow-green, becoming bright or dark orange color in their first season, pale yellow in their second winter, and ultimately ashy gray. Winter-buds very resinous, ovoid, long-pointed, covered by usually 5 thin concave chestnut-brown scales; terminal ¼′—½′ long and nearly twice as large as the axillary buds. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, light yellow-green, divided near the base of old trees by shallow fissures into broad flat ridges, smooth and much thinner above. Wood light brown, with thin nearly white sapwood of 10—30 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Banks of streams usually at altitudes of 5000°—10,000° above the sea; southern Alberta to the Black Hills of South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska (basin of Hat Creek) westward through Wyoming, Montana and Idaho to Yakima County, Washington, and southward to central Nevada, southwestern New Mexico (Silver City, Grant County) and northern Arizona; the common Cottonwood of northern Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, southern Montana, and eastern Idaho; on the mountains of Chihuahua.

7. Populus acuminata Rydb. Cottonwood.

Leaves rhombic-lanceolate to ovate, abruptly acuminate, gradually or abruptly narrowed and cuneate or concave-cuneate, or rarely broad and rounded at the mostly entire base, coarsely crenately serrate except near the apex, dark green and lustrous above, dull green below, 2′—4′ long, ¾′—2′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib, thin remote primary veins and obscure reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, nearly terete, 1′—3′ long. Flowers: aments slender, short-stalked, 2′—3′ long, the pistillate becoming 4′ or 5′ long before the fruit ripens; scales scarious, light brown, glabrous, dilated and irregularly divided into filiform lobes; disk of the staminate flower wide, oblique, and membranaceous; stamens numerous, with short filaments and dark red anthers; disk of the pistillate flower deep cup-shaped; ovary broad-ovoid, gradually narrowed above, with large laciniately lobed nearly sessile stigmas. Fruit pedicellate, oblong-ovoid, acute, thin-walled, slightly pitted, about ⅓′ long, 3 or rarely 2-valved; seeds oblong-obovoid, rounded at the apex, light brown, about 1/12′ in length.

A tree, usually about 40° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, stout spreading and ascending branches forming a compact round-topped head, and slender terete or slightly 4-angled pale yellow-brown branchlets roughened for two or three years by the elevated oval horizontal leaf-scars. Winter-buds acuminate, resinous, about ⅓′ long, with 6 or 7 light chestnut-brown lustrous scales. Bark on young stems and large branches smooth, nearly white, becoming on old trunks pale gray-brown, about ½′ thick, deeply divided into broad flat ridges.

Distribution. Banks of streams in the arid eastern foothill region of the Rocky Mountains; Assiniboia to the Black Hills of South Dakota, northwestern Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, southern Colorado, and southwestern New Mexico (Fort Bayard, Grant County); in Colorado crossing the Continental Divide to southeastern Utah; passing into the var. Rehderi Sarg. differing in the larger leaves on longer petioles, and in the pubescent branchlets and winter-buds. Borders of streams southeastern New Mexico.

Sometimes planted as a shade-tree in the streets of cities in the Rocky Mountain region.

× Populus Andrewsii Sarg. intermediate in its character between P. acuminata and P. Sargentii and believed to be a natural hybrid of these species has been found growing naturally near Boulder and Walsenburg, Colorado, and as a street tree in Montrose, Colorado.

8. Populus Fremontii S. Wats. Cottonwood.

Leaves deltoid or reniform, generally contracted into broad short entire points, or rarely rounded or emarginate at apex, truncate, slightly cordate or abruptly cuneate at the entire base, coarsely and irregularly serrate, with few or many incurved gland-tipped teeth, coated like the petioles when they unfold with short spreading caducous pubescence, at maturity thick and firm, glabrous bright green and lustrous, 2′—2½′ long, 2½′—3′ wide, with a thin yellow midrib and 4 or 5 pairs of slender veins; petioles flattened, yellow, 1½′—3′ long. Flowers: staminate aments densely flowered, 1½′—2′ long, nearly ½′ thick, with slender glabrous stems, the pistillate sparsely flowered, with stout glabrous or puberulous stems, becoming before the fruit ripens 4′ or 5′ long; scales light brown, thin and scarious, dilated and irregularly cut at apex into filiform lobes; disk of the staminate flower broad, oblique, slightly thickened on the entire revolute margin; stamens 60 or more, with large dark red anthers; disk of the pistillate flower cup-shaped; ovary ovoid or ovoid-oblong, with 3 or rarely 4 broad irregularly crenately lobed stigmas. Fruit ovoid, acute or obtuse, slightly pitted, thick-walled, 3 or rarely 4-valved, ⅓′—½′ long; pedicel stout, from 1/20′—⅙′ long; seeds ovoid, acute, light brown, nearly ⅛′ in length.

A tree, occasionally 100° high, with a short trunk 5°—6° in diameter, stout spreading branches pendulous at the ends and forming a broad rather open graceful head, and slender terete branchlets light green and glabrous, becoming light yellow before winter, dark or light gray more or less tinged with yellow in their second year, and only slightly roughened by the small 3-lobed leaf-scars. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, with light green lustrous scales, the terminal usually about ⅓′ long and usually two or three times as large as the lateral buds. Bark on young stems light gray-brown, thin, smooth or slightly fissured, becoming on old trees 1½′—2′ thick, dark brown slightly tinged with red, and deeply and irregularly divided into broad connected rounded ridges covered with small closely appressed scales. Wood light brown, with thin nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Banks of streams; valley of the upper Sacramento River southward through western California to the San Pedro Mártir Mountains, Lower California; most abundant in the San Joaquin Valley, and ascending the western slopes of the southern Sierra Nevada to altitudes of 3000°.

Often planted in southern California as a shade-tree, and for the fuel produced quickly and abundantly from pollarded trees.

In San Bernardino and San Diego Counties, California, generally replaced by the var. pubescens Sarg., differing in its pubescent branchlets and ranging eastward to southwestern Nevada and southern Utah. In southern Arizona and near Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico, represented by the var. Thornberii Sarg., differing from the typical P. Fremontii in the more numerous serratures of the leaves, in the ellipsoidal not ovoid capsules with smaller disk and shorter pedicels, and by the var. Toumeyi Sarg., differing from the type in the shallow cordate base of the leaves, gradually narrowed and cuneate to the insertion of the petiole, and in the larger disk of the fruit (Fig. 124). The var. macrodisca Sarg. with a broad disc nearly inclosing the ellipsoidal fruit is known only in the neighborhood of Silver City.

× Populus Parryi Sarg., a probable hybrid of P. Fremontii and P. trichocarpa, with characters intermediate between those of its supposed parents, grows naturally along Cottonwood Creek on the west side of Owens Lake, Inyo County, and in the neighborhood of Fort Tejon, Kern County, and as a street tree is not rare in San Bernardino, California.

9. Populus arizonica Sarg. Cottonwood.

Populus mexicana Sarg., not Wesm.

Leaves deltoid or reniform, gradually or abruptly long-pointed at the acuminate entire apex, truncate or broad-cuneate at the wide base, finely serrate with numerous teeth, as they unfold dark red covered below with pale pubescence, pubescent above, ciliate on the margins, thin, glandular with bright red caducous glands, soon becoming glabrous, at maturity subcoriaceous, bright yellow-green, very lustrous, 1½′—2′ long and broad, with a slender yellow midrib and obscure primary veins; petioles laterally compressed, sparingly villose when they first appear, soon glabrous, 1½′—2′ long; leaves on vigorous leading shoots often rounded at apex, cuneate at base, and often 2′ long and 3′ wide, with petioles often 3′ in length. Flowers: staminate aments dense, cylindric, 1—1½′ long, the pistillate slender, many-flowered, 1½′—2′ long, becoming 3′—4′ long before the fruit ripens; disk of the staminate flower broad-oblong; stamens numerous; disk of the pistillate flower deep cup-shaped, nearly entire; ovary ovoid, rounded at apex, slightly 3 or 4-angled, short-stalked, nearly inclosed in the cup-shaped membranaceous disk. Fruit on short stout pedicels, round-ovoid, buff color, slightly 3 or 4-lobed, deeply pitted, thin-walled, about ¼′ long.

A tree, 50°—70° high, with a trunk occasionally 3° in diameter, gracefully spreading and ascending branches forming a broad open head of wide-spreading branches, and slender often pendulous branchlets, pale green and glabrous or puberulous when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous, and light yellow during their first season. Winter-buds narrow, acute, light orange-brown, puberulous toward the base of the outer scales, the terminal about ¼′ long, and two or three times as large as the much-compressed oblong lateral buds. Bark pale gray or rarely white, and deeply divided into broad flat ridges.

Distribution. Banks of mountain streams; southwestern California (Mill Creek, above Forest Home, San Bernardino Mountains) and southern and central Arizona; widely distributed through northern Mexico (var. Jonesii Sarg.); well distinguished from the other Cottonwoods of the United States by its small fruit.

Often planted as a street tree in the towns of southern Arizona.

10. Populus texana Sarg.

Leaves thin, glabrous, broadly ovate, gradually narrowed, long-pointed and acuminate at apex, truncate at base, coarsely crenately serrate below the middle, entire above, 3′—3¼′ long and 2¼′—2½′ wide; petioles slender, compressed, 1½′—2½′ in length. Flowers not seen. Fruit: aments slender, glabrous, 2½′—3′ long; fruit oblong-ovoid, acute, deeply pitted, glabrous, thin-walled, 3-valved, ⅓′ in length; disk slightly lobed; pedicel slender, 1/16′—⅛′ in length; seeds ovoid, acuminate, 1/16′ long.

A tree up to 60° high, with a trunk sometimes 3° in diameter, stout more or less pendulous branches and stout glabrous pale yellow-brown branchlets. Winter-buds acuminate, glabrous.

In cañons and along the streams of northwestern Texas, where it appears to be the only Cottonwood.

11. Populus McDougallii Rose.

Leaves broadly ovate, abruptly short-pointed or acute at apex, broadly or acutely cuneate or truncate, or on vigorous shoots rarely slightly cordate at base, finely or often coarsely crenately serrate, bluish green, thin, pubescent on the under sides of the midrib and primary veins early in the season, otherwise glabrous, 1½′—3′ long and broad, with slender midribs and veins; petioles slender, slightly compressed, pubescent early in the season, becoming glabrous, 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers not seen. Fruit: aments glabrous, short-stalked, 2′—2½′ long; fruit ovoid and acute at apex to ellipsoidal and acute or acuminate at ends, glabrous, slightly pitted, thin-walled, 3-valved, 5/12′—½′ long; disk not more than ⅛′ in diameter; pedicels glabrous, ⅛′—⅕′ in length; seeds oblong-ovoid, acuminate, ⅛′ long.

A tree rarely 90°—110° high, usually much smaller, with erect branches and slender branchlets pubescent or puberulous when they first appear, sometimes becoming glabrous during their first season, and sometimes pubescent during two years.

Distribution. Banks of streams and springs, San Bernardino County, California (Cottonwood Springs, Meca, etc.), and eastward to the bottoms of the Colorado River from Clark County, Nevada, to Yuma, Arizona, and probably the only Cottonwood in this arid region.

Often planted as a street tree in the towns of southwestern California and of adjacent Nevada and Arizona.

12. Populus Wislizenii Sarg. Cottonwood.

Leaves broadly deltoid, abruptly short- or long-pointed at apex, truncate or sometimes cordate at the broad entire base, coarsely and irregularly crenately serrate except toward the entire apex, coriaceous, glabrous, yellow-green and lustrous, 2′—2½′ long, usually about 3′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib, thin remote primary veins and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, glabrous, 1½′—2′ long; on vigorous shoots often 3½′—4′ long and wide with petioles 3½′—4′ in length. Flowers: aments 2′—4′ long, the pistillate becoming 4′—5′ long before the fruit ripens; scales scarious, light red, divided at the apex into elongated filiform lobes; disk of the staminate flower broad and oblique; stamens numerous, with large oblong anthers and short filaments; disk of the pistillate flower cup-shaped, irregularly dentate, inclosing to the middle the long stalked ovary full and rounded at apex, with 3 broad crenulate lobed stigmas raised on the short branches of the style. Fruit oblong-ovoid, thick-walled, acute, 3 or 4-valved, slightly ridged, buff color, ¼′ long; pedicels slender, ½′—¾′ in length and placed rather remotely on the slender glabrous rachis of the ament.

A large tree, with wide-spreading branches, and stout light orange-colored glabrous branchlets. Winter-buds acute lustrous, puberulous. Bark pale gray-brown, deeply divided into broad flat ridges. Wood used as fuel, for fence-posts and the rafters of Mexican houses.

Distribution. Western Texas through New Mexico to the valley of Grand River, western Colorado (Grand Junction, Mesa County); common in the valley of the Rio Grande in western Texas and New Mexico, and the adjacent parts of Mexico.

Often planted as a shade tree in New Mexico.

13. Populus Sargentii Dode.

Populus deltoides var. occidentalis Rydb.

Leaves ovate, usually longer than broad, abruptly narrowed into a long slender entire acuminate point or rarely rounded at apex, truncate or slightly cordate at base, and coarsely crenately serrate, as they unfold slightly villose above and tomentose on the margins, soon glabrous, light green and very lustrous, 3′—3½′ long, 3½′—4′ wide, with a thin midrib, slender primary veins and reticulate veinlets occasionally furnished on the upper side at the insertion of the petiole with one or two small glands; petioles slender, compressed laterally, 2½′—3½′ long. Flowers: aments short-stalked, glabrous, the staminate 2′—2½′ in length, the pistillate becoming 4′—8′ long before the fruit ripens; scales fimbriately divided at apex, scarious, light brown; disk of the staminate flower broad, oblique, slightly thickened on the margins; stamens 20 or more, with short filaments and yellow anthers; disk of the pistillate flower cup-shaped, slightly lobed on the margin; ovary subglobose, with 3 or 4 sessile dilated or laciniately lobed stigmas. Fruit oblong-ovoid, gradually or abruptly narrowed to the blunt apex, thin-walled, about ⅖′ long and three or four times longer than the pedicel; seeds oblong-obovoid, rounded at apex, about 1/16′ in length.

A tree 60°—90° tall with a trunk often 6° or 7° in diameter, erect and spreading branches forming a broad open head, and stout glabrous light yellow often angular branchlets conspicuously roughened by the elevated scars of fallen leaf-stalks. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, with light orange-brown puberulous scales. Bark pale, thick, divided by deep fissures into broad rounded ridges broken into closely appressed scales.

Distribution. The common Cottonwood along the streams in the eastern foothill region of the Rocky Mountains from Saskatchewan to New Mexico, and ranging east to the Dakotas, western Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Often planted as a shade and street tree in the Rocky Mountain states; hardy in Massachusetts.

14. Populus balsamifera L. Cottonwood.

Populus angulata Michx. f.

Leaves ovate, longer than broad, abruptly acuminate and often long-pointed at apex, subcordate or rarely truncate at the wide base, finely crenately serrate with glandular teeth, furnished on the upper surface at the insertion of the petiole with two glands, thick, glabrous, green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler below, 5′—7′ long and 4′—5′ wide, with stout midribs and conspicuous primary veins sometimes sparingly pilose below early in the season; petioles much compressed laterally, often more or less tinged with red, 3′—4′ in length. Flowers: aments glabrous, short-stalked, the staminate densely flowered, 1½′—2′ long, ½′—¾′ in diameter, the pistillate slender, sparsely flowered, 3′—3½′ in length; scales scarious, light brown, glabrous, dilated and irregularly divided at apex into filiform lobes; disk of the staminate flower broad, oblique, slightly thickened and revolute on the margins; stamens 60 or more, with short filaments and large dark red anthers; disk of the pistillate flower broad, slightly crenate, inclosing about ⅓′ of the ovoid obtusely pointed ovary, with 3 or 4 sessile dilated laciniately lobed stigmas. Fruit on aments 8′—12′ in length, ellipsoidal, pointed, thin-walled, 3 or 4-valved, ⅓′ long, the disk little enlarged; pedicels ⅙′—¼′ in length; seeds oblong-obovoid, rounded at apex, light brown, about 1/12′ long.

A large tree with massive spreading branches and stout yellow-brown often angular branchlets. Winter-buds resinous, acute, ½′ long with light chestnut brown lustrous scales.

Distribution. Shores of Lake Champlain (Shelburne Point, Chittenden County), Vermont; western New York; Island of the Delaware River above Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania; Baltimore County, and Bare Hills, Maryland; northern banks of the Potomac River opposite Plummer’s Island near Washington, D.C.; Artisia, Lowndes County, and Starkville, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi; rare and local.

Populus balsamifera var. virginiana Sarg. Cottonwood.

Populus deltoidea Marsh. at least in part. Populus nigra β virginiana Castiglioni.

Leaves deltoid to ovate-deltoid, acuminate with entire points, truncate, slightly cordate or occasionally abruptly cuneate at the entire base, crenately serrate above, with incurved glandular teeth, fragrant with a balsamic odor, glabrous, thick and firm, light bright green and lustrous, paler on the lower than on the upper surface, 3′—5′ long and broad, with a stout yellow midrib often tinged with red toward the base, raised and rounded on the upper side, and conspicuous primary veins; petioles slender, pilose at first, soon glabrous, compressed laterally, yellow often more or less tinged with red, 2½′—3½′ long. Flowers and Fruit: as on the type.

A tree, sometimes 100° high, with a trunk occasionally 7°—8° in diameter, divided often 20°—30° above the ground into several massive limbs spreading gradually and becoming pendulous toward the ends, and forming a graceful rather open head frequently 100° across, or on young trees nearly erect above and spreading below almost at right angles with the stem, and forming a symmetrical pyramidal head, and stout branchlets marked with long pale lenticels, terete, or, especially on vigorous trees, becoming angled in their second year, with thin more or less prominent wings extending downward from the two sides and from the base of the large 3-lobed leaf-scars. Winter-buds very resinous, ovoid, acute, the lateral much flattened, ½′ long, with 6 or 7 light chestnut-brown lustrous scales. Bark thin, smooth, light yellow tinged with green on young stems and branches, becoming on old trunks 1½′—2′ thick, ashy gray, and deeply divided into broad rounded ridges broken into closely appressed scales. Wood dark brown, with thick nearly white sapwood, warping badly in drying and difficult to season.

Distribution. Banks of streams, often forming extensive open groves, and toward the western limits of its range occasionally in upland ravines and on bluffs; Province of Quebec and the shores of Lake Champlain, through western New England, western New York, Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny Mountains, and westward to southern Minnesota, North and South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and southward through the Atlantic states from Delaware to western Florida, and through the Gulf states to western Texas (Brown County). In the south Atlantic states and the valley of the Lower Ohio River and southward sometimes replaced by a variety with leaves covered above when they unfold with soft white hairs and below with close pubescence more or less persistent during the season especially on the midribs and veins (var. pilosa Sarg.).

Often planted for shelter and ornament on the treeless plains and prairies between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, and as an ornamental tree in the eastern United States and largely in western and northern Europe.

× Populus canadensis Moench, believed to be a hybrid between the northern glabrous form of P. balsamifera and the European P. nigra L., with several varieties, is cultivated in Europe and occasionally in the United States. The best known of these varieties, × P. canadensis var. Eugenie Schelle, the Carolina Poplar of American nurseries, believed to be a hybrid of the northern Cottonwood with the Lombardy Poplar, has been planted in the United States in immense numbers.

× Populus Jackii Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of the northern Cottonwood with P. tacamahacca, with characters intermediate between those of its supposed parents, grows spontaneously near the mouth of the Chateaugay River and at Beauharnois, Province of Quebec, and at South Haven, Michigan, and is now occasionally cultivated.

15. Populus Palmeri Sarg.

Leaves thin, ovate, gradually or abruptly contracted at apex into a narrow acuminate entire point, cuneate or rounded at the broad base, finely serrate with incurved teeth, ciliate on the margins when they unfold, otherwise glabrous, 2½′—5′ long and 1½′—2¼′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, 1½′—2½′ in length. Flowers not seen. Fruit: aments glabrous, 12—15 cm. long; fruit ovoid, obtuse, slightly pitted, puberulous, thin-walled, 4-valved, ¼′—⅓′ long, the disk deeply lobed; pedicel slender, ¼′—⅓′ in length.

A tree 60° tall, with a straight trunk 3° in diameter, erect smooth pale branches forming an open pyramidal head, the lower branches smaller, horizontal or pendulous, and slender glabrous branchlets light reddish brown early in the season, becoming pale grayish brown in their second year. Bark pale, 3′—4′ thick, deeply divided by wide fissures into narrow ridges.

Distribution. In moist fertile soil near springs, at the base of high chalky bluffs of Nueces Cañon of the upper Nueces River, Uvalde County, growing with Salix nigra var. Lindheimeri, Carya pecan, Morus rubra and Ulmus crassifolia, and at Strawn, Palo Pinto County, Texas.

2. SALIX L. Willow.

Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, scaly bark, soft wood, slender terete tough branchlets often easily separated at the joints, and winter-buds covered by a single scale of 2 coats, the inner membranaceous, stipular, rarely separable from the outer, inclosing at its base 2 minute opposite lateral buds alternate with 2 small scale-like caducous leaves coated with long pale or rufous hairs. Leaves variously folded in the bud, alternate, simple, lanceolate, obovate, rotund or linear, penniveined; petioles sometimes glandular at the apex, and more or less covering the bud, in falling leaving U-shaped or arcuate elevated leaf-scars displaying the ends of 3 small equidistant fibro-vascular bundles; stipules oblique, serrate, small and deciduous, or foliaceous and often persistent, generally large and conspicuous on vigorous young branches, leaving in falling minute persistent scars. Flowers in sessile or stalked aments, terminal and axillary on leafy branchlets; scales of the ament lanceolate, concave, rotund or obovate, entire or glandular-dentate, of uniform color or dark-colored toward the apex, more or less hairy, deciduous or persistent; disk of the flower nectariferous, composed of an anterior and posterior or of a single posterior gland-like body; stamens 3—12 or 1 or 2, inserted on the base of the scale, with slender filaments free or rarely united and usually light yellow, glabrous, or hairy toward the base, and small ovoid or oblong anthers generally rose-colored before anthesis, becoming orange or purple; ovary sessile or stipitate, conic, obtuse to subulate-rostrate, glandular at the base, glabrous, tomentose or villose, with an abbreviated style divided into 2 short recurved retuse or 2-parted stigmas; ovules 4—8 on each of the 2 placentas. Fruit an acuminate 1-celled capsule separating at maturity into 2 recurved valves. Seeds minute, narrowed at the ends, dark chestnut-brown or nearly black; cotyledons oblong.

Salix inhabits the banks of streams and low moist ground, the alpine summits of mountains, and the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the northern hemisphere, ranging south in the New World, with a few species, through the West Indies and Central America to Brazil, and the Andes of Chile, and in the Old World to Madagascar, southern Africa, the Himalayas, Burmah, the Malay peninsula, Java, and Sumatra. Of the 160 or 170 species which are now recognized about seventy are found in North America. Of these twenty-four attain the size and habit of trees, the others being small and sometimes prostrate shrubs. Of exotic species, Salix alba L., and Salix fragilis L., important European timber-trees, are now generally naturalized in the northeastern states. The flexible tough branches of several species are used in making baskets; the bark is rich in tannic acid and is used in tanning leather and yields salicin, a bitter principle valuable as a tonic. Many of the species are cultivated as ornamental trees.

Salix is the classical name of the Willow-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES

Scales of the flowers deciduous, pale straw color. Stamens 3 or more. Leaves green on both surfaces; petioles without glands at the base of the leaves; branchlets easily separable. Branchlets reddish or grayish purple; leaves mostly narrow-lanceolate; capsule glabrous. 1. S. nigra (A, C, E). Branchlets yellowish-gray; leaves lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate; capsule often more or less pubescent. 2. S. Gooddingii (F, G, H). Leaves (at least when fully grown) pale or glaucous below. Petioles without glands. Branchlets easily separable. Leaves narrow-lanceolate to lanceolate; petioles less than ½′ long. 3. S. Harbisonii (C). Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, caudate; petioles ½′—¾′ long. 4. S. amygdaloides (A, B). Branchlets not easily separable. Capsules short-stalked (pedicels hardly more than 1/24′ long), ovoid-conic, up to ⅕′ in length; leaves more or less narrow-lanceolate, petioles glabrous or nearly so. 5. S. Bonplandiana (H). Capsules long-stalked (pedicels 1/12′—⅙′ long), more or less acuminate. Petioles puberulous; leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate; stipules without glands on their inner surface; capsules hardly more than ¼′ long. 6. S. lævigata (G, F). Petioles hairy-tomentose; leaves lanceolate; stipules glandular on their inner surface; capsules ¼′—¾′ long. 7. S. longipes (C, D). Petioles glandular; leaves lanceolate to broadly ovate, caudate; branchlets easily separable. Leaves distinctly pale or glaucous below, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate. 8. S. lasiandra (B, G). Leaves pale green below, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, abruptly caudate-acuminate. 9. S. lucida (A). Stamens 2. Stigmas linear, 4 or 5 times longer than broad. Leaves linear, hardly more than ⅓′ long; anthers very small, globose; aments small, in fruit hardly up to ⅘′ in length. 10. S. taxifolia (H). Leaves linear-lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate; up to 2′ in length; anthers ellipsoid; aments longer. 11. S. sessilifolia (B, G). Stigmas short, hardly 2 or 3 times longer than broad. Mature leaves covered below with appressed white silky hairs, those of flowering branchlets entire or barely denticulate. 12. S. exigua (B, F, G). Mature leaves glabrous below, those of flowering branchlets more or less distinctly denticulate. 13. S. longifolia (A, F). Scales of the flowers persistent, dark brown or fuscous, at least toward the apex (in S. Bebbiana more or less straw-colored or tawny). Stamens 2. Ovaries glabrous. Leaves more or less denticulate or serrate; styles short. Base of leaf cuneate or rounded. Leaves acute, oblanceolate to narrowly lanceolate; filaments mostly united below. 14. S. lasiolepis (G). Leaves mostly acuminate; filaments free. Branchlets glabrous, lustrous; leaves oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, up to 2′ in length; pedicels ⅛′—⅙′ long; stipules small. 15. S. Mackenzieana (A, G). Branchlets pubescent; leaves narrowly lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 4′—6′ long; pedicels 1.5—2.5 mm. long. 16. S. missouriensis (A). Base of leaf mostly more or less cordate; leaves glabrous; filaments free; pedicels long. 17. S. pyrifolia (A). Leaves entire, oval to broad-obovate; branchlets villose-pubescent during their first season. 18. S. amplifolia. Ovaries pubescent (glabrous often in No. 23). Leaves covered with a soft dense felt-like tomentum, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate. 19. S. alaxensis (B). Leaves glabrous or more or less villose-pubescent below. Bracts of the flowers pale or tawny, often reddish at the tip; pedicels up to ⅕′ in length; leaves elliptic-lanceolate to obovate, reticulate beneath in age, pubescent or glabrate. 20. S. Bebbiana. Bracts of the flowers brown or fuscous. Stipules more or less distinctly developed; pedicels several times longer than the short styles. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate to oblong-elliptic; mostly glabrous in age. 21. S. discolor (A, B, F). Leaves oblanceolate to cuneate-obovate, covered beneath with short hairs or at maturity with a gray villose-pubescence. 22. S. Scouleriana (A, B). Stipules usually wanting; pedicels hardly longer than the distinct styles; leaves broad-elliptic to obovate-oblong, more or less grayish villose beneath. 23. S. Hookeriana (B, G). Stamens usually 1; leaves obovate-oblong, densely covered below with lustrous silvery white silky tomentum. 24. S. sitchensis (B, G).

1. Salix nigra Marsh. Black Willow.

Leaves lanceolate, long-acuminate, often falcate, gradually cuneate or rounded at base, finely serrate, thin bright light green, rather lustrous, with obscure reticulate veins, glabrous or often pubescent on the under side of the midribs and veins and on the short slender petioles, 3′—6′ long, ⅛′—¾′ wide; at the north turning light yellow before falling in the autumn; stipules semicordate, acuminate, foliaceous, persistent, or ovoid, minute, and deciduous. Flowers: aments terminal on leafy pubescent branches, narrowly cylindric, 1′—3′ long; scales yellow, elliptic to obovate, rounded at apex and coated on the inner surface with pale hairs; stamens 3—5, with filaments hairy toward the base; ovary ovoid, short-stalked, glabrous, gradually narrowed above the middle to the apex, with nearly sessile slightly divided stigmatic lobes. Fruit ovoid-conic, short-stalked, glabrous, about ⅛′ long, light reddish brown.

A tree, usually 30°—40° high, with usually several clustered stout stems, thick spreading upright branches forming a broad somewhat irregular open head, and reddish brown or gray-brown branchlets pubescent when they first appear, soon glabrous, and easily separated at the joints. Winter-buds acute, about ⅛′ long. Bark 1′—1¼′ thick, dark brown or nearly black and deeply divided into broad flat connected ridges separating freely into thick plate-like scales and becoming shaggy on old trunks. Wood light, soft, weak, light reddish brown, with thin nearly white sapwood; now sawed into lumber in the valley of the lower Mississippi River and largely used for packing cases, cellar and barn floors, in furniture, and in the manufacture of toys and other purposes where strength is not important as it does not warp, check or splinter.

Distribution. Low moist alluvial banks of streams and lakes; southern New Brunswick through southern Quebec and Ontario to the region north of Lake Superior, southward to northern and western North Carolina, through the Piedmont region of South Carolina and Georgia to eastern and central Alabama, and westward to southeastern North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, the valley of Wichita River, Oklahoma, and central and western Texas to Valverde County.

In southern Arkansas, in Louisiana and in eastern Texas Salix nigra is often replaced by var. altissima Sarg., differing from the type in the more pubescent young branchlets, leaves and petioles, in the more acute base of the leaves and longer petioles, and in its later flowering. A tree sometimes 120 feet high and the tallest of American Willows.

Salix nigra var. Lindheimeri Schn.

Salix Wrightii Sarg., not Anders.

Leaves lanceolate, often slightly falcate, long-pointed and acuminate at apex, cuneate at base, finely glandular-serrate, glabrous, light green on the upper surface, paler below, 4′—5′ long, ⅓′—½′ wide; petioles pubescent early in the season, becoming glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers: aments slender, densely villose, 2′—3′ long; scales ovate, acute or rarely rounded at apex, covered with matted white hairs, more abundant on the inner surface; stamens 4 or 5; filaments villose below the middle; ovary ovoid, gradually narrowed to the apex, the 2-lobed stigmas nearly sessile. Fruit ovoid-conic; pedicels about ¼′ long.

A tree, 50°—70° high with a trunk often 3° in diameter, large erect spreading branches forming an open irregular head, and slender branchlets light green and slightly pubescent when they first appear, becoming light orange or yellow-brown and lustrous. Bark thick, pale yellow-brown, deeply furrowed, the surface sometimes separating into long plate-like scales.

Distribution. River banks, central and western Texas from Grayson and Dallas Counties and the lower valley of the Brazos River to the valleys of the San Antonio and upper Guadalupe Rivers; in Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.

2. Salix Gooddingii Ball.

Salix vallicola Britt.

Leaves lanceolate to narrow elliptic-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, acutely cuneate at base, finely glandular-serrate, often slightly falcate, silky pubescent when they unfold especially below, glabrous and dull green at maturity, 1½′—3′ long, ¼′—½′ wide, or on vigorous shoots 5′ or 6′ long and ¾′ wide; petioles pubescent, usually becoming glabrous, ⅙′—¼′ in length; stipules orbicular-cordate, coarsely glandular-serrate, pubescent. Flowers: aments pubescent terminal on leafy pubescent branchlets, narrow-cylindric, 1′—2′ long; scales linear-oblanceolate, acute, yellow, hoary tomentose; stamens 3—5; filaments villose toward the base; ovary ovoid-conic, gradually narrowed to the acuminate apex, pubescent or glabrous; style distinct, 2-lobed. Fruit ovoid, acute, light reddish brown, glabrous or pubescent, ¼′ long; pedicels glabrous or rarely pubescent, 1/16′—⅛′ in length.

A tree, 25°—50° high, with slender light orange-colored or grayish glabrous or pubescent easily separable branchlets. Bark rough, thick, deeply furrowed, sometimes nearly black.

Distribution. River banks; Reed Creek, Shasta County, and Red Bluff, Tehama County, California, southward in the interior valleys and on the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada to the mountain valleys in the southern part of the state, and to northern Lower California; eastward through central and southern Arizona; in southeastern Nevada; through southern New Mexico to western Texas (El Paso, El Paso County, and Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County); and southward into northern Mexico.

3. Salix Harbisonii Schn.

Leaves linear-lanceolate, narrow-elliptic or rarely obovate-lanceolate, acute or short-acuminate, obtusely or acutely cuneate at the base, and finely glandular dentate; when the flowers open more or less pubescent especially below or glabrous, and at maturity green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, glabrous, 4′ or 5′ long, ¾′ broad; petioles villose early in the season, becoming glabrous, ¼′ in length, minutely glandular at apex; stipules wanting or minute, semicordate, acute, pubescent on vigorous leading branches and sometimes ¼′ long. Flowers: aments terminal on leafy branchlets, 2½′—3′ in length, their rachis villose-pubescent; scales ovate or ovate-oblong, obtuse or acute; stamens usually 5—7, rarely 3—9; filaments densely villose; ovary ovoid, long-acuminate, glabrous, long-stalked; style short, distinct, 2-lobed. Fruit acuminate and long-pointed, acute at base, ¼′ long and about as long as its pedicel.

A tree, 30°—50° high, with a trunk 10′ or 12′ in diameter, with often pendulous branches, and slender branchlets more or less densely pubescent or tomentose or nearly glabrous when they first appear, becoming glabrous and dark reddish purple in their second season, and easily separable at the joints; often only a large shrub. Bark thick, deeply furrowed, dark red-brown, separating on the surface into small appressed scales.

Distribution. River banks and the borders of swamps; Dismal Swamp, Norfolk County, Virginia; near Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina; common in the coast region of South Carolina and Georgia, extending up the Savannah River at least as far as Augusta, Richmond County, and through southern Georgia to the valley of the Flint River; swamps near Jacksonville, Duval County, and in the neighborhood of Apalachicola, Florida.

4. Salix amygdaloides Anders. Peach Willow. Almond Willow.

Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, frequently falcate, gradually or abruptly narrowed into a long slender point, cuneate or gradually rounded and often unequal at base, finely serrate, slightly puberulous when they unfold, becoming at maturity thin and firm in texture, light green and lustrous above, pale and glaucous below, 2½′—4′ long, ¾′—1¼′ wide, with a stout yellow or orange-colored midrib, prominent veins and reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, nearly terete ½′—¾′ in length; stipules reniform, serrate, often ½′ broad on vigorous shoots, usually caducous. Flowers: aments on leafy branchlets, elongated, cylindric, slender, arcuate, stalked, pubescent or tomentose, 2′—3′ long; scales yellow, sparingly villose on the outer, densely villose on the inner face, the staminate broadly ovate, rounded at the apex, the pistillate oblong-obovate, narrower, caducous; stamens 5—9, with free filaments slightly hairy at the base; ovary oblong-conic, long-stalked, glabrous, with a short style and emarginate stigmas. Fruit globose-conic, light reddish yellow, about ¼′ in length.

A tree, sometimes 60°—70° high, with a single straight or slightly inclining trunk rarely more than 2° in diameter, straight ascending branches, and slender glabrous or rarely pilose (f. pilosiuscula Schn.) branchlets marked with scattered pale lenticels, dark orange color or red-brown and lustrous, becoming in their first winter light orange-brown. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, gibbous, dark chestnut-brown, very lustrous above the middle, light orange-brown below, ⅛′ long. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, brown somewhat tinged with red, and divided by irregular fissures into flat connected ridges separating on the surface into thick plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown, with thick nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Banks of streams; Province of Quebec from the neighborhood of Montreal to Winnipeg, and along the fiftieth degree of north latitude to southeastern British Columbia, and to central New York, along the southern shores of Lake Erie, and through northern Ohio to northern Indiana, southwestern Illinois, northern and central Missouri, and to Kansas, northwestern Oklahoma and northwestern Texas; in Colorado, Utah and Nevada to central Oregon and southeastern Washington.

Salix amygdaloides var. Wrightii Schn.

Salix Wrightii Anders.

Leaves lanceolate, gradually acuminate and long-pointed at apex, cuneate at base, finely serrate, occasionally slightly falcate, glabrous, yellow-green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 1½′—2′ long, ¼′—⅓′ wide, and on vigorous summer shoots sometimes 4′ or 5′ long and ½′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers and Fruit as in the species.

A small or large tree best distinguished from S. amygdaloides by the distinctly yellow or yellowish brown glabrous branchlets.

Distribution. Barstow, Ward County, common along the Rio Grande near El Paso and at Belon, El Paso County, and on Amarillo Creek, Potter County, western Texas; through southern New Mexico to the Sacramento Mountains, Otero County.

5. Salix Bonplandiana var. Toumeyi Schn.

Salix Toumeyi. Britt.

Leaves 4′—6′ long, ½′—¾′ wide, linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate with a long slender point at apex, gradually narrowed and often unequal at the cuneate base, obscurely serrate with glandular teeth, or entire with revolute margins, thick and firm, reticulate-venulose, yellow-green and lustrous above, silvery white below, with a broad yellow midrib; falling irregularly during the winter; petioles stout, grooved, reddish; stipules ovate, rounded, slightly undulate, thin and scarious, ⅛′—¼′ broad, often persistent during the summer. Flowers: aments on leafy branchlets, cylindric, erect, slender, short-stalked, the staminate 1′—1½′ long and somewhat longer than the pistillate; scales broadly obovate, rounded at the apex, light yellow, villose on the outer surface and glabrous or slightly hairy above the middle on the inner surface; stamens usually 3, with free filaments slightly hairy at the base; ovary slender, oblong-conic, short-stalked, glabrous, with nearly sessile much-thickened club-shaped stigmas, sometimes nearly encircled below by the large broad ventral gland. Fruit ovoid-conic, rounded at base, light reddish yellow.

A tree, rarely more than 30° high, with a trunk 12′—15′ in diameter, slender erect and spreading branches often pendulous at the ends, forming a broad round-topped head, and slender glabrous branchlets marked with occasional pale lenticels, light yellow, becoming light or dark red-brown and lustrous, and paler orange-brown in their second year. Winter-buds narrowly ovoid, long-pointed, more or less falcate, bright red-brown, lustrous, ¼′ long. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, dark brown or nearly black, and deeply divided by narrow fissures into broad flat ridges separating on the surface into closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Banks of streams in the cañons of the mountains of central and southern Arizona (Sicamore Cañon near Flagstaff and Sabino Cañon, Santa Catalina Mountains); and southwestern New Mexico (cañon, Saint Louis Mountains, Grant County); in Chihuahua, Sonora and Lower California.

The typical S. Bonplandiana H. B. K. with broader and more coarsely serrate leaves, and flower-aments appearing from July to January from the axils of mature leaves is widely distributed in Mexico and ranges to Guatemala.

6. Salix lævigata Bebb. Red Willow.

Leaves obovate, narrowed and rounded or acute and mucronate at apex, cuneate at base, with slightly revolute obscurely serrate margins, on sterile branches lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, when they unfold light blue-green and coated on the lower surface with long pale or tawny deciduous hairs, at maturity glabrous, dark blue-green and lustrous above, paler and glaucous below, 3′—7′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide, with a broad flat yellow midrib; petioles broad, grooved, puberulous, rarely ½′ long; stipules ovate, acute, finely serrate, usually small and caducous. Flowers: aments cylindric, slender, lax, elongated, 2′—4′ long, on leafy branchlets; scales peltate, dentate at apex, covered with long pale hairs, the staminate obovate, rounded, the pistillate narrower and more or less truncate; stamens usually 5 or 6, with free filaments hairy at the base; ovary conic, acute, rounded below, short-stalked, glabrous, with broad spreading emarginate stigmatic lobes. Fruit elongated, conic, long-stalked, nearly ¼′ in length.

A tree, 40°—50° high, with a straight trunk 2° in diameter, slender spreading branches, and slender light or dark orange-colored or bright red-brown glabrous, or in one form tomentose or villose (f. araquipa Jeps.) branchlets; often much smaller, with an average height of 20°—30°. Winter-buds ovoid, somewhat obtuse, pale chestnut-brown, ⅛′—¼′ long. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, dark brown slightly tinged with red and deeply divided into irregular connected flat ridges broken on the surface into thick closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft, light brown tinged with red, with thick nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Banks of streams; western California from the Oregon boundary to the southern borders of the state, ascending to altitudes of 4500° on the western slopes of the southern Sierra Nevada, and eastward to Mohave and Yavapai Counties, Arizona, southeastern Nevada and southwestern Utah.

7. Salix longipes Shuttl.

Salix amphibia Small.

Leaves lanceolate, acuminate or on fertile branches occasionally rounded at the apex, rounded or cuneate at the base, finely serrate, hoary-tomentose early in the season, becoming glabrous above, and pale and glabrous or pubescent below, 2′—4′ long, ½′—¾′ wide; petioles hoary-tomentose, ¼′—½′ long; stipules minute, ovate, acute, hoary-tomentose, caducous, on vigorous shoots foliaceous, reniform, serrate above the middle, often ¾′ in diameter. Flowers: aments terminal on leafy tomentose or glabrous branchlets, narrow-cylindric, 3′ or 4′ long; scales ovate, rounded at the apex, yellow, densely villose-pubescent; stamens 3—7, usually 5 or 6, the filaments hairy toward the base; ovary ovoid-conic, acute, cuneate at the base with a short 2-lobed style, and pedicels up to ¼′ in length. Fruit ovoid, often rather abruptly contracted above the middle, ¼′ in length.

A tree, 20°—30°, high with a trunk occasionally 12′—18′ in diameter, spreading branches, and glabrous or pubescent red-brown or gray-brown branchlets; or more often a shrub. Bark dark, sometimes nearly black, deeply divided into broad ridges covered by small closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Borders of swamps and streams; coast of North Carolina southward to the Everglade Keys of Florida, ranging westward in Florida to the valley of the Saint Marks River, Wakulla County; in Cuba.

A variety with narrower summer leaves and longer petioles is var. venulosa Schn.

Distribution. Newbern, Craven County, North Carolina, southward near the coast to northern and western Florida, ranging inland in Georgia to the banks of the Savannah River near Augusta, Richmond County, and to Traders Hill, Charlton County; in the neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana (Drummond); in southwestern Oklahoma and in western Texas (Blanco, Kendall, Kerr, Bandera and Uvalde Counties).

A variety with obtuse stipules, usually glabrous branchlets and lanceolate or narrow elliptic-lanceolate leaves is distinguished as var. Wardii Schn.

A shrub or small tree.

Distribution. Banks of the Potomac River, District of Columbia, and Alleghany County, Maryland to Natural, Rockbridge, Fairfax and Elizabeth Counties, Virginia; northern Kentucky; northern Tennessee; northeastern Mississippi (near Iuka, Tishamingo County); St. Clair and Madison Counties, Illinois; more abundant in Missouri from Pike County southward to southwestern Kansas, western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.

8. Salix lasiandra Benth. Yellow Willow.

Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate and long-pointed at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, often slightly falcate, finely serrate, glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, pale or glaucous below, 1½′—3′ long, about ½′ wide, on vigorous summer shoots often 6′ or 7′ long and 1½′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous, glandular at apex, ¼′ in length, or on summer shoots stout and 1′—1½′ long; stipules reniform, caducous. Flowers: aments terminal on leafy puberulous branchlets, narrow-cylindric, 2½′—3′ in length; scales pale pubescent, those of the staminate ament lanceolate-acuminate to obovate and rounded at apex and entire, those of the pistillate ament obovate and usually dentate near the apex; stamens 5—9; filaments hairy below the middle; ovary rather abruptly narrowed above the middle and acuminate, long-stalked; style short with slightly emarginate lobes. Fruit light red-brown, ¼′ long; pedicels about 1/16′ in length.

Distribution. Valley of the Yukon River near Dawson, Yukon, Vancouver Island, and southward near the coast of Washington and Oregon, and on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and on the coast ranges to southern California, ranging from the sea-level to altitudes of 8500° on the southern Sierra Nevada; in New Mexico (Glenwood, Soccoro County, and Santa Fé, Santa Fé County); in Colorado (Buena Vista, Chaffee County, Alice Eastwood). Passing into var. caudata Sudw., distinguished by its caudate-acuminate leaves green on both surfaces, and by its bright yellow or orange-yellow branchlets, and ranging from northeastern Oregon and eastern Washington through Idaho, and from northern Wyoming to southern Colorado, Utah and Nevada.

A variety (var. lancifolia Bebb), differing from the typical S. lasiandra in the gray or rusty villose pubescence covering the branchlets during their first and sometimes their second season and the lower surface of the young leaves, is distributed from Dawson in the valley of the Yukon River southward to the valley of the upper Nesqually River, Washington, to the valley of the Willamette River (Salem, Oregon), to Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, and to the San Bernardino Mountains, California.

9. Salix lucida Muehl. Shining Willow.

Leaves ovate-lanceolate, or narrow lanceolate (f. angustifolia Anders.), acuminate and long-pointed at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, finely serrate, 3′—5′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, covered when they unfold with scattered pale caducous hairs, at maturity coriaceous, smooth and lustrous, dark green above, paler below, with a broad yellow midrib, and slender primary veins arcuate and united near the margins; petioles stout, yellow, puberulous, glandular at the apex, with several dark or yellow conspicuous glands, ¼′—½′ long; stipules nearly semicircular, glandular-serrate, membranaceous, ⅛′—¼′ wide, often persistent during the summer. Flowers: aments erect, tomentose, on stout puberulous peduncles terminal on short leafy branchlets, the staminate oblong-cylindric, densely flowered, about 1½′ in length, the pistillate slender, elongated, 1½′—2′ long, often persistent until late in the season; scales oblong or obovate, rounded, entire, erose or dentate at apex, light yellow, nearly glabrous or coated on the outer surface with pale hairs, often ciliate on the margins; stamens usually 5, with elongated free filaments slightly hairy at base; ovary narrowly cylindric, long-stalked, elongated, glabrous, with nearly sessile emarginate stigmas. Fruit: cylindric, lustrous, about ⅓′ long.

A tree, occasionally 25° high, with a short trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, erect branches forming a broad round-topped symmetrical head, and stout glabrous branchlets dark orange color and lustrous in their first season, becoming darker and more or less tinged with red the following year; usually smaller and shrubby in habit. Winter-buds narrowly ovoid, acute, light orange-brown, lustrous, about ¼′ long. Bark thin, smooth, dark brown slightly tinged with red.

Distribution. Banks of streams and swamps; Newfoundland to the shores of Hudson’s Bay and northwestward to the valley of the Mackenzie River and the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, southward to southern Pennsylvania, northeastern Iowa, the Turtle Mountains, North Dakota, and eastern Nebraska; very abundant at the north, rare southward; a variety from extreme northeastern New England and adjacent New Brunswick and Quebec (var. intonsa Fernald) is distinguished by its often linear leaves rufous pubescent during the season on the under side of the veins and by its pubescent branchlets; a shrub or tree up to 25°.

10. Salix taxifolia H. B. K.

Leaves linear-lanceolate, narrowed at the ends, acute, slightly falcate, mucronate at the apex, entire or rarely obscurely dentate above the middle, coated as they unfold with long soft white hairs, at maturity pale gray-green, slightly puberulous, ⅓′—1⅓′ long, 1/12′—⅛′ wide, with a slender midrib, thin arcuate veins, and thickened slightly revolute margins; petioles stout, puberulous, rarely 1/12′ long; stipules ovate, acute, scarious, minute, caducous. Flowers: aments densely flowered, oblong-cylindric or subglobose, ¼′—½′ long, terminal, or terminal and axillary on the staminate plant, on short leafy branchlets; scales oblong or obovate, rounded or acute and sometimes apiculate at apex, coated on the outer surface with hoary tomentum and pubescent or glabrous on the inner; stamens 2, with free filaments hairy below the middle; ovary ovoid-conic, short-stalked or subsessile, villose, with nearly sessile deeply emarginate stigmas. Fruit cylindric, long-pointed, bright red-brown, more or less villose, short-stalked, about ¼′ long.

A tree, often 40°—50° high, with a trunk 18′ in diameter, erect and drooping branches forming a broad open head, and slender branchlets covered during their first season with hoary tomentum, becoming light reddish or purplish brown and much roughened by the elevated persistent leaf-scars. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, dark chestnut-brown, puberulous, about 1/16′ long and nearly as broad as long. Bark of the trunk ¾′—1′ thick, light gray-brown, and divided by deep fissures into broad flat ridges covered by minute closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Near El Paso, Texas; southwestern New Mexico, and along mountain streams in southern Arizona; southward through Mexico to Guatemala, and on the Sierra de la Victoria, Lower California.

11. Salix sessilifolia Nutt.

Leaves linear-lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, acute or acuminate at apex, cuneate at base, entire or furnished above the middle with a few remote apiculate glandular teeth, bluish green and thickly covered with silky white hairs most abundant on the lower side of the midrib, 1′—2′ long, ½′—¾′ wide, or on vigorous summer shoots often 4′ long and 1¼′ wide; petioles densely villose-pubescent, 1/16′—⅛′ in length; stipules ovate to lanceolate, acute, entire or denticulate. Flowers: aments appearing after the leaves, terminal on leafy branchlets, densely hoary-tomentose, 1½′—2½′ long; scales broadly elliptic, acute or rounded at apex, cuneate at base, densely villose-tomentose; stamens 2; filaments villose below the middle; ovary sessile, villose, the stigmas sessile, deeply 2-lobed. Fruit ovoid-acuminate, densely villose, pubescent.

A shrub or small tree occasionally 20° high, with short hairy tomentose branchlets.

Distribution. River banks, southwestern British Columbia; Whitcomb County, Washington, and on the Umpqua and Willamette Rivers, western Oregon. Southward passing into

Var. Hindsiana Anders., a large shrub with numerous stems often 20° high, differing in its more linear or narrow lanceolate usually entire leaves on longer petioles, smaller aments and pubescent, not tomentose, branchlets; and distributed from the valleys of central California to southwestern Oregon. A shrubby form of S. sessilifolia (var. leucodendroides Schn.) with longer and broader leaves is common on the banks of streams in southern California.

12. Salix exigua Nutt.

Leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, acuminate at the ends, often slightly falcate, minutely glandular-serrate above the middle, bluish green and glabrous above, covered below with appressed silky white hairs, 1½′—3′ long, ⅛′—¼′ wide, or on summer shoots sometimes 4½′ long and 1½′ wide; petioles glabrous, 1/16′ long or less; stipules minute or wanting. Flowers: aments terminal and solitary or terminal and axillary, on leafy glabrous branchlets, 1′—2′ in length; scales hoary pubescent, lanceolate and acute on staminate aments, often wider, obovate and rounded at the apex on pistillate aments; stamens, 2, filaments hairy below the middle; ovary sessile, villose, the stigmatic lobes sessile. Fruit ovoid, acuminate, glabrous.

A shrub with stems 10° or 12° tall, or rarely a tree 25° high, with a trunk 5′ or 6′ in diameter, thin spreading branches forming a round-topped head, and slender glabrous red-brown branchlets. Bark of the trunk thin, longitudinally fissured, grayish brown.

Distribution. Southern Alberta and valley of the Fraser River (Clinton), British Columbia, southward through western Washington and Oregon to San Diego County, California, and southeastern Nevada, and eastward to southern Idaho, central Nevada and western Wyoming (Yellowstone National Park).

Apparently only truly a tree on the banks of the Palouse and other streams of eastern Washington.

Several shrubby forms of S. exigua found in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, western Nebraska and in Lower California are distinguished.

13. Salix longifolia Muehl. Sand Bar Willow.

Salix fluviatalis Sarg., not Nutt.

Leaves linear-lanceolate, often somewhat falcate, gradually narrowed at the ends, long-pointed, dentate with small remote spreading callous glandular teeth, 2′—6′ long, ⅛′—⅓′ wide, when they unfold coated below with soft lustrous silky hairs, at maturity thin, glabrous, light yellow-green, darker on the upper than on the lower surface, with a yellow midrib, slender arcuate primary veins, and slender reticulate veinlets; petioles grooved, ⅛′—¼′ long; stipules ovate-lanceolate, foliaceous, about ¼′ long, deciduous. Flowers: aments cylindric on leafy branchlets, pubescent, the staminate about 1′ long, ⅓′ broad, terminal and axillary, the pistillate elongated, 2′ or 3′ long, about ¼′ broad; scales obovate-oblong, entire, erose or dentate above the middle, light yellow-green, densely villose on the outer surface, slightly hairy on the inner; stamens 2, with free filaments slightly hairy at the base; ovary oblong-cylindric, acute, short-stalked, glabrous or pubescent, with large sessile deeply lobed stigmas. Fruit light brown, glabrous or villose, about ¼′ long.

A tree, usually about 20° high, with a trunk only a few inches in diameter, spreading by stoloniferous roots into broad thickets, short slender erect branches, and slender glabrous light or dark orange-colored or purplish red branchlets, growing darker after their first season; occasionally 60°—70° high, with a trunk 2° in diameter; often a shrub not more than 5°—6° tall. Winter-buds narrowly ovoid, acute, chestnut-brown, about ⅛′ long. Bark ⅛′—¼′ thick, smooth, dark brown slightly tinged with red and covered with small closely appressed irregularly shaped scales. Wood light, soft, light brown tinged with red, with thin light brown sapwood.

Distribution. River banks, sand bars and alluvial flats; shores of Lake St. John, Quebec to Manitoba, and southward through western New England to northeastern Virginia, southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, western Kentucky, south Tennessee, to the mouth of the Mississippi River, and westward to southwestern South Dakota, southwestern Wyoming, northeastern Colorado, western Kansas and Oklahoma, and northern Texas.

From central and northwestern Texas to northeastern Mexico and southern New Mexico represented by var. angustissima Anders., differing in the absence of a dorsal gland in the male flowers and in the silky pubescence of the young ovary.

In the northern Rocky Mountains region replaced by var. pedunculata Anders., differing from the type in its narrower linear leaves, glabrous ovaries and longer pedicels of the fruit, and ranging from western South Dakota and northwestern Wyoming, through eastern Montana, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, to the valley of the Yukon River in the neighborhood of Dawson.

A shrubby form with leaves densely covered with silky pubescence (var. Wheeleri Schn.) is distributed from New Brunswick to North Dakota, Nebraska and Beckham County, Oklahoma.

14. Salix lasiolepis Benth. Arroyo Willow.

Leaves oblanceolate to lanceolate-oblong, often inequilateral and occasionally falcate, acute or acuminate or rarely rounded at apex, gradually or abruptly cuneate or rounded at base, entire or remotely serrate, pilose above and coated below with thick hoary tomentum when they unfold, at maturity thick and subcoriaceous, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, dark green and glabrous above, pale or glaucous and pubescent or puberulous below, 3′—6′ long, ½′—1′ wide, with a broad yellow midrib and slender arcuate veins forked and united within the slightly thickened and revolute margins; petioles slender, ⅛′—½′ long; stipules ovate, acute, coated with hoary tomentum, minute and caducous, or sometimes foliaceous, semilunar, acute or acuminate, entire or denticulate, dark green above, pale below, persistent. Flowers: aments erect, cylindric, slightly flexuose, densely flowered, nearly sessile on short tomentose branchlets, 1½′ long, the staminate ½′ thick, and nearly twice as thick as the pistillate; scales oblong-obovate, rounded or acute at the apex, dark-colored, clothed with long crisp white hairs, persistent under the fruit; stamens 2, with elongated glabrous filaments more or less united below the middle; ovary narrow, cylindric acute and long-pointed, dark green, glabrous, with a short style and broad nearly sessile stigmas. Fruit oblong-cylindric, light reddish brown, about ¼′ long.

A tree, 20°—35° high, with a trunk 3′—7′ in diameter, slender erect branches forming a loose open head, and stout branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum, bright yellow or dark reddish brown and puberulous or pubescent during their first year, becoming darker and glabrous in their second season; or often at the north and at high altitudes a low shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, compressed, contracted laterally into thin wing-like margins, light brownish yellow, glabrous or puberulous. Bark on young stems and on the branches thin, smooth, light gray-brown, becoming on old trunks dark, about ⅓′ thick, roughened by small lenticels and broken into broad flat irregularly connected ridges. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; in southern California often used as fuel.

Distribution. Banks of streams in low moist ground; valley of the Klamath River, California, southward along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the central valley, and on the Coast Ranges to southern California; on Santa Catalina Island and on the mountains of southern Arizona; on the Sierra de Laguna, Lower California; occasionally ascending to altitudes of 4000° above the sea.

15. Salix Mackenzieana Barr.

Leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, or elliptic, long-pointed at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, finely crenately serrate, reddish and pilose with caducous pale hairs when they unfold, at maturity thin and firm in texture, light green above, pale below, 1½′—2′ long, about ½′—¾′ wide, on summer shoots, often 4′ long and 1½′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib, arcuate veins, and obscure reticulate veinlets; petioles thin, yellow, about ⅓′ long; stipules reniform, conspicuously veined, about 1/16′ broad. Flowers: aments densely flowered, glabrous, erect, often more or less curved, about 1½′ long, terminal on short leafy branchlets; scales oblanceolate, acute, dark-colored; stamens 2, with elongated free glabrous filaments; ovary cylindric, long-stalked, elongated, gradually narrowed into a short style, with spreading emarginate stigmas. Fruit ovoid, acuminate, light brown, about ⅛′ long; pedicels about ⅙′ in length.

A small tree, with a slender trunk, upright branches forming a narrow shapely head, and slender branchlets marked with scattered lenticels, glabrous or slightly puberulous and often tinged with red when they first appear, soon becoming yellow and lustrous, growing lighter colored in their second year. Winter-buds ovoid, rounded on the back, compressed and acute at the apex, bright orange color, about ⅛′ long.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps; shores of Great Slave Lake southward through the region at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains to Saskatchewan, northern Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming, and to western Nevada (Lake County; M. S. Bebb), and on the high Sierra Nevada in Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California (W. L. Jepson).

16. Salix missouriensis Bebb.

Leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, acuminate and long-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed from above the middle to the cuneate or rounded base, finely glandular-serrate, coated with pale hairs on the lower surface and pilose on the upper surface when they unfold, soon becoming nearly glabrous, at maturity thin and firm, dark green above, pale and often silvery white below, 4′—6′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with slender veins often united near the margins and connected by coarse reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, pubescent or tomentose, ½′—¾′ long; stipules foliaceous, semicordate, pointed or rarely reniform and obtuse, serrate with incurved teeth, dark green and glabrous on the upper side, coated on the lower with hoary tomentum, reticulate-venulose, often ½′ long, deciduous or persistent during the season. Flowers: aments oblong-cylindric, densely flowered, appearing early in February on short leafy branchlets, the staminate 1½′ long and nearly ½′ wide and rather longer than the more slender pistillate aments becoming at maturity lax and 3′—4′ long; scales oblong-obovate, light green, and covered on the outer surface with long straight white hairs; stamens 2, with elongated free glabrous filaments; ovary cylindric, short-stalked, beaked, glabrous, with a short style and spreading entire or slightly emarginate stigmas. Fruit narrow, long-pointed, light reddish brown, ⅓′ in length; pedicels about half the length of the scales.

A tree, 40°—50° high, with a tall straight trunk 10′—12′ or rarely 18′ in diameter, rather slender upright slightly spreading branches forming a narrow open symmetrical head, and slender branchlets marked by small scattered orange-colored lenticels, light green and coated during their first year with thick pale pubescence, becoming reddish brown and glabrous or puberulous in their second winter. Winter-buds ovoid, round, or flattened, acute at the apex, reddish brown, hoary-tomentose, nearly 1′ long. Bark thin, smooth, light gray, slightly tinged with red, and covered with minute closely appressed plate-like scales. Wood dark red-brown, with thin pale sapwood; durable, used for fence-posts.

Distribution. Deep sandy alluvial bottom-lands of the Missouri River in southwestern Nebraska to western Missouri; through northeastern Kansas and eastern Oklahoma to Cache Creek, Comanche County (G. W. Stevens); and from the neighborhood of St. Louis to southeastern and western Iowa.

17. Salix pyrifolia Anders.

Salix balsamifera Barr.

Leaves ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acute at apex, broad and rounded and usually subcordate at base, finely glandular serrulate, balsamic particularly while young, when they unfold thin, pellucid, red and coated below with long slender caducous hairs, at maturity thin and firm, dark green above, pale and glaucous below, 2′—4′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a yellow midrib and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles reddish or yellow, ⅓′—½′ long; stipules often wanting or on vigorous shoots foliaceous, broadly ovate and acute. Flowers: aments cylindric, 1′—1½′ long, on short leafy branchlets, the staminate 1′—1¼′ long and ¾′ in diameter and shorter and broader than the pistillate ament; scales obovate, rose-colored, coated with long white hairs; stamens 2, with free filaments and reddish ultimately yellow anthers; ovary narrow-ovoid, long-stalked, gradually contracted above the middle, with a short style and emarginate stigmas. Fruit ovoid-conic, ¼′ long, dark orange color; pedicels ⅙′ in length.

Usually a shrub, often making clumps of crowded slender erect stems generally destitute of branches except near the top, rarely arborescent, with a height of 25°, a trunk 12′—14′ in diameter, erect branches, and comparatively stout reddish brown branchlets becoming olive-green in their second year and marked with narrow slightly raised leaf-scars. Winter-buds acute, much-compressed, bright scarlet, very lustrous, about ¼′ long. Bark thin, smooth, dull gray.

Distribution. Cold wet bogs; Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador to the valley of the Saskatchewan and the Mackenzie, and British Columbia, and to northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Michigan, and northeastern South Dakota; reported to become arborescent only near Fort Kent on the St. John River, Aroostook, Maine.

18. Salix amplifolia Cov.

Leaves oval to broadly obovate, rounded or broadly pointed at apex, gradually or abruptly narrowed at the cuneate base, dentate-serrulate or entire, densely villose when they unfold, with long matted white hairs, at maturity nearly glabrous, pale yellow-green above, slightly glaucous below, 2′—2½′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a midrib broad and hoary-tomentose toward the base of the leaf and thin and glabrous above the middle; petioles slender, tomentose. Flowers: aments appearing about the middle of June, stout, pedunculate, tomentose, on leafy branchlets, the staminate 1½′—2′ long and shorter than the pistillate; scales oblanceolate or lanceolate, dark brown or nearly black, covered with long pale hairs; stamens 2, with slender elongated glabrous filaments; ovary ovoid-lanceolate, short-stalked, glabrous or slightly pubescent, gradually narrowed into the elongated slender style crowned with a 2-lobed slender stigma. Fruit ovoid-lanceolate, glabrous, short-stalked, ¼′ long.

A tree, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk a foot in diameter, and stout branchlets conspicuously roughened by the large elevated U-shaped leaf-scars, and marked by occasional pale lenticels, coated at first with thick villose pubescence, becoming during their second and third years dark dull reddish purple.

Distribution. Sand dunes on the shores of Yakutat Bay and Disenchantment Bay, Alaska.

19. Salix alaxensis Cov. Feltleaf Willow.

Leaves elliptic-lanceolate to obovate, acute, acuminate or occasionally rounded at apex, gradually narrowed into a short thick petiole, coated above as they unfold with thin pale deciduous tomentum and covered below with a thick mass of snowy white lustrous hairs persistent on the mature leaves, entire, often somewhat wrinkled, dull yellow-green above, 2′—4′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a broad yellow midrib; stipules linear-lanceolate to filiform, entire, ½′—¾′ long, usually persistent until midsummer. Flowers: aments appearing in June when the leaves are nearly fully grown, stout, erect, tomentose, stalked, on leafy branchlets, the staminate 1′—1½′ long, much shorter than the pistillate; scales oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, dark-colored, and coated with long silvery white soft hairs; stamens 2, with slender elongated filaments; ovary acuminate, short-stalked, covered with soft pale hairs, gradually narrowed into the elongated slender style, with 2-lobed stigmas. Fruit nearly sessile, ovoid, acuminate covered with close dense pale tomentum, ¼′ long.

A tree, sometimes 30° high, with a trunk 4′—6′ in diameter, and stout branchlets thickly coated at first with matted white hairs, becoming in their second year glabrous, dark purple, lustrous, marked by large elevated pale scattered lenticels and much roughened by large U-shaped leaf-scars; often shrubby, and in the most exposed situations frequently only a foot or two high, with semiprostrate stems.

Distribution. Coast of Alaska from the Alexander Archipelago to Cape Lisbourne, and eastward to the valley of the Mackenzie River and to the shores of Coronation Gulf; the only arborescent Willow in the coast region west and north of Kadiak Island; attaining its largest size from the Shumagin Islands eastward.

20. Salix Bebbiana Sarg.

Leaves oblong-obovate to oblong-elliptic or lanceolate, acuminate and short-pointed or acute at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, remotely and irregularly serrate usually only above the middle, or rarely entire, when they unfold pale gray-green, glabrous or villose, and often tinged with red on the upper surface and coated on the lower with pale tomentum or pubescence, at maturity thick and firm, dull green and glabrous or puberulous above, blue or silvery white and covered with pale rufous pubescence below, especially along the midrib, veins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, 1′—3′ long, ½′—1′ wide; petioles slender, often pubescent, reddish, ¼′—½′ long; stipules foliaceous, semicordate, glandular-dentate, sometimes nearly ½′ long on vigorous shoots, deciduous. Flowers: aments terminal on short leafy branchlets; scales ovate or oblong, rounded at apex, broader on the staminate than on the pistillate plant, yellow below, rose color at apex, villose with long pale silky hairs, persistent under the fruit; staminate aments cylindric, obovoid, narrowed at base, densely flowered, ¾′—1′ long, ½′—1′ thick; pistillate aments oblong-cylindric, loosely flowered, 1′—1¼′ long, ½′ thick; stamens 2, with free glabrous filaments; ovary cylindric, villose; with long silky white hairs, gradually narrowed at apex, with broad sessile entire or emarginate spreading yellow stigmas; pedicel villose, about ¼′ in length, and about as long as the scale. Fruit elongated-cylindric, gradually narrowed into a long thin beak, and raised on a slender stalk sometimes ½′ long.

A bushy tree, occasionally 25° high, with a short trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, stout ascending branches forming a broad round head, and slender branchlets coated at first with hoary deciduous tomentum, varying during their first winter from reddish purple to dark orange-brown, marked by scattered raised lenticels and roughened by conspicuous elevated leaf-scars, growing lighter-colored and reddish brown in their second year; usually much smaller and often shrubby in habit. Bark thin, reddish or olive-green or gray tinged with red, and slightly divided by shallow fissures into appressed plate-like scales. Winter-buds oblong, gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, full and rounded on the back, bright light chestnut-brown, nearly ¼′ long.

Distribution. Borders of streams, swamps, and lakes, hillsides, open woods and forest margins, usually in moist rich soil; valley of the St. Lawrence River to the shores of Hudson’s Bay, the valley of the Mackenzie River within the Arctic Circle, Cook Inlet, Alaska, and the coast ranges of British Columbia, forming in the region west of Hudson’s Bay almost impenetrable thickets, with twisted and often inclining stems; common in all the northern states, ranging southward to Pennsylvania and westward to Minnesota and through the Rocky Mountain region from western Idaho and northern Montana to northern North Dakota, eastern South Dakota, northeastern and central Iowa, and western Nebraska, and southward through Colorado to northern Arizona; ascending as a low shrub in Colorado to an altitude of 10,000°.

21. Salix discolor Muehl. Glaucous Willow.

Leaves lanceolate to elliptic, gradually narrowed at the ends, remotely crenulate-serrate, as they unfold thin, light green often tinged with red, pubescent above and coated with a pale tomentum below, at maturity thick and firm, glabrous, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, bright green above, glaucous or silvery white below, 3′—5′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide, with a broad yellow midrib and slender arcuate primary veins; petioles slender, ½′—1′ long; stipules foliaceous, semilunar, acute, glandular-dentate, about ¼′ long, deciduous. Flowers: aments appearing late in winter or in very early spring, erect, terminal on short scale-bearing branchlets coated with thick white tomentum, oblong-cylindric, about 1′ long and ⅔′ thick, the staminate soft and silky before the flowers open and densely flowered; scales oblong-obovate, dark reddish brown toward the apex, covered on the back with long silky silvery white hairs; stamens 2, with elongated glabrous filaments; ovary oblong-cylindric, narrowed above the middle, villose, with a short distinct style and broad spreading entire stigmas; pedicel glabrous, about twice the length of the scale. Fruit cylindric, more or less contracted above the middle, long-pointed, light brown, coated with pale pubescence.

A tree, rarely more than 25° high, with a trunk about 1° in diameter, stout ascending branches forming an open round-topped head, and stout branchlets marked by occasional orange-colored lenticels, dark reddish purple and coated at first with pale deciduous pubescence; more often shrubby, with numerous tall straggling stems. Winter-buds semiterete, flattened and acute at the apex, about ⅜′ long, dark reddish purple and lustrous. Bark ¼′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and divided by shallow fissures into thin plate-like oblong scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, brown streaked with red, with lighter brown sapwood.

Distribution. Moist meadows and the banks of streams and lakes; Nova Scotia to Manitoba, and southward to Delaware, southern Indiana and Illinois, eastern and southwestern Iowa, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and northeastern Missouri; common.

A form of Salix discolor with more densely flowered and more silvery pubescent aments is described as var. eriocephala Schn. and a form with loosely flowered aments with less tomentose fruits with longer styles and with narrower leaves as var. prinoides Schn.

22. Salix Scouleriana Barr. Black Willow.

Salix Nuttallii Sarg.

Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, acute or abruptly acuminate with a short or long-pointed apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at the often unsymmetrical base, entire or remotely and irregularly crenately serrate, thin and firm, dark yellow-green and lustrous above, pale or glaucous and glabrous or pilose below, 1¼′—4′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, with a broad yellow pubescent midrib and slender veins forked and arcuate within the slightly thickened and revolute margins and connected by conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, puberulous, ¼′—½′ in length; stipules foliaceous, semilunar, glandular-serrate, ⅛′—¼′ long, caducous. Flowers: aments appearing before the leaves, oblong-cylindric, erect, nearly sessile on short tomentose scale-bearing branchlets, the staminate about 1′ long and rather more than ½′ thick, the pistillate 1½′ long, about 5/12′ thick; scales oblong, narrowed at the ends, dark-colored, covered with long white hairs, persistent under the fruit; stamens 2, with free glabrous filaments; ovary cylindric, short-stalked, with a distinct style and broad emarginate stigmas; pedicels less than half the length of the scale, villose. Fruit oblong-ovoid, acuminate, light reddish brown, pale pubescent, about ⅓′ long.

A tree, occasionally 30° high, with a short trunk rarely exceeding 1° in diameter, slender pendulous branches forming a rather compact round-topped shapely head, and stout branchlets marked by scattered yellow lenticels, coated when they first appear with pale early deciduous pubescence, becoming bright yellow or dark orange color, and in their second year dark red-brown and much roughened by the conspicuous leaf-scars; or more often a shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, nearly terete or slightly flattened, with narrow lateral wing-like margins, light or dark orange color, glabrous or pilose at the base, about ¼′ long. Bark thin, dark brown slightly tinged with red, and divided into broad flat ridges. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Cook’s Inlet, coast of Alaska, and valley of the Yukon River near Dawson southward through western British Columbia to northern California, ranging eastward through Washington and northwestern Oregon to northern Idaho and Montana.

From central California to San Bernardino County represented by the variety crassijulis Andr. (S. brachystachys Benth.) with shorter and broader obovate leaves rounded at apex, pubescent and tomentose branchlets and larger pubescent winter-buds. A tree sometimes 70° high with a trunk often 2½° in diameter.

On the high Sierra Nevada eastward to the eastern ranges of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and to northern New Mexico, northern Wyoming and the Black Hills of South Dakota represented by the var. flavescens Schn. A shrub or rarely a small tree with obovate rounded yellowish leaves and branchlets.

23. Salix Hookeriana Barr.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, acute or abruptly acuminate, or rarely rounded and frequently apiculate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, coarsely crenately serrate, especially those on vigorous shoots, or entire, when they unfold villose with pale hairs, or tomentose above and clothed below with silvery white tomentum, at maturity thin and firm, bright yellow-green and lustrous, nearly glabrous or tomentose on the upper surface, pale and glaucous and tomentose or pubescent on the lower surface, especially along the midrib and slender arcuate primary veins and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, 2′—6′ long, 1′—1½′ wide; petioles stout, tomentose, ¼′—⅓′ long. Flowers: aments oblong-cylindric, erect, rather lax, often more or less curved, about 1½′ long, on short tomentose scale-bearing branchlets, the staminate ⅔′ thick and rather thicker than the pistillate; scales oblong-obovate, yellow, coated with long pale hairs, the staminate rounded above and rather shorter than the more acute scales of the pistillate ament persistent under the fruit; stamens 2, with free elongated glabrous filaments; ovary conic, glabrous, stalked, with a slender stalk about one third as long as the scale, gradually narrowed above, with a slender elongated bright red style and broad spreading entire stigmas. Fruit oblong-cylindric, narrowed above, about ¼′ long.

A tree, occasionally 30° high, with a trunk about 1° in diameter, and stout branchlets marked by large scattered orange-colored lenticels, covered during their first season with hoary tomentum and rather bright or dark red-brown and pubescent in their second summer; more often shrubby, with numerous stems 4′—8′ thick and 15°—20° high; frequently a low bush, with straggling almost prostrate stems. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, nearly terete, dark red, coated with pale pubescence, about ¼′ long. Bark nearly ⅛′ thick, light red-brown, slightly fissured and divided into closely appressed plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thin nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Borders of salt marshes and ponds and sandy coast dunes; Vancouver Island southward along the shores of Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean to southern Oregon.

24. Salix sitchensis Sanson.

Leaves oblong-obovate to oblanceolate, entire or minutely glandular dentate, acute or acuminate, or rounded and short-pointed, or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, when they unfold pubescent or tomentose on the upper surface, and coated on the lower with lustrous white silky pubescence or tomentum persistent during the season or sometimes deciduous from the leaves of vigorous young shoots, at maturity thin and firm, dark green, lustrous and glabrous above, with the exception of the pubescent midrib, 2′—5′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide, with conspicuous slender veins arcuate and united within the margins and prominent reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, pubescent, rarely ½′ long; stipules rarely produced, foliaceous, semilunar, acute or rounded at apex, glandular-dentate, coated below with hoary tomentum, often ½′ long, caducous. Flowers: aments cylindric, densely flowered, erect on short tomentose leafy branchlets, the staminate 1½′—2′ long and ½′ thick, the pistillate 2½′—3′ long, and ¼′ thick; scales yellow or tawny, the staminate oblong-obovate, rounded at the apex, covered with long white hairs, much longer than the more acute pubescent scales of the pistillate ament; stamen 1, with an elongated glabrous filament, or very rarely 2, with filaments united below the middle or nearly to the apex; ovary short-stalked, ovoid, conic, acute, pubescent and gradually narrowed into the elongated style, with entire or slightly emarginate short stigmas. Fruit ovoid, narrowed above, light red-brown, pubescent about ¼′ long.

A much-branched tree, occasionally 25°—30° high, with a short contorted often inclining trunk sometimes 1° in diameter, and slender brittle branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum, pubescent and tomentose and dark red-brown or orange color during their first winter, becoming darker, pubescent or glabrous, and sometimes covered with a glaucous bloom in their second season; more often shrubby and 6°—15° tall. Winter-buds acute, nearly terete, light red-brown, pubescent or puberulous, about ¼′ long. Bark about ⅛′ thick and broken into irregular closely appressed dark brown scales tinged with red. Wood light, soft, close-grained, pale red, with thick nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Banks of streams and in low moist ground; Cook Inlet and Kadiak Island, Alaska, southward in the neighborhood of the coast to Santa Barbara, California; on the Marble Creek of the Kaweah River at 6900° altitude (f. Ralphiana Jeps.)

VI. MYRICACEÆ.

Aromatic resinous trees and shrubs, with watery juice, terete branches, and small scaly buds. Leaves alternate, revolute in the bud, serrate, resinous-punctate, persistent in our species, in falling leaving elevated semiorbicular leaf-scars showing the ends of three nearly equidistant fibro-vascular bundles. Flowers unisexual, diœcious or monœcious, usually subtended by minute bractlets, in the axils of the deciduous scales of unisexual or androgynous simple oblong aments from buds in the axils of the leaves of the year, opening in early spring, the staminate below the pistillate in androgynous aments; staminate, perianth 0; stamens 4 or many, inserted on the thickened base of the scales of the ament; filaments slender, united at the base into a short stipe; anthers ovoid, erect, 2-celled, introrse, opening longitudinally; ovary rudimentary or 0; pistillate flowers single or in pairs; ovary sessile, 1-celled; styles short, divided into 2 elongated filiform stigmas stigmatic on the inner face; ovule solitary, erect from the base of the cell, orthotropous, the micropyle superior. Fruit a globose or ovoid dry drupe usually covered with waxy exudations; nut hard, thick-walled. Seed erect, with a thin coat, without albumen; embryo straight; cotyledons plano-convex, fleshy; radicle short, superior, turned away from the minute basal hilum.

The family consists of the genus Myrica L., of about thirty or forty species of small trees and shrubs, widely distributed through the temperate and warmer parts of both hemispheres. Of the seven North American species three are trees. Wax is obtained from the exudations of the fruit of several species. The bark is astringent, and sometimes used in medicine, in tanning, and as an aniline dye. Myrica rubra Sieb and Zacc., of southern Japan and China, is cultivated for its succulent aromatic red fruit.

The generic name is probably from the ancient name of some shrub, possibly the Tamarisk.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Flowers diœcious. Leaves oblanceolate, usually acute or rarely rounded at apex, mostly coarsely serrate above the middle, yellow-green, coated below with conspicuous orange-colored glands. 1. M. cerifera (A, C). Leaves usually broadly oblong-obovate, rounded or rarely acute at apex, entire, dark green and lustrous. 2. M. inodora (C). Flowers monœcious; leaves oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, sharply serrate, dark green and lustrous. 3. M. californica (G).

1. Myrica cerifera L. Wax Myrtle.

Leaves oblanceolate or rarely oblong-lanceolate, acute or rarely gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, cuneate at base, decurrent on short stout petioles, coarsely serrate above the middle or entire, yellow-green, covered above by minute dark glands and below by bright orange-colored glands, 1½′—4′ long and ¼′—½′ wide, with a slender pale midrib often puberulous below, and few obscure arcuate veins, fragrant with a balsamic resinous odor; gradually deciduous at the end of their first year. Flowers in small oblong aments, with ovate acute ciliate scales, those of the staminate plant ½′—¾′ long, about twice as long as those of the pistillate plant; stamens few, with oblong slightly obcordate anthers at first tinged with red, becoming yellow; ovary gradually narrowed into 2 slender spreading stigmas longer than its scale. Fruit in short spikes, ripening in September and October and persistent on the branches during the winter, irregularly deciduous in the spring and early summer, globose, about ⅛′ in diameter, slightly papillose, light green, coated with thick pale blue wax; seed pale, minute.

A tree, occasionally 40° high, with a tall trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, slender upright or slightly spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets marked by small pale lenticels, coated at first with loose rufous tomentum and caducous orange-colored glands, bright red-brown or dark brown tinged with gray, usually lustrous and nearly glabrous during their first winter, finally becoming dark brown; generally smaller, frequently shrubby. Winter-buds oblong, acute, 1/16′—⅛′ long, with numerous ovate acute imbricated scales, the inner scales becoming nearly ½′ long, and often persistent until the young branch has completed its growth. Bark of the trunk ¼′ thick, compact, smooth, light gray. Wood light, soft and brittle, dark brown, with thin lighter-colored sapwood.

Distribution. In the neighborhood of the coast; Cape May, New Jersey, southern Delaware and Maryland to the keys of southern Florida, and through the Gulf states to the shores of Aranzas Pass, San Patricio County, Texas, ranging inland to the neighborhood of Natchez, Jackson County, Mississippi, the valley of the Red River (Natchitoches, Louisiana and Fulton, Arkansas), and to Cherokee County, Texas, and northward to the valley of the Washita River, Arkansas; on the Bermuda and Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles; most abundant and of its largest size on the south Atlantic and Gulf coasts in sandy swamps and pond holes; the most common woody plant and forming great thickets on the Everglades east of Lake Okeechobee, Florida; in the sandy soil of Pine-barrens and on dry arid hills of the interior, often only a few inches in height, var. pumila Michx.

2. Myrica inodora W. Bartr. Wax Myrtle.

Leaves broadly oblong-obovate or rarely ovate, rounded or sometimes pointed and occasionally apiculate at apex, narrowed at base, decurrent on short stout petioles, entire or rarely obscurely toothed toward the apex, thick and coriaceous, glandular-punctate, dark green and very lustrous above, bright green below, 2′—4′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide, with a broad conspicuously glandular midrib slightly pubescent on the lower side, and few remote slender obscure primary veins forked and arcuate near the much-thickened and revolute margins; gradually deciduous from May until midsummer. Flowers in aments ¾′—1′ long, with ovate acute glandular scales; stamens numerous, with oblong slightly emarginate yellow anthers; pistillate flowers usually in pairs, with an ovate glabrous ovary and slender bright red styles. Fruit produced sparingly in elongated spikes, oblong, ⅓′—½′ long, papillose, black, and covered with a thin coat of white wax; seed oblong-oval, acute at apex, rounded at base, ⅛′ long, bright orange-brown, with a pale yellow hilum.

Usually a shrub, with numerous slender stems, occasionally arborescent and 18°—20° high, with a straight trunk 6°—8° tall and 2′—3′ in diameter, and stout branchlets roughened by small scattered lenticels, coated at first with dense pale tomentum, soon becoming bright red-brown, scurfy, and glabrous or pubescent. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, nearly ⅛′ long, with numerous loosely imbricated lanceolate acute red-brown scurfy-pubescent scales. Bark thin, smooth, nearly white.

Distribution. Deep swamps, Round Lake, Jackson County, and Appalachicola, and Saint Andrews Bay, Florida; near Mobile and Stockton, Alabama; near Poplarville, Pearl County, Mississippi, and Bogalusa, Washington Parish, Louisiana.

3. Myrica californica Cham. Wax Myrtle.

Leaves oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, acute at apex, remotely serrate except at the gradually narrowed base with small incurved teeth, decurrent on a short stout petiole, thin and firm, dark green and lustrous above, yellow-green, glabrous or puberulous and marked by minute black glandular dots below, 2′—4′ long, ½′—¾′ wide, with a narrow yellow midrib and numerous obscure primary veins arcuate near the thickened and revolute margins, slightly fragrant, gradually deciduous after the end of their first year. Flowers subtended by conspicuous bractlets, those of the two sexes on the same plant; staminate in oblong simple aments often 1′ long, pistillate in shorter aments in the axils of upper leaves, androgynous aments occurring between the two with staminate flowers at their base and pistillate flowers above, or with staminate flowers also mixed with the pistillate at their apex; scales of the aments ovate, acute, coated with pale tomentum; stamens numerous, with oblong slightly emarginate dark red-purple anthers soon becoming yellow; ovary ovoid, with bright red exserted styles. Fruit in short crowded spikes ripening in the early autumn and usually falling during the winter, globose, papillose, dark purple, covered with a thin coat of grayish white wax; seed pale reddish brown, minute.

A tree, occasionally 40° high, with a trunk 14′—15′ in diameter, short slender branches forming a narrow compact round-topped head, and stout branchlets coated at first with loose tomentum, dark green or light or dark red-brown, glabrous or pubescent during their first season, becoming in their second year much roughened by the elevated leaf-scars, darker and ultimately ashy gray; usually smaller at the north and toward the northern and southern limits of its range reduced to a low shrub often only 3°—4° tall. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, about ⅓′ thick, with loosely imbricated ovate acute dark red-brown tomentose scales nearly ½′ long when fully grown and long-persistent on the branch. Bark smooth, compact, 1/16′—⅛′ thick, dark gray or light brown on the surface and dark red-brown internally. Wood heavy, very hard and strong, brittle, close-grained, light rose color, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Ocean sand-dunes and moist hillsides in the vicinity of the coast from the shores of Puget Sound to the neighborhood of Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, California; of its largest size on the shores of the Bay of San Francisco.

Occasionally used in California as a garden plant.

VII. LEITNERIACEÆ.

A tree or shrub, with pale slightly fissured bark, scaly buds, stout terete pithy branchlets marked by pale conspicuous nearly circular lenticels and by elevated crescent-shaped angled or obscurely 3-lobed leaf-scars, very light soft wood, and thick fleshy stoloniferous yellow roots. Leaves involute in the bud, lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate or acute and short-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed at base, entire, with slightly revolute undulate margins, penniveined with remote primary veins arcuate and united near the margins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, petiolate, at first coated on the lower surface and on the petioles with thick pale tomentum and puberulous on the upper surface, thick and firm at maturity, bright green and lustrous above, pale and villose-pubescent below, deciduous. Flowers in unisexual aments, with ovate acute concave tomentose scales, the male and female on different plants, opening in early spring from buds formed the previous autumn and covered with acute chestnut-brown hairy scales; the staminate clustered near the end of the branches, their scales bearing on the thickened stipe a ring of 3—12 stamens, with slender incurved filaments and oblong light yellow introrse 2-celled anthers opening longitudinally; perianth 0; pistillate aments scattered, shorter and more slender than the staminate, their scales bearing in their axils a short-stalked pistil surrounded by a rudimentary perianth of small gland-fringed scales, the 2 larger lateral, the others next the axis of the inflorescence; ovary superior, pubescent, 1-celled, with an elongated flattened style inserted obliquely, curving inward above the middle in anthesis, grooved and stigmatic on the inner face; ovule solitary, attached laterally, ascending, semianatropous; micropyle directed upward. Fruit an oblong compressed dry drupe thick and rounded on the ventral, narrowed on the dorsal edge, rounded at base, thin and pointed at apex, chestnut-brown, rugose, with a thick dry exocarp closely investing the thin-walled light brown crustaceous rugose nutlet. Seed flattened, rounded at the ends, light brown, marked on the thick edge with the oblong nearly black hilum; embryo erect, surrounded by thin fleshy albumen; cotyledons oblong, flattened; radicle superior, conical, short, and fleshy.

The family consists of a single genus, Leitneria Chapm., with one species of the southern United States, named for a German naturalist killed in Florida during the Seminole War.

1. Leitneria floridana Chapm. Cork Wood.

Leaves 4′—6′ long, 1½′—2½′ wide, with petioles 1′—2′ in length. Flowers opening at the end of February or early in March; staminate aments 1′—1¼′ long, ¼′ thick, and twice as long as the pistillate. Fruit solitary or in clusters of 2—4, ripening when the leaves are about half grown, ¾′ long, ¼′ wide.

A shrub or small tree, occasionally 20° high, with a slender straight trunk 4′—5′ in diameter above the swollen gradually tapering base, spreading branches forming a loose open head, and branchlets at first light reddish brown and thickly coated with gradually deciduous hairs, becoming in their first winter glabrous or puberulous, especially toward the ends, and dark red-brown. Winter-buds: terminal broad, conic, ⅛′ long, covered by 10 or 12 oblong nearly triangular closely imbricated scales coated with pale tomentum and long-persistent at the base of the branch; lateral scattered, ovoid, flattened. Bark about 1/16′ thick, dark gray faintly tinged with brown, divided by shallow fissures into narrow rounded ridges. Wood soft, exceedingly light, close-grained, the layers of annual growth hardly distinguishable, pale yellow, without trace of heartwood; occasionally used for the floats of fishing-nets.

Distribution. Borders of swamps of the lower Altamaha River, Georgia (C. L. Boynton); muddy saline shores on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico near Apalachicola, Florida; swampy prairies, Velasco (E. J. Palmer), and swamps of the Brazos River near Columbia, Brazoria County, Texas; Varner, Lincoln County (B. F. Bush), and Moark, Clay County (E. J. Palmer) Arkansas; and in Butler and Dunklin Counties, southeastern Missouri, here sometimes occupying muddy sloughs of considerable extent to the exclusion of other woody plants.

VIII. JUGLANDACEÆ.

Aromatic trees, with watery juice, terete branchlets, scaly buds, the lateral buds often superposed, 2—4 together, and alternate unequally pinnate deciduous leaves with elongated grooved petioles and without stipules, the leaflets increasing in size from the lowest upward, penniveined, sessile, short-stalked or the terminal usually long-stalked. Flowers monœcious, opening after the unfolding of the leaves, the staminate in lateral aments and composed of a 3—6-lobed calyx in the axil of and adnate to an ovate acute bract, and numerous stamens inserted on the inner and lower face of the calyx in 2 or several rows, with short distinct filaments and oblong anthers opening longitudinally; the pistillate in a spike terminal on a branch of the year and composed of a 1—3-celled ovary subtended by an involucre free toward the apex and formed by the union of an anterior bract and 2 lateral bractlets, a 1 or 4-lobed calyx inserted on the ovary, a short style with 2 plumose stigmas stigmatic on the inner face, and a solitary erect orthotropous ovule. Fruit drupaceous, the exocarp (husk) indehiscent or 4-valved, inclosing a thick- or thin-shelled nut divided by partitions extending inward from the shell, and like the shell more or less penetrated by internal longitudinal cavities often filled with dry powder. Seed solitary, 2-lobed from the apex nearly to the middle, light brown, its coat thin, of 2 layers, without albumen; cotyledons fleshy and oily, sinuose or corrugated, 2-lobed; radicle short, superior, filling the apex of the nut. Of the six genera of the Walnut family two occur in North America.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA.

Aments of staminate flowers simple; husk of the fruit indehiscent; nut sculptured; pith in plates. 1. Juglans. Aments of staminate flowers branched; husk of the fruit 4-valved; nut not sculptured; pith solid. 2. Carya.

1. JUGLANS L. Walnut.

Trees, with furrowed scaly bark, durable dark-colored wood, stout branchlets, laminate pith, terminal buds with 2 pairs of opposite more or less open scales often obscurely pinnate at apex, those of the inner pair more or less leaf-like, and obtuse slightly flattened axillary buds formed before midsummer and covered with 4 ovate rounded scales, closed or open during winter. Leaves with numerous leaflets, and terete petioles leaving in falling large conspicuous elevated obcordate 3-lobed leaf-scars displaying 3 equidistant U-shaped clusters of dark fibro-vascular bundle-scars; leaflets conduplicate in the bud, ovate, acute or acuminate, mostly unequal at base, with veins arcuate and united near the margins. Aments of the staminate flowers many-flowered, elongated, solitary or in pairs from lower axillary buds of upper nodes, appearing from between persistent bud-scales in the autumn and remaining during the winter as short cones covered by the closely imbricated bracts of the flowers; calyx 3—6-lobed, its bract free only at the apex; stamens 8—40, in 2 or several ranks, their anthers surmounted by a conspicuous dilated truncate or lobed connective; pistillate flowers in few-flowered spikes, their involucre villose, free only at the apex and variously cut into a laciniate border (corolla?) shorter than the erect calyx-lobes; ovary rarely of 3 carpels; stigmas club-shaped, elongated, fimbriately plumose. Fruit ovoid, globose or pyriform, round or obscurely 4-angled, with a fleshy indehiscent glabrate or hirsute husk; nut ovoid or globose, more or less flattened, hard, thick-walled, longitudinally and irregularly rugose, the valves alternate with the cotyledons, and more or less ribbed along the dorsal sutures and in some species also on the marginal sutures. Seed more or less compressed, gradually narrowed or broad and deeply lobed at base, with conspicuous dark veins radiating from the apex and from the minute basal hilum.

Juglans is confined to temperate North America, the West Indies, South America from Venezuela to Peru, western and northern China, Korea, Manchuria, Japan, and Formosa. Eleven species are known. Of exotic species Juglans regia L., an inhabitant probably originally of China, is cultivated in the middle Atlantic and southern states and largely in California for its edible nuts, which are an important article of commerce. The wood of several species is valued for the interior finish of houses and for furniture.

Juglans, from Jupiter and glands, is the classical name of the Walnut-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Fruit racemose; nut 4-ribbed at the sutures with smaller intermediate ribs, 2-celled at the base; heartwood light brown; leaflets 11—17, oblong-lanceolate. 1. J. cinerea (A, C). Fruit usually solitary or in pairs; nut without sutural ribs, 4-celled at the base; heartwood dark brown. Nuts prominently and irregularly ridged with often interrupted ridges; leaflets 15—23, ovate-lanceolate. 2. J. nigra (A, C). Nuts more or less deeply longitudinally grooved. Nuts up to 1½′ in diameter; leaflets 9—13, rarely 19, oblong-lanceolate to ovate, acuminate, coarsely serrate. 3. J. major (F, H). Nuts not more than ¾′ in diameter. Leaflets 17—23, narrow-lanceolate, long-pointed. 4. J. rupestris (C). Leaflets 11—15 or rarely 19, oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, the lower often rounded at the apex. 5. J. californica (G). Nuts obscurely or not at all grooved, up to 2′ in diameter; leaflets 15—19, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, long-pointed. 6. J. Hindsii (G).

1. Juglans cinerea L. Butternut.

Leaves 15′—30′ long, with stout pubescent petioles, and 11—17 oblong-lanceolate acute or acuminate leaflets 2′—3′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, finely serrate except at the unequal rounded base, glandular and sticky as they unfold, at maturity thin, yellow-green and rugose above, pale and soft-pubescent below; turning yellow or brown and falling early in the autumn. Flowers: staminate in thick aments 3′—5′ long; calyx usually 6-lobed, light yellow-green, puberulous on the outer surface, ¼′ long, its bract rusty-pubescent, acute at apex; stamens 8—12, with nearly sessile dark brown anthers and slightly lobed connectives; pistillate in 6—8-flowered spikes, constricted above the middle, about ⅓′ long, its bract and bractlets coated with sticky white or pink glandular hairs and rather shorter than the linear-lanceolate calyx-lobes; stigmas bright red, ½′ long. Fruit in 3—5 fruited drooping clusters, obscurely 2 or rarely 4-ridged, ovoid-oblong, coated with rusty clammy matted hairs, 1½′—2½′ long with a thick husk; nut ovoid, abruptly contracted and acuminate at apex, with 4 prominent and 4 narrow less conspicuous ribs, light brown, deeply sculptured between the ribs into thin broad irregular longitudinal plates, 2-celled at the base and 1-celled above the middle; seed sweet, very oily, soon becoming rancid.

A tree, occasionally 100° high, with a tall straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, and sometimes free of branches for half its height; more frequently divided 20° or 30° above the ground into many stout limbs spreading horizontally and forming a broad low symmetrical round-topped head, and dark orange-brown or bright green rather lustrous branchlets coated at first with rufous pubescence, covered more or less thickly with pale lenticels, gradually becoming puberulous, brown tinged with red or orange in their second year and marked by light gray leaf-scars with large black fibro-vascular bundle-scars and elevated bands of pale tomentum separating them from the lowest axillary bud. Winter-buds: terminal ½′—⅔′ long, ¼′ wide, flattened and obliquely truncate at apex, their outer scales coated with short pale pubescence; axillary buds ovoid, flattened, rounded at apex, ⅛′ long, covered with rusty brown or pale pubescence. Bark of young stems and of the branches smooth and light gray, becoming on old trees ¾′—1′ thick, light brown, deeply divided into broad ridges separating on the surface into small appressed plate-like scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, coarse-grained, light brown, turning darker with exposure, with thin light-colored sapwood composed of 5 or 6 layers of annual growth; largely employed in the interior finish of houses, and for furniture. The inner bark possesses mild cathartic properties. Sugar is made from the sap, and the green husks of the fruit are used to dye cloth yellow or orange color.

Distribution. Rich moist soil near the banks of streams and on low rocky hills, southern New Brunswick to the valley of the St. Lawrence River in Ontario, the northern peninsular of Michigan, southern Minnesota, eastern South Dakota, eastern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, and southward to central Kansas, northern Arkansas, Delaware, eastern Virginia, and on the Appalachian Mountains and their foothills to northern Georgia; in northern Alabama, southern Illinois and western Tennessee; most abundant northward.

Occasionally cultivated.

× Juglans quadrangulata A. Rehd., a natural hybrid of J. cinerea and the so-called English Walnut (J. regia) is not uncommon in eastern Massachusetts, and a hybrid of J. cinerea with the Japanese J. Sieboldiana Maxm. has appeared in the United States.

2. Juglans nigra L. Black Walnut.

Leaves 1°—2° long, with pubescent petioles, and 15—23 ovate-lanceolate leaflets 3′—3½′ long, 1′—1¼′ wide, long-pointed, sharply serrate except at the more or less rounded often unequal base, thin, bright yellow-green, lustrous and glabrous above, soft-pubescent below, especially along the slender midrib and primary veins; turning bright clear yellow in the autumn before falling. Flowers: staminate in stout puberulous aments 3′—5′ long, calyx rotund, 6-lobed, with nearly orbicular lobes concave and pubescent on the outer surface, its bract ¼′ long, nearly triangular, coated with rusty brown or pale tomentum; stamens 20—30, arranged in many series, with nearly sessile purple and truncate connectives; pistillate in 2—5 flowered spikes, ovoid, gradually narrowed at the apex, ¼′ long, their bract and bractlets coated below with pale glandular hairs and green and puberulous above, sometimes irregularly cut into a laciniate border, or reduced to an obscure ring just below the apex of the ovary; calyx-lobes ovate, acute, light green, puberulous on the outer, glabrous or pilose on the inner surface; stigmas yellow-green tinged on the margins with red, ½′—¾′ long. Fruit solitary or in pairs, globose, oblong and pointed at apex, or slightly pyriform, light yellow-green, roughened by clusters of short pale articulate hairs, 1½′—2′ in diameter, with a thick husk; nut oval or oblong, slightly flattened, 1⅛′—1½′ in diameter, dark brown tinged with red, deeply divided on the outer surface into thin or thick often interrupted irregular ridges, 4-celled at base and slightly 2-celled at the apex; seed sweet, soon becoming rancid.

A tree, frequently 100° and occasionally 150° high, with a straight trunk often clear of branches for 50°—60° and 4°—6° in diameter, thick limbs spreading gradually and forming a comparatively narrow shapely round-topped head of mostly upright rigid branches, and stout branchlets covered at first with pale or rusty matted hairs, dull orange-brown and pilose or puberulous during their first winter, marked by raised conspicuous orange-colored lenticels and elevated pale leaf-scars, gradually growing darker and ultimately light brown. Winter-buds: terminal ovoid, slightly flattened, obliquely rounded at apex, coated with pale silky tomentum, ⅓′ long, with usually 4 obscurely pinnate scales; axillary ⅛′ long, tomentose, their outer scales opening at the apex during the winter. Bark of young stems and branches light brown and covered with thin scales, becoming on old trees 2′—3′ thick, dark brown slightly tinged with red, and deeply divided into broad rounded ridges broken on the surface into thick appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, rather coarse-grained, very durable, rich dark brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 10—20 layers of annual growth; largely used in cabinet-making, the interior finish of houses, gun-stocks, air-planes, and in boat and shipbuilding.

Distribution. Rich bottom-lands and fertile hillsides, western Massachusetts to southern Ontario, southern Michigan, southeastern Minnesota, central and northern Nebraska, central Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, and southward to western Florida, central Alabama and Mississippi, and the valley of the San Antonio River, Texas; most abundant in the region west of the Alleghany Mountains, and of its largest size on the western slopes of the high mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, and on the fertile river bottom-lands of southern Illinois and Indiana, southwestern Arkansas, and Oklahoma; largely destroyed for its valuable timber, and now rare.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in the eastern United States, and in western and central Europe. × Juglans intermedia Carr., a natural hybrid, of J. nigra with the so-called English Walnut (J. regia) has appeared in the United States and Europe, and on the banks of the James River in Virginia has grown to a larger size than any other recorded Walnut-tree. In California a hybrid, known as “Royal,” between J. nigra and J. Hindsii has been artificially produced.

3. Juglans major Hell. Nogal.

Juglans rupestris var. major Torr. Juglans rupestris Sarg., in part, not Engelm.

Leaves 8′—12′ long, with slender pubescent petioles and rachis, and 9—13 rarely 19 oblong-lanceolate to ovate acuminate often slightly falcate coarsely serrate leaflets cuneate or rounded at base, coated when they first appear with scurfy pubescence, soon becoming glabrous, or at maturity slightly pubescent on the midrib below, 3′—4′, or those of the lower pairs 1½′—2′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide, thin, yellow-green, with a thin conspicuous yellow midrib and primary veins. Flowers: staminate in slender puberulous or pubescent aments 8′—10′ long; calyx nearly orbicular, long-stalked, pale yellow-green, 5 or 6-lobed, the lobes ovate, acute, hoary pubescent on the outer surface, their bract acute, coated with thick pale tomentum; stamens 30—40, with nearly sessile yellow anthers, and slightly divided connectives; pistillate not seen. Fruit subglobose to slightly ovoid or oblong, abruptly contracted at apex into a short point (J. elæopyren Dode), densely tomentose when half grown, 1′—1½′ in diameter, with a thin husk covered with close rufous pubescence; nut dark brown or black, slightly compressed, usually rather broader than high, or ovoid, rounded or bluntly acute at apex, rounded and sometimes depressed at base, longitudinally grooved with broad deep grooves, thick shelled; seed small and sweet.

A tree sometimes 50° high, with a straight trunk occasionally 3°—4° in diameter, or divided at the ground into several large stems, stout branches forming a narrow head, and slender branchlets thickly coated when they first appear with rufous pubescence, becoming red-brown, pubescent or puberulous and marked by many small pale lenticels at the end of their first season and ashy gray the following year.

Distribution. Banks of streams in the cañons of central and southern New Mexico and Arizona, and on Oak Creek near Flagstaff, Arizona on the Colorado plateau (P. Lowell).

4. Juglans rupestris Engelm. Walnut.

Leaves 9′—12′ long, with slender pubescent or puberulous petioles and rachis, and 13—23 narrow lanceolate long-pointed usually falcate finely serrate leaflets entire or nearly entire on their incurved margins, cuneate or rounded at base, thin, light green, glabrous or pubescent on the midrib below, 2′—3′ long and ⅓′—⅔′ wide. Flowers: staminate in slender aments, 3′—4′ long, pubescent when they first appear, becoming glabrous; calyx short-stalked, nearly orbicular, light yellow-green, puberulous on the outer surface, 3—5-lobed with rounded lobes, their bracts ovate-lanceolate, coated with hoary tomentum; stamens about 20, with nearly sessile yellow anthers and slightly lobed connectives; pistillate flowers oblong, narrowed at the ends, thickly coated with rufous pubescence; bract and bractlets irregularly divided into a laciniate border rather shorter than the ovate acute calyx-lobes; stigmas green tinged with red, ⅓′ long. Fruit globose or subglobose, tipped with the persistent remnants of the calyx, pubescent or puberulous with rusty hairs, ½′—¾′ in diameter, with a thin husk; nut subglobose to slightly ovoid, sometimes obscurely 4-ridged from the apex nearly to the middle (J. subrupestris Dode), deeply grooved with longitudinal simple or forked grooves, 4-celled at base, 2-celled at apex, thick shelled; seed small and sweet.

A shrubby round-headed tree occasionally 20°—30° high, with a short generally leaning trunk 18′—30′ in diameter, usually branching from near the ground, and slender branchlets coated with pale scurfy pubescence often persistent for two or three years, orange-red and marked by pale lenticels in their first winter and ultimately ashy gray; often a shrub with clustered stems only a few feet high. Winter-buds: terminal, ¼′—½′ long, compressed, narrowed and often oblique at apex, covered with pale tomentum; axillary ⅛′ long, compressed, coated with pale pubescence. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, rich dark brown with thick white sapwood. The beauty of the veneers obtained from the stumps of the large trees is fast causing their destruction.

Distribution. Limestone banks of the streams of southern, central and western Texas from the Rio Grande to the mountains in the western part of the state; western Oklahoma (Kiowa, Greer, Beckham, Rogel, Mills and Ellis Counties); southeastern New Mexico.

Occasionally cultivated in the eastern United States and in Europe, and hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts; interesting as producing the smallest nuts of any of the known Walnut-trees.

5. Juglans californica S. Wats.

Leaves 6′—9′ long, with glandular pubescent petioles and rachis, and 11—15, rarely 19, oblong-lanceolate acute or acuminate glabrous finely serrate leaflets cuneate or rounded at base, 1′—2½′ long and ⅓′—¾′ wide, the lower often rounded at apex. Flowers: staminate in slender glabrous or puberulous aments 2′—3′ long; calyx puberulous on the outer surface with acute or rarely rounded lobes, its bract, puberulous; stamens 30—40, with yellow anthers and short connectives bifid at apex; the pistillate subglobose, puberulous; stigmas yellow, ½′ long. Fruit globose, ⅓′—¾′ in diameter, with a thin dark-colored puberulous husk; nut nearly globose, deeply grooved with longitudinal grooves, thick shelled, 4-celled at base, imperfectly 2-celled at apex; seed small and sweet.

A shrubby round-headed tree or shrub generally 12°—20°, rarely 40°—50° high, usually branching from the ground or with a short trunk 1° or rarely 2°—3° in diameter, and slender branchlets coated with scurfy rufous pubescence when they first appear, glabrous, reddish brown and marked by pale lenticels at the end of their first season and gray the following year. Winter-buds coated with rufous tomentum.

Distribution. Banks of streams and bottom-lands in the southern California coast region from Santa Barbara and the Ojai valley to San Fernando and the Sierra Santa Monica, and along the foothills of the Sierra Madre to the San Bernardino Mountains and southward to the Sierra Santa Anna.

A curious seminal variety (var. quercina Babcock) with compound leaves composed of 3 oval leaflets, the terminal long-stalked and 2 or 3 times larger than the lateral leaflets, is occasionally cultivated in California.

6. Juglans Hindsii Rehd.

Juglans californica S. Wats., in part. Juglans californica var. Hindsii Jep.

Leaves 9′—12′ long, with slender villose pubescent petioles and rachis, and 15—19, usually 19, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate long-pointed often slightly falcate leaflets, serrate with remote teeth except toward the usually rounded cuneate or rarely cordate base, thin, puberulous above while young, becoming bright green, lustrous and glabrous on the upper surface, below furnished with conspicuous tufts of pale hairs, and villose-pubescent along the midrib and primary veins, 2½′—4′ long and ¾′—1′ wide. Flowers: staminate in slender glabrous or sparingly villose aments 3′—5′ long; calyx elongated, coated like its bract with scurfy pubescence, divided into 5 or 6 acute lobes; stamens 30—40, with short connectives bifid at apex; ovary of the pistillate flower oblong-ovoid, thickly covered with villose pubescence, ⅛′ long, the border of the thin bract and bractlets much shorter than the calyx-lobes; stigma yellow. Fruit globose, 1¼′—2′ in diameter, with a thin dark-colored husk covered with short soft pubescence; nut nearly globose, somewhat flattened at the ends, faintly grooved with remote longitudinal depressions, thick shelled; seed small and sweet.

A tree usually 30°—40°, occasionally 75° high, with a tall trunk 1°—2° in diameter, stout pendulous branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and comparatively slender branchlets thickly coated when they first appear with villose pubescence, reddish brown and puberulous, and marked by pale lenticels and small elevated obscurely 3-lobed leaf scars during their first winter, becoming darker and nearly glabrous in their second year. Winter-buds coated with hoary tomentum; terminal acute, compressed, more or less enlarged at apex, ¼′—⅓′ long; axillary usually solitary, nearly globose, about 1/16′ in diameter. Bark gray-brown, smoothish, longitudinally fissured into narrow plates. Wood heavy, hard, rather coarse-grained, dark brown often mottled, with thick pale sapwood of from 8 to 10 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Coast region of central California; banks of the lower Sacramento River; along streams near the western base of Mt. Diablo, and on eastern slope of the Napa Range near Atlas Peak east of Napa Valley; near Loyalton in the Sierra Valley.

Often cultivated in California as a shade tree and as stock on which to graft varieties of Juglans regia L., and rarely in the eastern states and in Europe. In California, a hybrid known as “Paradox” between J. Hindsii and J. regia has been artificially produced.

2. CARYA NUTT. Hickory.

Hicoria Rafn.

Trees, with smooth gray bark becoming on old trunks rough or scaly, strong hard tough brown heartwood, pale sapwood and tough terete flexible branchlets, solid pith, buds covered with few valvate or with numerous imbricated scales, the axillary buds much smaller than the terminal. Leaves often glandular-dotted, their petioles sometimes persistent on the branches during the winter, and in falling leaving large elevated oblong or semiorbicular more or less 3-lobed emarginate leaf-scars displaying small marginal clusters and central radiating lines of dark fibro-vascular bundle-scars; leaflets involute in the bud, ovate or obovate, usually acuminate, thick and firm, serrate, mostly unequal at base, with veins forked and running to the margins; turning clear bright yellow in the autumn. Aments of the staminate flowers ternate, slender, solitary or fascicled in the axils of leaves of the previous or rarely of the current year, or at the base of branches of the year from the inner scales of the terminal bud, the lateral branches in the axils of lanceolate acute persistent bracts; calyx usually 2 rarely 3-lobed, its bract free nearly to the base and usually much longer than the ovate rounded or acuminate calyx-lobes; stamens 3—10, in 2 or 3 series, their anthers ovate-oblong, emarginate or divided at apex, yellow or red, pilose or hirsute, as long or longer than their slender connectives; pistillate flowers sessile, in 2—10-flowered spikes, with a perianth-like involucre, slightly 4-ridged, unequally 4-lobed at apex, villose and covered on the outer surface with yellow scales more or less persistent on the fruit, the bract much longer than the bractlets and the single calyx-lobe; stigmas short, papillose-stigmatic. Fruit ovoid, globose or pyriform, with a thin or thick husk becoming hard and woody at maturity, 4-valved, the sutures alternate with those of the nut, sometimes more or less broadly winged, splitting to the base or to the middle; nut oblong, obovoid or subglobose, acute, acuminate, or rounded at apex, tipped by the hardened remnants of the style, narrowed and usually rounded at base, cylindric, or compressed contrary to the valves, the shell thin and brittle or thick, hard, and bony, smooth or variously rugose or ridged on the outer surface, 4-celled at base, 2-celled at apex. Seed compressed, variously grooved on the back of the flat or concave lobes, sweet or bitter.

Carya is confined to the temperate region of eastern North America from the valley of the St. Lawrence River to the highlands of Mexico, and to southern China where one species occurs. Of the seventeen species, fifteen inhabit the territory of the United States.

The generic name is from Καρύα, an ancient name of the Walnut.

CONSPECTUS OF THE SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Bud-scales valvate, the inner strap-shaped and only occasionally slightly accrescent; fruit more or less broadly winged at the sutures; the thin partitions of the nut containing cavities filled with dark astringent powder (absent in 3 and 5). Shell of the nut thin and brittle; leaflets more or less falcate. Aments of staminate flowers nearly sessile, usually on branches of the previous year; lobes of the seed entire or slightly notched at apex. Leaflets 9—17; nut ovoid-oblong, cylindric; seed sweet. 1. C. pecan (A, C). Leaflets 7—13; nut oblong, compressed; seed bitter. 2. C. texana (C). Aments of staminate flowers pedunculate, on branches of the year or of the previous year; lobes of the bitter seed deeply 2-lobed. Leaflets 7—9; nut cylindric or slightly compressed. 3. C. cordiformis (A, C). Leaflets 7—13; nut compressed, usually conspicuously wrinkled. 4. C. aquatica (C). Shell of the ellipsoidal cylindric nut thick and hard; lobes of the sweet seed deeply 2-lobed; leaflets 7—9, occasionally 5, rarely slightly falcate; aments of staminate flowers long-pedunculate at the base of branches of the year. 5. C. myristicæformis (C). Bud-scales imbricated, the inner becoming much enlarged and often highly colored; aments of staminate flowers on peduncles from the base of branches of the year, rarely from the axils of leaves; fruit usually without wings; partitions of the nut thick without cavities filled with astringent powder; seed sweet, its lobes deeply 2-lobed. Branchlets usually stout (slender in 7); involucre ¼′—½′ in thickness, opening freely to the base. Bark on old trunks separating into long, broad, loosely attached plates; nuts pale. Branchlets light red-brown; shell of the nut thin. Leaflets 5 or rarely 7, obovate to ovate, acute or acuminate; nut much compressed, often long-pointed at apex; branchlets glabrous or pubescent. 6. C. ovata (A, C). Leaflets 5, lanceolate, acuminate; nut little compressed, acute at apex; branchlets slender, glabrous. 7. C. carolinæ-septentrionalis (C). Branchlets pale orange color, pubescent; leaflets usually 7—9; shell of the nut thick. 8. C. laciniosa (A, C). Bark not scaly, on old trunks dark, deeply ridged; leaflets 7—9, often subcoriaceous, pubescent below; nut reddish brown, often long-pointed, thick shelled; branchlets pubescent. 9. C. alba (A, C). Branchlets slender; leaves 5—7-foliolate; involucre of the fruit tardily dehiscent to the middle, indehiscent or opening freely to the base; shell of the nut thick, bark close, (sometimes scaly in 13). Branchlets and leaves not covered when they first appear with rusty brown pubescence. Involucre of the fruit 3—5.5 mm. in thickness, opening freely to the base, leaves usually 7-foliolate; winter-buds pubescent. Leaflets hoary tomentose below in early spring, slightly pubescent at maturity; petioles and rachis glabrous; fruit broad-obovoid; branchlets glabrous. 10. C. leiodermis (C). Leaflets covered in early spring with silvery scales, pale and pubescent below during the season; petioles and rachis more or less thickly covered with fascicled hairs; fruit ellipsoidal to obovoid or globose; branchlets glabrous or slightly pubescent. 11. C. pallida (A, C). Involucre of the fruit 1—3 mm. in thickness; winter-buds glabrous or puberulous. Leaves 5, rarely 7-foliolate, glabrous or rarely slightly pubescent; fruit obovoid, often narrowed below into a stipitate base, the involucre indehiscent or tardily dehiscent. 12. C. glabra (A, C). Leaves generally 7-foliolate, glabrous or rarely pubescent; fruit ellipsoidal, subglobose or obovoid, the involucre opening freely to the base; bark often more or less scaly. 13. C. ovalis (A, C). Branchlets and leaves densely covered when they first appear with rusty brown pubescence; leaflets usually 5—7; winter-buds rusty pubescent. Fruit obovoid; the involucre 2—3 mm. in thickness; peduncles of the aments of staminate flowers often from the axils of leaves; branchlets soon becoming glabrous. 14. C. floridana (C). Fruit subglobose to broadly obovoid, ellipsoidal or pyriform, the involucre on the different varieties 2—13 mm. in thickness; branchlets pubescent through their first season. 15. C. Buckleyi (A, C).

1. Carya pecan Asch. & Gr. Pecan.

Leaves 12′—20′ long, with slender glabrous or pubescent petioles, and 9—17 lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate more or less falcate long-pointed coarsely often doubly serrate leaflets rounded or cuneate at the unequal base; sessile, except the terminal leaflet, or short-stalked, dark yellow-green and glabrous or pilose above, and pale and glabrous or pubescent below, 4′—8′ long, 1′—3′ wide, with a narrow yellow midrib and conspicuous veins. Flowers: staminate in slender puberulous clustered aments 3′—5′ long, from buds formed in the axils of leaves of the previous year or occasionally on shoots of the year, sessile or short-stalked, light yellow-green and hirsute on the outer surface, with broadly ovate acute lobes rather shorter than the oblong or obovate bract; stamens 5′ or 6′; anthers yellow, slightly villose; pistillate in few or many flowered spikes, oblong, narrowed at the ends, slightly 4-angled and coated with yellow scurfy pubescence. Fruit in clusters of 3—11, pointed at apex, rounded at the narrowed base, 4-winged and angled, 1′—2½′ long, ½′—1′ broad, dark brown and more or less thickly covered with yellow scales, with a thin, brittle husk splitting at maturity nearly to the base and often persistent on the branch during the winter after the discharge of the nut; nut ovoid to ellipsoidal, nearly cylindric or slightly 4-angled toward the pointed apex, rounded and usually apiculate at base, bright reddish brown, with irregular black markings with a thin shell and papery partitions; seed sweet, red-brown, its nearly flat lobes grooved from near the base to the apex by 2 deep longitudinal grooves.

A tree, 100°—180° high, with a tall massive trunk occasionally 6° or 7° in diameter above its enlarged and buttressed base, stout slightly spreading branches forming in the forest a narrow symmetrical and inversely pyramidal head, or with abundant room a broad round-topped crown, and branchlets at first slightly tinged with red and coated with loose pale tomentum, becoming glabrous or puberulous in their first winter, and marked by numerous oblong orange-colored lenticels and by large oblong concave leaf-scars with a broad thin membranaceous border surrounding the lower axillary bud. Winter-buds acute, compressed, covered with clusters of bright yellow articulate hairs and pale tomentum; terminal ½′ long; axillary ovoid, often stalked, especially the large upper bud. Bark 1′—1½′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and deeply and irregularly divided into narrow forked ridges broken on the surface into thick appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, brittle, coarse-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thin light brown sapwood; less valuable than that of most Hickories, and used chiefly for fuel, and occasionally in the manufacture of wagons and agricultural implements. The nuts, which vary in size and shape and in the thickness of their shells and in the quality of the kernels, are an important article of commerce.

Distribution. Low rich ground in the neighborhood of streams; in the valley of the Mississippi River, Iowa (Clinton and Muscatine Counties), southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana (Sullivan and Spencer Counties), western Kentucky and Tennessee, western Mississippi and Louisiana, extreme western and southwestern Missouri (Jackson County southward, common only on the Marias de Cygne River), eastern Kansas to Kickapoo Island in the Missouri River near Fort Leavenworth, Oklahoma to the valley of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River (near Alva, Woods County) and to creek valleys near Cache, Comanche County (G. W. Stevens), through Arkansas; and in Texas to the valley of the Devil’s River and to that of Warder’s Creek, Hardiman County; reappearing on the mountains of Mexico; most abundant and of its largest size in southern Arkansas and eastern Texas.

Largely cultivated in the Southern States, in many selected varieties, for its valuable nuts.

2. Carya texana Schn. Bitter Pecan.

Leaves 10′—12′ long, with slender petioles, and 7—13 lanceolate acuminate finely serrate leaflets, hoary-tomentose when they unfold, and more or less villose in the autumn, thin and firm, dark yellow-green and nearly glabrous above, pale yellow-green and puberulous below, 3′—5′ long, about 1½′ wide, the terminal leaflet gradually narrowed to the acute base and short-stalked, the lateral often falcate, unsymmetrical at the base, subsessile or short-stalked. Flowers: staminate in villose aments 2′—3′ long, light yellow-green and villose on the outer surface, with oblong-ovate rounded lobes; pistillate in few fruited spikes, oblong, slightly 4-angled, villose. Fruit oblong or oblong-obovoid, apiculate at apex, slightly 4-winged at base, dark brown, more or less covered with yellow scales, 1½′—2′ long, with a thin husk; nut oblong-ovoid or oblong-obovoid, compressed, acute at the ends, short-pointed at apex, apiculate at base, obscurely 4-angled, bright red-brown, rough and pitted, with a thin brittle shell, thin papery walls, and a low basal ventral partition; seed very bitter, bright red-brown, flattened, its lobes rounded and slightly divided at apex, longitudinally grooved and deeply penetrated on the outer face by the prominent reticulated folds of the inner surface of the shell of the nut.

A tree, sometimes 100° high on the bottoms of the Brazos River, with a tall straight trunk 3° in diameter, and ascending branches, or on the borders of prairies in low wet woods usually 15°—25° tall, with a short trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, small spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets coated at first with thick hoary tomentum sometimes persistent until the autumn, bright red-brown and marked by occasional large pale lenticels during their first winter and by the large concave obcordate leaf-scars nearly surrounding the lowest axillary bud, becoming darker in their second season and dark or light gray-brown in their third year. Winter-buds covered with light yellow articulate hairs; the terminal oblong, acute, or acuminate, somewhat compressed, about ¼′ long, and rather longer than the upper lateral bud. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, light reddish brown, and roughened by closely appressed variously shaped plate-like scales. Wood close-grained, tough and strong, light red-brown, with pale brown sapwood.

Distribution. Bottom-lands and low wet woods; valley of the lower Brazos River, Texas; near Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, and Laurel Hill, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana; near Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi; valley of the Arkansas River (Arkansas Post, Arkansas County, and Van Buren, Crawford County), Arkansas.

3. Carya cordiformis K. Koch. Pignut. Bitternut.

Leaves 6′—10′ long, with slender pubescent or hirsute petioles, and 7—9 lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate or obovate long-pointed sessile leaflets coarsely serrate except at the equally or unequally cuneate or subcordate base, thin and firm, dark yellow-green and glabrous above, lighter and pubescent below, especially along the midrib, 4′—6′ long, ¾′—1¼′ wide, or occasionally 2′—4′ wide (var. latifolia Sarg.). Flowers: staminate in slightly pubescent aments, 3′—4′ long, coated with rufous hairs like its ovate acute bract; stamens 4, with yellow anthers deeply emarginate and villose at apex; pistillate in 1 or 2-flowered spikes, slightly 4-angled, covered with yellow scurfy tomentum. Fruit cylindric or slightly compressed, ¾′—1½′ long, obovoid to subglobose, or oblong and acute at apex (var. elongata Ashe), 4-winged from the apex to about the middle, with a thin puberulous husk, more or less thickly coated with small yellow scales; nut ovoid or oblong, often broader than long, compressed and marked at base with dark lines along the sutures and alternate with them, depressed or obcordate, and abruptly contracted into a long or short point at apex, gray tinged with red or light reddish brown, with a thin brittle shell; seed bright reddish brown, very bitter, much compressed, deeply rugose, with irregular cross-folds.

A tree, often 100° high, with a tall straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a broad handsome head, and slender branchlets marked by oblong pale lenticels, bright green and covered more or less thickly with rusty hairs when they first appear, reddish brown and glabrous or puberulous during their first summer, reddish brown and lustrous during the winter and ultimately light gray, with small elevated obscurely 3-lobed obcordate leaf-scars. Winter-buds compressed, scurfy pubescent, bright yellow; terminal ⅓′—¾′ long, oblique at apex, with 2 pairs of scales; lateral 2-angled, often stalked, ⅛′—¼′ long, with ovate pointed slightly accrescent scales keeled on the back. Bark ⅓′—¾′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and broken into thin plate-like scales separating on the surface into small thin flakes. Wood heavy, very hard, strong, tough, close-grained, dark brown, with thick light brown or often nearly white sapwood; largely used for hoops and ox-yokes, and for fuel.

Distribution. Low wet woods near the borders of streams and swamps or on high rolling uplands often remote from streams, southern Maine to Quebec and Ontario, the northern shores of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, northern Minnesota, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, and southward to northwestern Florida, Dallas County, Alabama, and eastern Texas; generally distributed, but not very abundant in all the central states east and west of the Appalachian Mountains; ranging farther north than the other species, and growing to its largest size on the bottom-lands of the lower Ohio basin; the common Hickory of Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas.

A natural hybrid, × C. Brownii Sarg. of C. cordiformis with C. pecan, with characters intermediate between those of its supposed parents, occurs on bottom-land of the Arkansas River near Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas. Probably of the same parentage is the so-called Galloway Nut found in Hamilton County, Ohio. Another hybrid, × C. Brownii var. varians Sarg., probably of the same parentage also, occurs near Van Buren. × C. Laneyi Sarg., a natural hybrid evidently of C. cordiformis with C. ovata, has been found in Rochester, New York, and trees considered varieties of the same hybrid, var. chateaugayensis Sarg., occur near the mouth of the Chateaugay River, Province of Quebec, and at Summertown, Ontario.

4. Carya aquatica Nutt. Water Hickory.

Leaves 9′—15′ long, with slender dark red puberulous or tomentose petioles, and 7—13 ovate-lanceolate long-pointed falcate leaflets symmetrical and rounded or cuneate and unsymmetrical and oblique at base, finely or coarsely serrate, sessile or stalked, 3′—5′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, covered with yellow glandular dots, thin, dark green above, brown and lustrous or tomentose on the lower surface, especially on the slender midrib and primary veins, the terminal leaflet more or less decurrent by its wedge-shaped base on a slender stalk or rarely nearly sessile. Flowers: staminate in solitary or fascicled hirsute aments 2½′—3′ long, covered like their bract with yellow glandular pubescence; stamens 6, with yellow puberulous anthers; pistillate in several flowered spikes, oblong, slightly flattened, 4-angled, glandular-pubescent. Fruit often in 3 or 4-fruited clusters, much compressed, usually broadest above the middle, rounded at the slightly narrowed base, rounded or abruptly narrowed at apex, conspicuously 4-winged, dark brown or nearly black, covered more or less thickly with bright yellow-scales, 1½′ long, 1′—1¼′ wide, with a thin brittle husk splitting tardily and usually only to the middle; nut flattened, slightly obovoid, nearly as broad as long, rounded and abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded at the narrow base, 4-angled and ridged, dark reddish brown, and longitudinally and very irregularly wrinkled, with a thin shell; seed oblong, compressed, dark brown, irregularly and usually longitudinally furrowed, very bitter.

A tree, occasionally 80°—100° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 2° in diameter, slender upright branches forming a narrow head, and slender dark reddish brown or ashy gray lustrous branchlets marked by numerous pale lenticels, at first slightly glandular and coated with loose pale tomentum, glabrous or puberulous during the summer, and marked during the winter by small nearly oval or obscurely 3-lobed slightly elevated leaf-scars, growing dark red-brown and ultimately gray. Winter-buds slightly flattened, acute, dark reddish brown, covered with caducous yellow scales; terminal ⅛′—¼′ long, often villose; axillary much smaller, frequently nearly sessile, often solitary. Bark ½′—⅔′ thick, separating freely into long loose plate-like light brown scales tinged with red. Wood heavy, strong, close-grained, rather brittle, dark brown, with thick light-colored or often nearly white sapwood; occasionally used for fencing and fuel.

Distribution. River swamps often inundated during a considerable part of the year from southeastern Virginia southward through the coast regions to the shores of Indian River and the valley of the Suwanee River, Florida, through the maritime portions of the Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas, and northward through western Louisiana to southeastern Missouri, and to northeastern Louisiana, western Mississippi, and the valley of the lower Wabash River, Illinois; passing into the var. australis Sarg. with narrower leaflets, smaller ellipsoidal fruit, pale red-brown nuts without longitudinal wrinkles, and with close not scaly bark of the trunk. A large tree in dry sandy soil; high banks of the St. John’s River, near San Mateo, Putnam County, near Jupiter, Palm Beach County, banks of the Caloosahatchie River at Alma, Lee County, and Old Town, Lafayette County, Florida; near Marshall, Harrison County, Texas.

5. Carya myristicæformis Nutt. Nutmeg Hickory.

Leaves 7′—14′ long, with slender terete scurfy-pubescent petioles, and 7—9, occasionally 5, ovate-lanceolate to broadly obovate acute leaflets usually equally or sometimes unequally cuneate or rounded at the narrow base, coarsely serrate, short-stalked or nearly sessile, thin and firm, dark green above, more or less pubescent or nearly glabrous and silvery white and very lustrous below, 4′—5′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a pale scurfy pubescent midrib; changing late in the season to bright golden-bronze color and then very conspicuous. Flowers: staminate in aments 3′—4′ long and coated like the ovate-oblong acute bract and calyx of the flower with dark brown scurfy pubescence; stamens 6, with yellow anthers; pistillate oblong, narrowed at the ends, slightly 4-angled, covered with thick brown scurfy pubescence. Fruit usually solitary, ellipsoidal or slightly obovoid, 4-ridged to the base, with broad thick ridges, 1½′ long, coated with yellow-brown scurfy pubescence, the husk not more than 1/32′ thick, splitting nearly to the base; nut ellipsoidal or sometimes slightly obovoid, 1′ long, ¾′ broad, rounded and apiculate at the ends, smooth, dark reddish brown, and marked by longitudinal broken bands of small gray spots covering the entire surface at the ends with a thick hard and bony shell, a thick partition, and a low thin dorsal division; seed sweet, small, dark brown; the lobes deeply 2-lobed at apex.

A tree, 80°—100° high, with a tall straight trunk often 2° in diameter, stout slightly spreading branches forming a comparatively narrow rather open head, and slender branchlets coated with lustrous golden or brown scales often persistent until the second year, light brown or ashy gray during their first winter, ultimately dark reddish brown, and marked by small scattered pale lenticels and small oval emarginate elevated leaf-scars. Winter-buds covered with thick brown scurvy pubescence; terminal ⅛′—¼′ long, ovoid, rather obtuse; axillary much smaller, acute, slightly flattened, sessile or short-stalked, often solitary. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, dark brown tinged with red, and broken irregularly into small thin appressed scales. Wood hard, very strong, tough, close-grained, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 80—90 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Banks of rivers and swamps in rich moist soil or rarely on higher ground; eastern South Carolina, central Alabama, eastern, and northwestern (bluffs of the Yazoo River at Yazoo City) Mississippi, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, southeastern Oklahoma to Clear Boggy Creek, western Choctaw County, and in Beaumont County, Texas; on the mountains of northeastern Mexico; rare and local; abundant only in southern Arkansas.

6. Carya ovata K. Koch. Shellbark Hickory. Shagbark Hickory.

Leaves 8′—14′ long, with stout glabrous or pubescent petioles, and 5 or rarely 7 ovate to ovate-lanceolate or obovate leaflets, acuminate or rarely rounded at apex, more or less thickly ciliate on the margins, finely serrate except toward the usually cuneate base, dark yellow-green and glabrous above, paler, glabrous and lustrous or puberulous below, the terminal leaflet decurrent on a slender stalk, 5′—7′ long, 2′—3′ wide, rather larger than the sessile or short-stalked upper leaflets, and two or three times as large as those of the lowest pair. Flowers: staminate opening after the leaves have grown nearly to their full size, in slender light green glandular-hirsute aments 4′—5′ long, glandular-hirsute, their elongated ovate-lanceolate acute bract two or three times as long as the ovate concave rounded or acute calyx-lobes; stamens 4, with yellow or red anthers hirsute above the middle; pistillate in 2—5-flowered spikes, ⅓′ long, clothed with rusty tomentum. Fruit solitary or in pairs, subglobose, rather longer than broad or slightly obovoid, depressed at apex, dark reddish brown or nearly black at maturity, roughened by small pale lenticels, glabrous or pilose, 1′—2½′ long, the husk, ⅛′—½′ thick, splitting freely to the base; nut oblong, nearly twice as long as broad, or obovoid and broader than long, compressed, prominently or obscurely 4-ridged and angled, acute and gradually or abruptly narrowed or rounded or nearly truncate at apex, gradually narrowed and rounded at base, pale or nearly white, with a usually thin shell; seed light brown, lustrous, sweet, with an aromatic flavor.

A tree, 70°—90° and occasionally 120° high, with a tall straight trunk 3°—4° in diameter, in the forest often free of branches for 50°—60° above the ground and then divided into a few small limbs forming a narrow head, or with more space sometimes dividing near the ground or at half the height of the tree into stout slightly spreading limbs, forming a narrow inversely conic round-topped head of more or less pendulous branches, and stout branchlets marked with oblong pale lenticels, covered at first with caducous brown scurf and coated with pale glandular pubescence, soon bright reddish brown, and lustrous, glabrous or pubescent, growing dark gray in their second year and ultimately light gray, and marked by pale and slightly elevated ovate semiorbicular or obscurely 3-lobed leaf-scars. Winter-buds: terminal broadly ovoid, rather obtuse, ½′—¾′ long, ⅓′—½′ broad, the 3 or 4 outer scales nearly triangular, acute, dark brown, pubescent and hirsute on the outer surface, the exterior scales often abruptly narrowed into long rigid points and deciduous before the unfolding of the leaves, the inner scales lustrous, covered with resinous glands, yellow-green often tinged with red, oblong-obovate, pointed, becoming 2½′—3′ long and ½′ broad, usually persistent until after the fall of the staminate aments; axillary buds coated at first with thick white tomentum, becoming ⅓′—½′ long when fully grown. Bark light gray, ¾′—1′ thick, separating in thick plates often a foot or more long and 6′—8′ wide, and more or less closely attached to the trunk by the middle, giving it the shaggy appearance to which this tree owes its common name. Wood heavy, very hard and strong, tough, close-grained, flexible, light brown, with thin nearly white sapwood; largely used in the manufacture of agricultural implements, carriages, wagons, and for axe-handles, baskets, and fuel. The nut is the common Hickory nut of commerce.

Distribution. Low hills and the neighborhood of streams and swamps in rich deep moderately moist soil; southern Maine to the valley of the St. Lawrence River near Montreal, along the northern shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario to central Michigan, central Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, eastern Iowa and southeastern Nebraska, and southward to western Florida, northern Alabama and Mississippi, and to eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas; ranging further north than other Hickories with the exception of C. cordiformis; and in the Carolinas ascending to 3000° above the sea in valleys on the western slope of the Blue Ridge. Variable in the size and shape of the nut and in the character and amount of pubescence on the leaves and branchlets. These varieties are distinguished: var. Nuttallii Sarg., with nuts rounded, obcordate or rarely pointed at apex, rounded or abruptly pointed at base, much compressed, and only about ⅗′ long and ⅖′—½′ broad; not rare and widely distributed northward. Var. complanata Sarg., with oblong-obovoid fruit and broadly obovoid much compressed slightly angled nuts cuneate at base and rounded, truncate or slightly obcordate at apex; a single tree on the Drushel Farm near Mt. Hope, Holmes County, Ohio. Var. ellipsoidalis Sarg., with ellipsoidal much compressed nuts abruptly long-pointed at apex, and slender reddish branchlets; near Hannibal, Marion County, and Oakwood, Rolles County, northeastern Missouri, and Indian River, Lewis County, and near Rochester, Munroe County, New York. Var. pubescens Sarg., differing in the dense pubescence of pale fascicled hairs on the young branchlets, and on the petioles, rachis and under surface of the leaflets; bottoms of the Savannah River, Calhoun Falls, Abbeville County, South Carolina, bottom of Little River, Walker County, Georgia, Chattanooga Creek, Hamilton County, Tennessee, Valley Head, DeKalb County, Alabama, and Columbus, Lowndes County, Starkville, Oktibbeha County, and Brookville, Noxubee County, Mississippi. More distinct is

Carya ovata var. fraxinifolia Sarg.

Leaves 7′—9′ long, with slender glabrous or puberulous petioles and 5 lanceolate to slightly oblanceolate acuminate finely serrate leaflets glabrous except on the under side of the midrib, the terminal leaflet 4′—7′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, the lateral sessile, unsymmetrical at base, those of the upper pair often larger than the terminal leaflet, those of the lower pair 2′—2½′ long and 1′—1¼′ wide. Flowers as in the species. Fruit obovoid, usually rounded at apex, compressed, about 1¼′ long, the husk splitting freely to the base, ⅙′—⅕′ in thickness; nut much compressed, rounded at the ends, prominently angled.

A large tree with bark separating in long loose plates, and slender reddish glabrous or puberulous branchlets.

Distribution. Near Rochester, Munroe County, New York; common; near Kingston, Ontario, and westward through Ohio and Indiana; at Keosauqua, Van Buren County, Iowa, and near Myers, Osage County, Oklahoma.

7. Carya carolinæ-septentrionalis Schn. Shagbark Hickory.

Leaves 4′—8′ long, with slender glabrous petioles, and usually 5 but occasionally 3 lanceolate long-pointed leaflets gradually narrowed at the acuminate symmetrical or unsymmetrical base, coarsely serrate, ciliate with long white hairs as the leaves unfold, thin, dark green above, pale yellow-green and lustrous below, the upper leaflets 3′—4′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, and about twice as large as those of the lower pair, turning dull brown or yellow-brown some time before falling. Flowers: staminate in slightly villose aments, glandular-hirsute on the outer surface, with linear elongated acuminate villose bracts; stamens 4; anthers puberulous; pistillate usually in 2-flowered spikes, oblong and covered with clustered golden hairs, their bract linear and ciliate on the margins. Fruit broader than high, or short-oblong, slightly depressed at apex, ¾′—1½′ wide, dark red-brown, roughened by small pale lenticels, the husk ⅛′—⅜′ thick, splitting freely almost to the base; nut ovoid, compressed, prominently 4-angled, acute at ends, nearly white or pale brown, with a thin shell; seed light brown, sweet.

A tree, on moist bottom-lands sometimes 80° tall, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, and short small branches forming a narrow oblong head, or on dry hillsides usually not more than 20°—30° tall, with a trunk generally not exceeding a foot in diameter, and slender red-brown branchlets marked by numerous small pale lenticels and by the small low truncate or slightly obcordate leaf-scars, becoming ultimately dull gray-brown. Winter-buds: terminal ovoid, gradually narrowed to the obtuse apex, about ¼′ long, with glabrous bright red-brown and lustrous acute and apiculate strongly keeled spreading outer scales, the inner scales becoming when fully grown bright yellow, long-pointed, and sometimes 2′ long; axillary buds oblong, obtuse, not more than 1/16′ long. Bark light gray, ¼′—¾′ thick, separating freely into thick plates often a foot or more long, 3′ or 4′ wide, and long-persistent, giving to the trunk the shaggy appearance of the northern Shagbark Hickory. Wood hard, strong, very tough, light reddish brown, with thin nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Dry limestone hills, river-bottoms and low flat often inundated woods, frequently in clay soil; central North Carolina to northern Georgia, and through western North Carolina to eastern Tennessee, eastern Mississippi, and in Cullman and Dallas Counties, Alabama.

8. Carya laciniosa Schn. Big Shellbark. King Nut.

Leaves 15′—22′ long, with stout glabrous or pubescent petioles often persistent on the branches during the winter, and 5—9, usually 7, ovate to oblong-lanceolate or broadly obovate leaflets, the upper 5′—9′ long and 3′—5′ wide and generally two or three times as large as those of the lowest pair, usually equilateral and acuminate at apex, equally or unequally cuneate or rounded at the often oblique base, finely serrate, sessile or short-stalked, dark green and lustrous above, pale yellow-green or bronzy brown and covered with soft pubescence below. Flowers: staminate in aments 5′—8′ long, glabrous or covered with rufous scurfy tomentum, with linear-lanceolate acute bracts two or three times as long as the broad rounded calyx-lobes; anthers hirsute, yellow, more or less deeply emarginate; pistillate in 2—5-flowered spikes, oblong-ovoid, about twice as long as broad, slightly angled, clothed with pale tomentum, their linear bracts acute much longer than the nearly triangular bractlets and calyx-lobe. Fruit solitary or in pairs, ellipsoidal, ovoid or subglobose, depressed at apex, roughened with minute orange-colored lenticels, downy or glabrous, light orange-colored or dark chestnut-brown at maturity, 1¾′—2½′ long and 1¼′—2′ broad, with a hard woody husk pale and marked on the inside with dark delicate veins, and ¼′—⅓′ thick; nut ellipsoidal or slightly obovoid, longer than broad or sometimes broader than long, flattened and rounded at the ends, or gradually narrowed and rounded at base and occasionally acuminate at apex, more or less compressed, prominently 4-ridged and angled or often 6-ridged, furnished at base with a stout long point, light yellow to reddish brown, 1¼′—2½′ long and 1½′—1¾′ wide, with a hard bony shell sometimes ¼′ thick; seed light chestnut-brown, very sweet.

A tree, occasionally 120° high, with a straight slender trunk often free of branches for more than half its height and rarely exceeding 3° in diameter, comparatively small spreading branches forming a narrow oblong head, and stout dark or light orange-colored branchlets at first pilose or covered with pale or rufous pubescence or tomentum, roughened by scattered elevated long pale lenticels, orange-brown and glabrous or puberulous during their first winter, and marked by oblong 3-lobed emarginate leaf-scars. Winter-buds: terminal ovoid, rather obtuse, sometimes 1′ long and ⅔′ wide, and three or four times as large as the axillary buds, usually covered by 11 or 12 scales, the outer dark brown, puberulous, generally keeled, with a long point at apex, the inner scales obovate, pointed or rounded at apex, light green tinged with red, or bright red or yellow, covered with silky pubescence on the outer face, slightly resinous, becoming 2′—3′ long and 1′ wide. Bark 1′—2′ thick, light gray, separating into broad thick plates frequently 3°—4° long, sometimes remaining for many years hanging on the trunk. Wood heavy, very hard, strong and tough, close-grained, very flexible, dark brown, with comparatively thin nearly white sapwood. The large nuts are often sold in the markets of western cities and commercially are not often distinguished from those of the Shellbark Hickory.

Distribution. Rich bottom-lands usually inundated during several weeks of every year; central and western New York and southeastern Ontario, and westward through southern Ohio, southern Michigan, Indiana and Illinois to southeastern Iowa and southeastern Nebraska, through Missouri and Arkansas to southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma, and southward through eastern Pennsylvania to western West Virginia; in southeastern Tennessee; banks of the Alabama River, Dallas County, Alabama, and in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.

× Carya Nussbaumerii Sarg. with leaves like those of C. laciniosa, slender branchlets, and large fruit of the shape of that of the Pecan but without sutural wings and white or nearly white nuts, believed to be a hybrid of these species, has been found near Fayetteville, St. Clair County, Illinois, at Mt. Vernon, Posey County, Indiana, near Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa, and from the neighborhood of Rockville, Bates County, Missouri.

Trees intermediate in character between C. laciniosa and C. ovata growing on the bottoms of the Genessee River at Golah, Munroe County, New York, and believed to be hybrids of these species, are × C. Dunbarii Sarg.

9. Carya alba K. Koch. Hickory.

Leaves glandular, resinous, fragrant, 8′—12′ long, with petioles covered like the rachis and the under surface of the leaflets with fascicled hairs, and 5 or 7 oblong-lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate leaflets gradually or abruptly acuminate, mostly equilateral, equally or unequally rounded or cuneate at base, minutely or coarsely serrate, sessile or short-stalked, dark yellow-green and rather lustrous above, lustrous, paler or light orange-colored or brown on the lower surface, the upper leaflets 5′—8′ long and 3′—5′ wide, and two or three times as large as those of the lowest pair. Flowers: staminate in aments 4′—5′ long, with slender light green stems coated with fascicled hairs, pale yellow-green, scurfy-pubescent, with elongated ovate-lanceolate bracts ending in tufts of long pale hairs, and three or four times as long as the calyx-lobes; stamens 4, with oblong bright red hirsute anthers; pistillate in crowded 2—5-flowered spikes, slightly contracted above the middle, coated with pale tomentum, the bract ovate, acute, sometimes ¼′ long, about twice as long as the broadly ovate nearly triangular bractlets and calyx-lobes; stigmas dark red. Fruit ellipsoidal or obovoid, gradually narrowed at the ends, acute at apex, abruptly contracted toward the base, rarely obovoid with a stipe-like base (var. ficoides Sarg.), or ovoid with a long acuminate apex (var. ovoidea Sarg.), pilose or nearly glabrous, dark red-brown, 1½′—2′ long, with a husk about ⅛′ thick splitting to the middle or nearly to the base; nut nearly globose, ellipsoidal, obovoid-oblong or ovoid, narrowed at ends, rounded at base, acute, and sometimes attenuated and long-pointed at apex, much or only slightly compressed, obscurely or prominently 4-ridged, light reddish brown, becoming darker and sometimes red with age, with a very thick hard shell and partitions; in drying often cracking transversely; seed small, sweet, dark brown, and lustrous.

A tree, rarely 100° high, usually much smaller, with a tall trunk occasionally 3° in diameter, comparatively small spreading branches forming a narrow or often a broad round-topped head of upright rigid or of gracefully pendulous branches, and stout branchlets clothed at first with pale fascicled hairs, rather bright brown, nearly glabrous or more or less pubescent, and marked by conspicuous pale lenticels during their first season, becoming light or dark gray, with pale emarginate leaf-scars almost equally lobed, or elongated with the lowest lobe two or three times as long as the others. Winter-buds: terminal broadly ovoid, acute or obtuse, ½′—¾′ long, two or three times as large as the axillary buds, the three or four outer bud-scales ovate, acute, often keeled and apiculate, thick and firm, dark reddish brown and pilose, usually deciduous late in the autumn, the inner scales ovate, rounded or acute and short-pointed at apex, light green covered with soft silky pubescence on the outer, and often bright red and pilose on the inner surface, becoming 1′—1½′ long and ½′ broad. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, close, slightly ridged by shallow irregular interrupted fissures and covered by dark gray closely appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard, tough, strong, close-grained, flexible, rich dark brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; used for the same purposes as that of the Shellbark Hickory.

Distribution. Eastern Massachusetts southward to Lake County, Florida, and eastern Texas, and through Ohio, southwestern Ontario, southern Michigan, Illinois and Indiana to southeastern Iowa, and through Missouri to eastern Oklahoma; comparatively rare at the north, growing on dry slopes and ridges and less commonly on alluvial bottom-lands; absent from eastern Canada, northern and western New England, and New York except in the neighborhood of the coast; the most abundant and generally distributed Hickory-tree of the southern states, growing to its largest size in the basin of the lower Ohio River and in Missouri and Arkansas; commonly in southern Arkansas and eastern Texas, and occasionally in other southern states represented by var. subcoriacea Sarg., differing in its larger, thicker, more pubescent leaflets, more prominently angled fruit with a thicker husk, larger nuts, and in its longer winter-buds often ⅘′ long and ¾′ in diameter.

× Carya Schneckii Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of C. alba and C. pecan, has been found at Lawrenceville, Lawrence County, Illinois, and near Muscatine, Muscatine County, Iowa.

10. Carya leiodermis Sarg.

Leaves 12′—14′ long, with slender petioles and rachis slightly or densely pubescent with fascicled hairs, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous, and 7 or rarely 5 thin finely serrate leaflets, long-pointed at apex, and gradually narrowed, cuneate and unsymmetrical at base, at first hoary tomentose below and pubescent above, becoming dark green and lustrous on the upper surface and pale and slightly pubescent on the lower surface, especially on the stout midrib, the terminal oblong-obovate with a stalk ⅕′—⅗′ in length, or nearly sessile, of the same shape and often smaller than the nearly sessile upper leaflets, 4′—5′ long and 2′—2½′ wide, and much larger than the lanceolate lower leaflets. Flowers: staminate opening after the leaves have grown nearly to their full size, in slender puberulous aments 4′—4½′ long; bract of the flower ovate, lanceolate, ciliate on the margins with long white hairs mixed with stipitate glands, a third longer than the ciliate calyx-lobes; stamens 4, anthers red, covered with long rigid white hairs; pistillate in short spikes, their involucre and bracts densely clothed with white hairs. Fruit broadly obovoid, smooth, glabrous or puberulous, covered with scattered white scales, 1½′—1¾′ long, about 1¼′ in diameter, the husk ⅕′ to nearly ¼′ thick, opening freely to the base usually only by two sutures; nut ellipsoidal or slightly obovoid, little compressed, rounded at the ends, tinged with red, with a shell ⅙′—⅕′ thick; seed small and sweet.

A tree 60°—75° tall with a trunk occasionally 3° in diameter, stout often pendulous branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender reddish brown lustrous branchlets puberulous or pubescent when they first appear, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous by the end of their first season. Winter-buds: terminal acute, about ½′ long, the outer scales pubescent, the inner covered with appressed pale hairs and ciliate on the margins; axillary buds ovoid and rounded at apex or subglobose. Bark close, pale, only slightly ridged.

Distribution. Low wet woods; Louisiana to southern Arkansas, and in northwestern Mississippi (bluffs, Yazoo County); most abundant in western Louisiana from the neighborhood of the coast to the valley of Red River, and in Tangipahoa Parish east of the Mississippi River.

Passing into var. callicoma Sarg., differing in the thinner husk of the fruit and in the bright red color of the unfolding leaves.

Distribution. Low wet woods; valley of the Calcasieu River (near Lake Charles), western Louisiana to that of the Neches River (near Beaumont), Texas; in western and southern Mississippi (Warren, Adams, Hinds, Lafayette, Copiah, Lowndes and Oktibbeha Counties).

11. Carya pallida Ashe.

Leaves 7′—15′ long, with slender petioles and rachis covered, like the under side of the midrib, with prominent persistent clusters of fascicled hairs mixed with silvery scales, and usually 7, rarely 9, lanceolate or oblanceolate leaflets, the terminal rarely obovate, finely serrate, resinous, fragrant, acuminate and long-pointed at apex, cuneate or rounded and often unsymmetrical at base, covered in spring with small silvery peltate scales, and at maturity light green and lustrous above, pale and pubescent or puberulous below, the terminal short-stalked or nearly sessile, 4′—6′ long and 1′—2′ wide, and as large or slightly larger than the upper lateral leaflets, those of the lower pairs usually not more than 2′ long and ½′ wide. Flowers: staminate in aments covered with fascicled hairs and silvery scales, 2½′—5′ long, puberulous and glandular on the outer surface, with linear acuminate bracts; stamens 4, anthers hirsute; pistillate usually solitary, oblong, covered with yellow scales, their bract ovate-lanceolate, ciliate on the margin. Fruit pubescent and covered with yellow scales, ellipsoidal to obovoid, broad-obovoid, subglobose to depressed-globose, and from ½′—1½′ in length, with a husk from ⅛′—⅙′ in thickness, splitting tardily to the base by 2 or 3 of the sutures, or occasionally remaining unopened until midwinter; nut white, rounded at the ends, or obcordate or obtusely pointed at apex, compressed, more or less prominently ridged nearly to the base, with a shell ⅛′—1/12′ thick; seed small and sweet.

A tree occasionally 90°—110° high, with a tall trunk 2½°—3° in diameter, usually not more than 30°—40° tall, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, stout branches, the upper erect, the lower often pendulous, and slender red-brown glabrous or pubescent branchlets. Winter-buds acute or obtuse, reddish brown, puberulous and covered with silvery scales, the terminal ¼′ long with 6—9 scales and rather larger than the lateral buds usually covered with fewer scales. Bark of large trees grown in good soil pale and slightly ridged, that of trees on dry ridges, rough, deeply furrowed, dark gray and southward often nearly black. Wood brown with nearly white sapwood; probably little used except as fuel.

Distribution. Sandy soil in the neighborhood of Cape May, New Jersey, in southern Delaware, and in the southern part of the Maryland peninsula; common in rich soil in Gloucester and James City Counties, Virginia, growing here to its largest size, and southward from southeast Virginia through the Piedmont region of North and South Carolina, ascending to altitudes of 2200° in the mountain valleys of these states; common in northern and central Georgia and southeastern Tennessee, occasionally reaching the Georgia coast and the southwestern part of that state; in western Florida, through northern and central Alabama to Dallas County, and through southern Mississippi to northeastern Louisiana (near Kentwood, Tangipahoa Parish); in Mississippi extending northward to the valley of the Yazoo River in Yazoo County; in northern Tennessee (Lexington, Henderson County); in Alabama the common Hickory on the dry gravelly and poor soils of the upland table-lands and ridges of the central part of the state.

12. Carya glabra Sweet. Pignut.

Carya porcina Nutt.

Leaves 8′—12′ long, with slender glabrous petioles and rachis, and 5 or rarely 7 lanceolate or oblanceolate finely serrate leaflets acuminate at the ends, yellow-green and glabrous above, glabrous, or pubescent on the midrib below, the terminal leaflet sometimes obovate, 4′—4½′ long and 5′ or 6′ wide, and raised on a glabrous or sparingly pubescent stalk, ¼′—½′ in length, the lateral leaflets sessile, those of the upper pair about the size of the terminal leaflet, and two or three times larger than those of the lower pair. Flowers: staminate in short-stalked pubescent aments 2′—2½′ long, yellow-green, the bract villose, much longer than the calyx-lobes; stamens 4, anthers yellow, villose toward the apex; pistillate in few-flowered spikes, oblong, coated with hoary tomentum like the lanceolate acuminate bract. Fruit obovoid, compressed, rounded at apex, gradually narrowed below and often abruptly contracted into a stipe-like base, about 1′ long and ¾′ wide, with a husk from 1/12′—⅛′ in thickness, opening late by one or two sutures or often remaining closed; nut obovoid, compressed, without ridges, rounded or slightly obcordate at apex, gradually narrowed and rounded below, with a hard thick shell; seed small and sweet.

A tree 60°—90° high, with a trunk 2°—2½° in diameter, with small spreading often drooping branches forming a tall narrow head, and slender glabrous reddish branchlets marked by pale lenticels. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, light brown, glabrous, ⅓′—½′ long and ⅕′—¼′ in diameter, the inner scales covered with close pubescence. Bark close, ridged, light gray. Wood heavy, hard, strong and tough, flexible, light or dark brown, with thick lighter-colored sapwood; used for the handles of tools and in the manufacture of wagons and agricultural implements, and largely for fuel.

Distribution. Hillsides and dry ridges; southwestern Vermont to western New York, southeastern Ontario, southern Indiana and southwestern Illinois, and southward to Delaware, the District of Columbia and eastern Virginia, and along the Appalachian Mountains to North Carolina; in northern, central and eastern Georgia, northern Alabama and eastern Mississippi.

The name “Pignut” usually applied to this tree and to the forms of C. ovalis Sarg., especially in the north, properly belongs to C. cordiformis Schn.

Passing into

Carya glabra var. megacarpa Sarg.

Carya megacarpa Sarg.

Leaves 12′—14′ long, with slender glabrous petioles and 5—7 lanceolate to oblanceolate leaflets long-pointed and acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed and unsymmetrical at base, finely serrate, glabrous or very rarely pubescent, often furnished below with small clusters of axillary hairs, the three upper 8′—10′ long and 1½′—2½′ wide and about twice as large as those of the lowest pair. Flowers: staminate in slightly villose aments 2½′—3′ in length, villose, their bract long-pointed, acuminate, villose, twice longer than the calyx-lobes, stamens 4—6, anthers yellow, villose above the middle; pistillate in short-stalked spikes, their involucre only slightly angled, covered with pale yellow hairs, the bract acuminate, twice longer than the bractlets and calyx-lobes. Fruit oblong-obovoid with a stipe-like base to short-obovate and rounded or abruptly cuneate at base, rarely depressed at apex, slightly flattened, often covered with bright yellow scales, 1′—2′ long, 1′—1½′ in diameter, with a husk ⅛′—⅕′ in thickness, opening tardily to the middle usually by one or by two sutures, or often remaining closed; nut broadest toward the rounded apex or oblong and occasionally acute at apex, gradually narrowed and acute at base, often compressed, slightly or rarely prominently angled (f. angulata Sarg.), with a shell ⅛′—⅙′ in thickness; seed small and sweet.

A tree 50°—70° high, with a trunk up to 2° in diameter, stout spreading and drooping branches, and stout or rarely slender glabrous branchlets, reddish brown at the end of their first season, becoming dark gray-brown. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, glabrous, up to ½′ in length, the inner scales puberulous. Bark close, only slightly ridged, light or dark gray.

Distribution. Rochester, Munroe County, New York, through southern Ohio and Indiana to southern Illinois (Tunnel Hill, Johnson County); coast of New Jersey; District of Columbia and southward to the shores of Indian River and the valley of the Callusahatchie River, Florida, and through southern Alabama to western Louisiana; one of the commonest Hickories in the coast region of the south Atlantic and east Gulf states, occasionally ranging inland to central and northern Georgia and western Mississippi.

13. Carya ovalis Sarg.

Leaves 6′—10′ long, with slender petioles often scurfy-pubescent early in the season, soon glabrous, and 7 or rarely 5 lanceolate to oblanceolate, or occasionally obovate finely serrate leaflets, long-pointed and acuminate or rarely rounded at apex, cuneate and unsymmetrical at base, early in the season often scurfy-pubescent and furnished below with small axillary tufts of pale hairs, soon glabrous, the upper 6′ or 7′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, and raised on a stalk ¼′—½′ in length, the lateral sessile, those of the upper pairs as large or slightly smaller than the terminal leaflet. Flowers: staminate in puberulous aments 6′—7′ long, pubescent, their bracts twice longer than the ovate acute calyx-lobes; stamens 4, anthers yellow, thickly covered with pale hairs; pistillate in 1 or 2-flowered spikes, obovoid, more or less thickly covered with yellow scales. Fruit ellipsoidal, acute or rounded at apex, rounded at base, puberulous, 1′—1¼′ long, about ¾′ in diameter, with a husk 1/12′—1/10′ in thickness, splitting freely to the base; nut pale, oblong, slightly flattened, rounded at base, acute or acuminate and 4-angled at apex, the ridges extending for one-third or rarely for one-half of its length, with a shell rarely more than ⅕′ in thickness; seed small and sweet.

A tree sometimes 100° high, with a tall trunk occasionally 3° in diameter, small spreading branches forming a narrow often pyramidal head, and slender lustrous red-brown branchlets marked by pale lenticels, often slightly pubescent when they first appear, soon glabrous. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, acute or acuminate; the terminal often ½′ long and twice as large as the lateral, the outer scales red-brown, lustrous and glabrous, the inner covered with close pale tomentum. Bark slightly ridged, pale gray, usually separating freely into small plate-like scales, or occasionally close. Wood heavy, hard and tough, flexible, light or dark brown, with thick lighter-colored sapwood; used for the handles of tools, in the manufacture of wagons and agricultural implements, and largely for fuel.

Distribution. Hillsides and rich woods; western New York, eastern Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia to southern Illinois and central Iowa (Ames, Story County), and southward to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, and to central Georgia and Alabama; usually rare and local; most abundant and generally distributed in Indiana. With its varieties usually but incorrectly called “Pignut.”

The following varieties differing in the shape of their fruit are distinguished:

Carya ovalis var. obcordata Sarg.

Carya microcarpa Darling. in part. Hicoria microcarpa Britt. in part.

Fruit subglobose to short-oblong or slightly obovoid, 1′—1¼′ in diameter, with a husk 1/12′—⅛′ in thickness, splitting freely to the base or nearly to the base by often narrow-winged sutures; nut much compressed, slightly angled and often broadest above the middle, rounded and usually more or less obcordate at apex, narrowed and rounded at base.

Distribution. Southern New England to southern Wisconsin, southwestern Missouri, western North Carolina, central and eastern Georgia, eastern Mississippi and central Alabama; the common and most widely distributed northern variety of Carya ovalis; common in the mountain districts of central Alabama; varying to the f. vestita Sarg. with stouter branchlets covered during their first year with rusty tomentum and more or less pubescent in their second and third seasons, leaflets slightly pubescent below, and with more compressed nuts and puberulous winter-buds. A single tree near Davis Pond, Knox County, Indiana.

Carya ovalis var. odorata Sarg.

Carya microcarpa Darling. in part. Hicoria microcarpa Britt. in part. Hicoria glabra var. odorata Sarg. in part.

Fruit subglobose or slightly longer than broad, much flattened, ½′—⅗′ in diameter, with a husk not more than 1/24′ in thickness, splitting freely to the base by sutures sometimes furnished with narrow wings; nut compressed, rounded at apex, rounded or acute at base, slightly or not at all ridged, pale or nearly white, with a shell 1/12′ or less in thickness.

Distribution. Southern New England, eastern Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia to western New York, and southeastern Ontario, and through Ohio and Indiana to southern Illinois; near Atlanta, Georgia, and Starkville, Oktibbaha County, Mississippi; less variable in the size and shape of the fruit than the other varieties of C. ovalis.

Carya ovalis var. obovalis Sarg.

Hicoria glabra Sarg. in part.

Fruit more or less obovoid, about 1′ long and ⅘′ in diameter, with a husk 1/12′—⅛′ thick, splitting freely to the base.

Distribution. Southern New England to Missouri and northern Arkansas; on the mountains of North Carolina, on the coast of Georgia and in north central Alabama. The common “Pignut” in the middle western states, varying to f. acuta Sarg. with nuts pointed at the ends and closer bark; only near Rochester, Munroe County, New York.

Other forms of C. ovalis are var. hirsuta Sarg. (Hicoria glabra hirsuta Ashe) with obovoid compressed fruit narrowed into a stipitate base, with a husk 1/12′—⅛′ in thickness, scaly bark, pubescent winter-buds, leaves with pubescent petioles and leaflets pubescent on the lower surface; a common tree on the mountains of North Carolina up to altitudes of 2000° above the sea; and var. borealis Sarg. (Hicoria borealis Ashe) with pubescent branchlets and winter-buds, leaves pubescent early in the season, ellipsoidal or ovoid flattened fruit with a husk ⅛′—⅕′ in thickness, an ovoid nut ridged to the base, and scaly bark; only in southeastern Michigan.

14. Carya floridana Sarg.

Leaves 6′—8′ long, with slender petioles rusty pubescent when they first appear, soon glabrous, with 5 or rarely 7 lanceolate to oblanceolate leaflets long-pointed and acuminate at apex, unsymmetrical and rounded or cuneate at base, serrate with remote cartilaginous teeth, sessile or the terminal leaflet short-stalked, covered when they unfold with rufous pubescence, soon glabrous, at maturity thin, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, yellow-green above, often brownish below, the upper three 3½′—4′ long, 1′—2′ wide, and about twice larger than those of the lowest pair. Flowers: staminate in long-stalked scurfy pubescent aments 1′—1½′ in length, produced at the base of branchlets of the year from the axils of bud-scales, and often of leaves, scurfy pubescent, their bract ovate, acuminate, a third longer than the calyx-lobes; stamens 4 or 5, anthers yellow, slightly villose near the apex; pistillate in 1 or 2-flowered spikes, obovoid, thickly covered, like their bracts, with yellow scales. Fruit obovoid, gradually narrowed, rounded and sometimes slightly depressed at apex, narrowed below into a short stipe-like base, occasionally slightly winged at the sutures, often roughened by prominent reticulate ridges, puberulous and covered with small yellow scales, ⅘′—1½′ long, ¾′—1′ in diameter with a husk 1/12′—⅛′ thick, splitting freely to the base by 2 or 3 sutures; nut pale or reddish, subglobose, not more than ⅗′ in diameter, or ovoid or rarely oblong, acute at base, narrowed and rounded at apex, slightly compressed, with a shell 1/12′—⅛′ in thickness.

A tree 50°—70° high with a trunk up to 20′ in diameter, slender spreading branches forming a broad head, and slender branchlets at first coated with rufous pubescence, soon puberulous or glabrous, bright red-brown and marked by pale lenticels during their first winter; or in dry sand often a shrub producing abundant fruit on stems 3° or 4° high. Winter-buds ovoid, acute or obtuse, the outer scales covered with thick rusty pubescence and more or less thickly with yellow or rarely silvery scales, the inner coated with pale pubescence; the terminal ⅕′—⅓′ in length and twice as large as the axillary buds. Bark slightly ridged, close dark gray-brown. Wood dark brown, with pale sapwood; probably used only for fuel.

Distribution. Dry sandy ridges and low hills, Florida; east coast, Volusia County to Jupiter Island, Palm Beach County; in the interior of the peninsula as a shrub, from Orange to De Soto Counties, and on the shores of Pensacola Bay.

15. Carya Buckleyi Durand.

Carya texana Buckl., not Le Conte.

Leaves 8′—12′ long, with slender petioles rusty pubescent and sparingly villose early in the season, and 5—7, usually 7, lanceolate to oblanceolate acuminate bluntly serrate sessile leaflets, the terminal occasionally broadly obovate and abruptly pointed, and sometimes raised on a winged stalk ¼—½′ in length, when they unfold thickly covered with rusty pubescence mixed with small white scales and villose on the lower side of the midrib and veins, and at maturity dark green, lustrous, glabrous or puberulous along the midrib above, paler, glabrous or sparingly villose and furnished with small tufts of axillary hairs below, the upper three leaflets 4′—6′ long and 2′—2¼′ wide, and twice the size of those of the lowest pair. Flowers: staminate in rusty pubescent aments 2′—3′ long, their bract slender, long acuminate, 3 or 4 times longer than the acuminate calyx-lobes; stamens 4 or 5, anthers yellow, slightly villose toward the apex; pistillate in 1 or 2-flowered short-stalked spikes, slightly angled, thickly coated with rufous hairs like the bract and bractlets. Fruit subglobose, puberulous, 1¼′—1¾′ in diameter, with a husk 1/12′—⅛′ thick, splitting freely to the base by slightly winged sutures; nut slightly compressed, rounded at base, abruptly narrowed and acute at apex, 4-angled above the middle or nearly to the base, dark reddish brown, conspicuously reticulate-venulose with pale veins, with a shell about ⅛′ thick; in drying often cracking longitudinally between the angles; seed small and sweet.

A tree, usually 30°—45° or rarely 60° high, with a trunk 12′—24′ in diameter, large spreading often drooping more or less contorted branches forming a narrow head, and slender light red-brown branchlets marked by pale lenticels, more or less densely rusty pubescent during their first season and dark gray-brown and glabrous or nearly glabrous the following year. Winter-buds ovoid, covered with rusty pubescence mixed with silvery scales, furnished at apex with long pale hairs; the terminal bud abruptly contracted and long-pointed at apex, ⅖′—½′ in length and ¼′—⅓′ in diameter, and 2 or 3 times larger than the flattened acute lateral buds. Bark thick, deeply furrowed, rough, dark often nearly black. Wood hard, brittle, little used except for fuel.

Distribution. Dry sandy uplands with Post and Black Jack Oaks; northern and eastern Texas (Grayson, Cherokee, San Augustine and Atascosa Counties), and in central Oklahoma (dry sand hills, Muskogee County).

Carya Buckleyi var. arkansana Sarg.

Carya arkansana Sarg.

Differing from Carya Buckleyi in the shape of the fruit and sometimes in the bark of the trunk. Fruit obovoid, rounded at apex, rounded or gradually narrowed or abruptly contracted into a more or less developed stipe at base, or ellipsoidal, or ovoid and rounded at the ends, ⅘′—1½′ in length and in diameter, with a husk 1/12′—⅙′ thick, splitting to the middle or nearly to the base by slightly winged sutures; nut oblong to slightly obovoid, rounded at the ends, compressed, slightly 4-angled occasionally to the middle, pale brown, with a shell ⅙′—⅕′ in thickness; seed small and sweet.

A tree from 60°—75° high, with a trunk 2° in diameter; southward usually much smaller. Bark on some trees dark gray, irregularly fissured, separating into thin scales, and on others close, nearly black and deeply divided into rough ridges.

Distribution. Dry hillsides, rocky ridges, or southward on sandy upland; southwestern Indiana (Knox County), southern Illinois, northeastern Missouri and southward through Missouri and Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma, western Louisiana and northern and eastern Texas to the valley of the Atascosa River, Atascosa County; the common Hickory of the Ozark Mountain region, Arkansas, and here abundant on dry rocky ridges at altitudes of 1200°—1800°; in Texas the common Hickory from the coast to the base of the Edwards Plateau; trees with the smallest fruit northward; those with the largest fruit with thickest husks in Louisiana, and in southern Arkansas (f. pachylemma Sarg.), a tree with slender nearly glabrous branchlets, deeply fissured pale gray bark, rusty pubescent winter-buds and fruit 2½′ long and 2′ in diameter, with a husk ½′ in thickness.

Carya Buckleyi var. villosa Sarg.

Hicoria glabra var. villosa Sarg. Hicoria villosa Ashe. Carya villosa Schn. Carya glabra var. villosa Robins.

Leaves 6′—10′ long, with slender petioles and rachis pubescent with fascicled hairs early in the season, generally becoming glabrous, and 5—7, usually 7, lanceolate to oblanceolate finely serrate leaflets long-pointed and acuminate at apex, cuneate or rounded and often unsymmetrical at base, sessile or the terminal leaflet sometimes short-stalked, dark green and glabrous above, pale and pubescent below, the lower side of the midrib often covered with fascicled hairs, the upper leaflets 3′—4′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, and twice as long as those of the lowest pair. Flowers: staminate in aments pubescent with fascicled hairs, 4′—8′ long, pubescent, their bract acuminate, not much longer than the rounded calyx-lobes; pistillate in 1 or 2-flowered spikes, rusty pubescent, slightly angled. Fruit obovoid to ellipsoidal, rounded at apex, cuneate and often abruptly narrowed into a stipitate base, rusty pubescent and covered with scattered yellow scales, about 1′ long and ¾′ in diameter, with a husk 1/12′ in thickness, splitting tardily to the base by 1 or 2 sutures or indehiscent; nut ovoid, rounded at base, pointed at apex, only slightly angled, faintly tinged with red, with a shell rarely more than 1/12′ in thickness; seed small and sweet.

A tree 30°—40° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, stout often contorted branches and slender branchlets covered at first with rusty pubescence mixed with fascicled hairs and pubescent or glabrous during their first winter. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, covered with rusty pubescence mixed with yellow scales, often furnished near the apex with tufts of white hairs, the terminal ¼′ long and about twice as large as the compressed axillary buds.

Distribution. Dry rocky hills, Allenton, Saint Louis County, Missouri. Distinct from other forms of Carya Buckleyi in the often indehiscent fruit and more numerous and longer fascicled hairs, and possibly better considered a species.

IX. BETULACEÆ.

Trees, with sweet watery juice, without terminal buds, their slender terete branchlets marked by numerous pale lenticels and lengthening by one of the upper axillary buds formed in early summer, and alternate simple penniveined usually doubly serrate deciduous stalked leaves, obliquely plicately folded along the primary veins, their petioles in falling leaving small semioval slightly oblique scars showing three equidistant fibro-vascular bundle-scars; stipules inclosing the leaf in the bud, fugacious. Flowers vernal, appearing with or before the unfolding of the leaves, or rarely autumnal, monœcious, the staminate 1—3 together in the axils of the scales of an elongated pendulous lateral ament and composed of a 2—4-parted membranaceous calyx and 2—20 stamens inserted on a receptacle, with distinct filaments and 2-celled erect extrorse anthers opening longitudinally, or without a calyx, the pistillate in short lateral or capitate aments, with or without a calyx, a 2-celled ovary, narrowed into a short style divided into two elongated branches longer than the scales of the ament and stigmatic on the inner face or at the apex, and a single anatropous pendulous ovule in each cell of the ovary. Fruit a small mostly 1-celled 1-seeded nut, the outer layer of the shell light brown, thin and membranaceous, the inner thick, hard, and bony. Seed solitary by abortion, filling the cavity of the nut, suspended, without albumen, its coat membranaceous, light chestnut-brown; cotyledons thick and fleshy, much longer than the short superior radicle turned toward the minute hilum.

Of the six genera, all confined to the northern hemisphere, five are found in North America; of these only Corylus is shrubby.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.

Scales of the pistillate ament deciduous; nut wingless, more or less inclosed in an involucre formed by the enlargement of the bract and bractlets of the flower; staminate flowers solitary in the axils of the scales of the ament; calyx 0; pistillate flowers with a calyx. Staminate aments covered during the winter: involucre of the fruit flat, 3-cleft, foliaceous. 1. Carpinus. Staminate aments naked during the winter: involucre of the fruit bladder-like, closed. 2. Ostrya. Scales of the pistillate ament persistent and forming a woody strobile; nut without an involucre, more or less broadly winged; staminate flowers 3—6 together in the axils of the scales of the ament; calyx present; pistillate flowers without a calyx. Pistillate aments solitary, their scales 3-lobed, becoming thin, brown, and woody, deciduous; stamens 2; filaments 2-branched, each division bearing a half-anther; winter-buds covered by imbricated scales. 3. Betula. Pistillate aments racemose, their scales erose or 5-toothed, becoming thick, woody, and dark-colored, persistent; stamens 1—3 or 4; filaments simple; wings of the nut often reduced to a narrow border; winter-buds without scales. 4. Alnus.

1. CARPINUS L. Hornbeam.

Trees, with smooth close bark, hard strong close-grained wood, elongated conic buds covered by numerous imbricated scales, the inner lengthening after the opening of the buds. Leaves open and concave in the bud, ovate, acute, often cordate; stipules strap-shaped to oblong-obovate. Flowers: staminate in aments emerging in very early spring from buds produced the previous season near the ends of short lateral branchlets of the year and inclosed during the winter, composed of 3—20 stamens crowded on a pilose receptacle adnate to the base of a nearly sessile ovate acute coriaceous scale longer than the stamens; filaments short, slender, 2-branched, each branch bearing a 1-celled oblong yellow half-anther hairy at the apex; pistillate in lax semi-erect aments terminal on leafy branches of the year, in pairs at the base of an ovate acute leafy deciduous scale, each flower subtended by a small acute bract with two minute bractlets at its base; calyx adnate to the ovary and dentate on the free narrow border. Nut ovoid, acute, compressed, conspicuously longitudinally ribbed, bearing at the apex the remnants of the calyx, marked on the broad base by a large pale scar and separating at maturity in the autumn from the leaf-like 3-lobed conspicuously serrate green involucre formed by the enlargement of the bract and bractlets of the flower and inclosing only the base of the nut, fully grown at mid-summer and loosely imbricated into a long-stalked open cluster. (Eucarpinus.)

Carpinus is confined to the northern hemisphere, and is distributed from the Province of Quebec through the eastern United States to the highlands of Central America in the New World, and from Sweden to southern Europe, Asia Minor, the temperate Himalayas, Korea, southern China, Japan and Formosa in the Old World. Fifteen or sixteen species are recognized. Of the exotic species, the European and west Asian Carpinus Betulus L. is frequently planted as an ornamental tree in the northeastern United States, where some of the species of eastern Asia promise to become valuable.

Carpinus is the classical name of the Hornbeam.

1. Carpinus caroliniana Walt. Hornbeam. Blue Beech.

Leaves often somewhat falcate, long-pointed, sharply doubly serrate with stout spreading glandular teeth, except at the rounded or wedge-shaped often unequal base, pale bronze-green, and covered with long white hairs when they unfold, at maturity thin and firm, pale dull blue-green above, light yellow-green and glabrous or puberulous below, with small tufts of white hairs in the axils of the veins, 2′—4′ long, 1′—1¾′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib, numerous slender veins deeply impressed and conspicuous above, and prominent cross veinlets; turning deep scarlet and orange color late in the autumn; petioles slender, terete, hairy, about ⅓′ long, bright red while young; stipules ovate-lanceolate, acute, pubescent, hairy on the margins, bright red below, light yellow-green at the apex, ⅓′ long. Flowers: staminate aments 1½′ long when fully grown, with broadly ovate acute boat-shaped scales green below the middle, bright red above; pistillate aments ½′—¾′ long, with ovate acute hairy green scales; styles scarlet. Fruit: nut ⅓′ long, its involucre short-stalked, with one of the lateral lobes often wanting, coarsely serrate, but usually on one margin only of the middle lobe, 1′—1½′ long, nearly 1′ wide, crowded on slender terete pubescent red-brown stems 5′—6′ in length.

A bushy tree, rarely 40° high, with a short fluted trunk occasionally 2° in diameter, long slightly zigzag slender tough spreading branches pendulous toward the ends, and furnished with numerous short thin lateral branches growing at acute angles, and branchlets at first pale green coated with long white silky hairs, orange-brown and sometimes slightly pilose during the summer, becoming dark red and lustrous during their first winter and ultimately dull gray tinged with red. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, about ⅛′ long, with ovate acute chestnut-brown scales white and scarious on the margins. Bark light gray-brown, sometimes marked with broad dark brown horizontal bands, 1/16′—⅛′ thick. Wood light brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; sometimes used for levers, the handles of tools, and other small articles.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps, generally in deep rich moist soil; Nova Scotia and southern and western Quebec to the northern shores of Georgian Bay, southward to the shores of Indian River and those of Tampa Bay, Florida, and westward to central Minnesota, eastern Iowa (Sharpy County), eastern Nebraska (reported), eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas; reappearing on the mountains of southern Mexico and Central America; common in the eastern and central states; most abundant and of its largest size on the western slopes of the southern Alleghany Mountains and in southern Arkansas and eastern Texas.

2. OSTRYA Scop. Hop Hornbeam.

Trees, with scaly bark, heavy hard strong close-grained wood, and acute elongated winter-buds formed in early summer and covered by numerous imbricated scales, the inner lengthening after the opening of the bud. Leaves open and concave in the bud; petioles slender, nearly terete, hairy; stipules strap-shaped to oblong-obovate. Flowers: staminate in long clustered sessile or short-stalked aments developed in early summer from lateral buds near the ends of short lateral branchlets of the year and coated while young with hoary tomentum, naked and conspicuous during the winter, and composed of 3—14 stamens crowded on a pilose receptacle adnate to the base of an ovate concave scale rounded and abruptly short-pointed at the apex, ciliate on the margins, longer than the stamens; filaments short, 2-branched, each branch bearing a 1-celled half-anther hairy at the apex; pistillate in erect lax aments terminal on short leafy branches of the year, in pairs at the base of an elongated ovate acute leaf-like ciliate scale persistent until midsummer, each flower inclosed in a hairy sack-like involucre formed by the union of a bract and 2 bractlets; calyx adnate to the ovary, denticulate on the free narrow border. Nut ovoid, acute, flattened, obscurely longitudinally ribbed, crowned with the remnants of the calyx, marked at the narrow base by a small circular pale scar, inclosed in the much enlarged pale membranaceous conspicuously longitudinally veined reticulate-venulose involucres of the flower, short, pointed and hairy at the apex, hirsute at the base, with sharp rigid stinging hairs, imbricated into a short strobile fully grown at midsummer, and suspended on a slender hairy stem.

Ostrya is widely distributed in the northern hemisphere from Nova Scotia to Texas, northern Arizona, and to the highlands of southern Mexico and Guatemala in the New World, and through southern Europe and southwestern Asia, and in northern Japan and on the Island of Quelpart in the Old World. Of the four species now recognized two are North American.

Ostrya is the classical name of the Hop Hornbeam.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate or acute at apex. 1. O. virginiana (A, C). Leaves elliptic or obovate, acute or rounded at apex. 2. O. Knowltonii (F).

1. Ostrya virginiana K. Koch. Hop Hornbeam. Ironwood.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, gradually narrowed into a long slender point or acute at apex, narrowed and rounded, cordate, or wedge-shaped at the often unequal base, sharply serrate, with slender incurved callous teeth terminating at first in tufts of caducous hairs, when they unfold light bronze-green, glabrous above and coated below on the midrib and primary veins with long pale hairs, at maturity thin and extremely tough, dark dull yellow-green above, light yellow-green and furnished with conspicuous tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the veins below, 3′—5′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, with a slender midrib impressed and puberulous above, light yellow and pubescent below, and numerous slender veins forked near the margins; turning clear yellow before falling in the autumn; petioles hairy about ¼′ long; stipules rounded and often short-pointed at apex, ciliate on the margins with long pale hairs, hairy on the back, about ½′ long and ⅛′ wide. Flowers: staminate aments about ½′ long during their first season, with light red-brown rather loosely imbricated scales narrowed into a long slender point, becoming when the flowers open 2′ long, with broadly obovate scales rounded and abruptly contracted at apex into a short point, ciliate on the margins, green tinged with red above the middle, light brown toward the base; pistillate aments slender, about ¼′ long, on thin hairy stems, their scales lanceolate, acute, light green, often flushed with red above the middle, hirsute at the apex, decreasing in size from the lowest. Fruit: nuts ⅓′ long, about ⅛′ wide, rather abruptly narrowed below the apex, their involucres in clusters 1½′—2′ long and ⅔′—1′ wide, on slender hairy stems about 1′ in length.

A tree, occasionally 50°—60° high, with a short trunk 2° in diameter, usually not more than 20°—30° tall, with a trunk 18′—20′ thick, long slender branches drooping at the ends and forming a round-topped or open head frequently 50° across, and slender, very tough branchlets, light green, coated with pale appressed hairs when they first appear, becoming light orange color and very lustrous by midsummer, glabrous, dark red-brown and lustrous during their first winter, and then growing gradually darker brown and losing their lustre; or covered like the petioles and peduncles with short erect glandular hairs (var. glandulosa Sarg.). Winter-buds ovoid, light chestnut-brown, slightly puberulous, ¼′ long. Bark about ¼′ thick, broken into thick narrow oblong closely appressed plate-like light brown scales slightly tinged with red on the surface. Wood strong, hard, tough, durable, light brown tinged with red or often nearly white, with thick pale sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; used for fence-posts, handles of tools, mallets, and other small articles.

Distribution. Dry gravelly slopes and ridges often in the shade of oaks and other large trees; Island of Cape Breton and the shores of the Bay of Chaleur, through the valley of the St. Lawrence River, and along the northern shores of Lake Huron to western Ontario, Manitoba, Minnesota, eastern North Dakota, the foothills of the Black Hills of South Dakota, eastern, northern and northwestern Nebraska, eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, and southward to northern Florida and eastern Texas; most abundant and of its largest size in southern Arkansas and in Texas. From Quebec and Ontario to western New England, western New York, Ohio and in Central Michigan, the glandular form prevails: the two forms occur in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, northern Illinois, southwestern Missouri, Oklahoma, and southward on the high Appalachian Mountains.

2. Ostrya Knowltonii Cov. Ironwood.

Leaves elliptic to obovate, acute or round at apex, gradually narrowed and often unequal at the rounded cuneate rarely cordate base, sharply serrate with small triangular callous teeth, covered with loose pale tomentum when they unfold, at maturity dark yellow-green and pilose above, pale and soft-pubescent below, 1′—2′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib slightly raised on the upper side, and slender primary veins connected by obscure reticulate veinlets; turning dull yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles ⅛′—¼′ long; stipules pale yellow-green, often tinged with red toward the apex, ½′ long, about ½′ wide. Flowers: staminate aments on stout stalks covered with rufous tomentum and sometimes ½′ long, rarely sessile, about ½′ long during their first season, with dark brown puberulous scales gradually contracted into a long slender subulate point, becoming when the flowers open 1′—1¼′ long, with broadly ovate concave scales abruptly narrowed into a nearly triangular point, yellow-green near the base, bright red above the middle; pistillate aments about ¼′ long, with ovate-lanceolate light yellow-green puberulous scales ciliate on the margins. Fruit: nuts ¼′ long, gradually narrowed at the apex, their involucres 1′ long, nearly glabrous at the apex, sometimes slightly stained with red toward the base, in clusters 1′—1½′ long and about ¾′ broad, on stems ½′ in length.

A tree 20°—30° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, usually divided 1° or 2° above the ground into 3 or 4 stout upright stems 4′—5′ thick, slender pendulous often much contorted branches forming a narrow round-topped symmetrical head, and slender branchlets dark green and coated with hoary tomentum when they first appear, dark red-brown and pubescent during their first summer, becoming light cinnamon-brown, glabrous, and lustrous in the winter, and ultimately ashy gray. Winter-buds ovoid, dark brownish red, about ⅛′ long. Bark internally bright orange color, ⅛′ thick, separating into loose hanging plate-like scales light gray slightly tinged with red, and 1′—2′ long and wide. Wood light reddish brown, with thin sapwood.

Distribution. On the southern slope of the cañon of the Colorado River in Coconino County, Arizona, at altitudes of 6000°—7000° above the sea (Hance trail, seventy miles north of Flagstaff); in the cañon of Oak Creek, south of Flagstaff (P. Lowell); and on Grand River, Utah (Moab, Grant County, M. E. Jones).

3. BETULA L. Birch.

Trees, with smooth resinous bark marked by long longitudinal lenticels, often separating freely into thin papery plates, becoming thick, deeply furrowed, and scaly at the base of old trunks, short slender branches more or less erect and forming on young trees a narrow symmetrical pyramidal head, becoming horizontal and often pendulous on older trees, tough branchlets, short stout spur-like 2-leaved lateral branchlets much roughened by the crowded leaf-scars of many years, and elongated winter-buds covered by numerous ovate acute scales, and fully grown and bright green at midsummer. Leaves open and convex in the bud, often incisely lobed; stipules ovate and acute or oblong-obovate, scarious. Flowers in 3-flowered cymes, the lateral flowers of the cyme subtended by bractlets adnate to the base of the scale of the ament; staminate aments long, pendulous, solitary or clustered, appearing in summer or autumn in the axils of the last leaves of a branchlet or near the ends of short lateral branchlets, erect and naked during the winter, their scales in the spring broadly ovate, rounded, short-stalked, yellow or orange-color below the middle and dark chestnut-brown and lustrous above it; staminate flowers composed of a membranaceous 4-lobed calyx often 2-lobed by suppression, the anterior lobe obovate, rounded at apex, as long as the stamens, much longer than the minute posterior lobe, and of 2 stamens inserted on the base of the calyx, with short 2-branched filaments, each branch bearing an erect half-anther; pistillate aments oblong or cylindric, terminal on the short spur-like lateral branchlets, their scales closely imbricated, oblong-ovate, 3-lobed, light yellow, often tinged with red above the middle, accrescent, becoming brown and woody at maturity, and forming sessile or stalked erect or pendulous short or elongated strobiles usually ripening in the autumn, deciduous with the nuts from the slender rachis; calyx of the pistillate flower 0; ovary sessile, compressed, with styles stigmatic at apex. Nut minute, oval or obovoid, compressed, bearing at the apex the persistent stigmas, marked at the base by a small pale scar, the outer coat of the shell produced into a marginal wing interrupted at the apex.

Betula is widely distributed from the Arctic circle to Texas in the New World, and to southern Europe, the Himalayas, China, and Japan in the Old World, some species forming great forests at the north, or covering high mountain slopes. Of the twenty-eight or thirty species now recognized twelve are found in North America; of these nine are trees. Of exotic species the European and Asiatic Betula pendula Roth. in a number of forms is a common ornamental tree in the northern states, where several of the Birch-trees of eastern Asia also flourish. Many of the species produce wood valued by the cabinet-maker, or used in the manufacture of spools, shoe-lasts, and other small articles. The thin layers of the bark are impervious to water and are used to cover buildings, and for shoes, canoes, and boxes. The sweet sap provides an agreeable beverage.

Betula is the classical name of the Birch-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Strobiles oblong-ovoid, nearly sessile, erect, the lateral lobes of their scales broad and slightly divergent; wing not broader than the nut; leaves with 9—11 pairs of veins; bark of young branches aromatic. Leaves heart-shaped or rounded at base; scales of the strobiles glabrous; bark dark brown, not separating into thin layers. 1. B. lenta (A, C). Leaves cuneate or slightly heart-shaped at base; scales of the strobiles pubescent; bark yellow, or silvery white, rarely dull yellowish brown; separating into thin layers. 2. B. lutea (A). Strobiles oblong or cylindric, erect, spreading or pendant, on slender peduncles; wing broader than the nut; leaves with 5—9 pairs of veins. Strobiles oblong, erect, ripening in May or June, their scales pubescent, deeply lobed, the lateral lobes erect; leaves rhombic-ovate, glaucescent and more or less silky-pubescent beneath; bark light reddish-brown, separating freely into thin persistent scales. 3. B. nigra (A, C). Strobiles cylindric, pendant or spreading. Scales of the strobiles pubescent, with recurved lateral lobes, the middle lobe triangular, nearly as broad as long; leaves long-pointed; petioles slender, elongated. Leaves triangular to rhombic, bright green and lustrous; bark chalky white, not separable into thin layers. 4. B. populifolia (A). Leaves ovate, cuneate to truncate or rounded at base, dull blue-green; bark white tinged with pink, lustrous, not easily separable into thin layers. 5. B. cœrulea (A). Scales of the strobiles with ascending or spreading lateral lobes, the middle lobe usually acuminate, longer than broad; leaves acute or acuminate. Bark separating freely into thin layers; scales of the strobiles glabrous. Bark creamy white, or in some forms orange-brown; leaves ovate. 6. B. papyrifera (A, B, C, F). Bark dull reddish brown or nearly white; leaves rhombic to deltoid-ovate. 7. B. alaskana (A, B). Bark not separable into thin layers, dark brown; scales of the strobiles glabrous or puberulous; branchlets glandular. Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, truncate or rounded at the broad base. 8. B. fontinalis (B, F, G). Leaves broad-ovate to elliptic, acute, rounded or abruptly short-pointed, cuneate at base. 9. B. Eastwoodæ (F).

1. Betula lenta L. Cherry Birch. Black Birch.

Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, acute or acuminate, gradually narrowed and often unequal at the cordate or rounded base, sharply serrate with slender incurved teeth, or very rarely laciniately lobed (f. laciniata Rehdr.), when they unfold light green, coated on the lower surface with long white silky hairs, and slightly hairy on the upper surface, at maturity thin and membranaceous, dark dull green above, light yellow-green below, with small tufts of white hairs in the axils of the veins, 2½′—6′ long, 1½′—3′ wide, with a yellow midrib and primary veins prominent and hairy on the lower surface, and obscure reticulate cross veinlets; turning bright clear yellow late in the autumn; petioles stout, hairy, deeply grooved on the upper side, ¾′—1′ long; stipules ovate, acute, light green or nearly white, scarious and ciliate above the middle. Flowers: staminate aments during the winter about ¾′ long, nearly ¼′ thick, with ovate acute apiculate scales bright red-brown above the middle and light brown below it, becoming 3′—4′ long; pistillate aments ½′—¾′ long, about ⅛′ thick, with ovate pale green scales rounded at the apex; styles light pink. Fruit: strobiles oblong-ovoid, sessile, erect, glabrous, 1′—1½′ long, about ½′ thick; nut obovoid, pointed at base, rounded at apex, about as broad as its wing.

A tree, with aromatic bark and leaves, 70°—80° high, with a trunk 2°—5° in diameter, slender branches spreading almost at right angles, becoming pendulous toward the ends and gradually forming a narrow round-topped open graceful head, and branchlets light green, slightly viscid and pilose when they first appear, soon turning dark orange-brown, lustrous during the summer, bright red-brown in their first winter, becoming darker and finally dark dull brown slightly tinged with red. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, about ¼′ long, with ovate acute light chestnut-brown loosely imbricated scales, those of the inner ranks becoming ½′—¾′ long. Bark on young stems and branches close, smooth, lustrous, dark brown tinged with red, and marked by elongated horizontal pale lenticels, becoming on old trunks ½′—¾′ thick, dull, deeply furrowed and broken into large thick irregular plates covered with closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, very strong and hard, close-grained, dark brown tinged with red, with thin light brown or yellow sapwood of 70—80 layers of annual growth; largely used for floors, in the manufacture of furniture and for fuel, and occasionally in ship and boat-building. Sweet birch-oil distilled from the wood and bark is used for medicinal purposes and for flavoring as a substitute for oil of wintergreen, and beer is obtained by fermenting the sugary sap.

Distribution. Rich uplands from southern Maine to northwestern Vermont, and eastern Ohio and southward to northern Delaware and along the Appalachian Mountains up to altitudes of 4000° to northern Georgia; in Alabama, and in eastern Kentucky and Tennessee; a common forest tree at the north, and of its largest size on the western slopes of the southern Alleghany Mountains.

× Betula Jackii Schn., a natural hybrid of B. lenta with B. pumila Michx., has appeared in the Arnold Arboretum.

2. Betula lutea Michx. Yellow Birch. Gray Birch.

Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, acuminate or acute at apex, gradually narrowed to the rounded cuneate or rarely heart-shaped usually oblique base, sharply doubly serrate, when they unfold bronze-green or red, and pilose with long pale hairs above and on the under side of the midrib and veins, at maturity dull dark green above, yellow-green below, 3′—4½′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, with a stout midrib and primary veins covered below near the base of the leaf with short pale or rufous hairs; turning clear bright yellow in the autumn; petioles slender, pale yellow, hairy, ¾′—1′ long; stipules ovate, acute, light green tinged with pink above the middle, about ½′ long. Flowers: staminate aments during the winter ¾′—1′ long, about ⅛′ thick, with ovate rounded scales light chestnut-brown and lustrous above the middle, ciliate on the margins, becoming 3′—3½′ long and ⅓′ thick; pistillate aments about ⅔′ long, with acute scales, pale green below, light red and tipped with clusters of long white hair at apex, and pilose on the back. Fruit: strobiles erect, sessile, short-stalked, pubescent, 1′—1½′ long, about ¾′ thick; nut ellipsoidal to obovoid, about ⅛′ long, rather broader than its wing.

A tree, with slightly aromatic bark and leaves, occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, spreading and more or less pendulous branches forming a broad round-topped head, and branchlets at first green and covered with long pale hairs, light orange-brown and pilose during their first summer, becoming glabrous and light brown slightly tinged with orange, and ultimately dull and darker. Winter-buds about ¼′ long, somewhat viscid and covered with loose pale hairs during the summer, becoming light chestnut-brown, acute, and slightly puberulous in winter. Bark of young stems and of the branches bright silvery gray or light orange color, very lustrous, separating into thin loose persistent scales more or less rolled on the margins, becoming on old trees ½′ thick, reddish brown, and divided by narrow irregular fissures into large thin plates covered with minute closely appressed scales, or sometimes dull yellowish brown (B. alleghaniensis Britt.). Wood heavy, very strong, hard, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thin nearly white sapwood; largely used for floors, in the manufacture of furniture, button and tassel moulds, boxes, the hubs of wheels, and for fuel.

Distribution. Moist uplands, and southward often in swamps; one of the largest deciduous-leaved trees of northeastern America; Newfoundland and along the northern shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the valley of Rainy River, and southward to Long Island (Cold Spring Harbor) and western New York, Pennsylvania, northern Delaware, southeastern Ohio, northern Indiana, southwestern Wisconsin, northern, northeastern and central Iowa, and from the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia to the highest peaks of North Carolina and Tennessee at altitudes between 3000° and 5000°; very abundant and of its largest size in the eastern provinces of Canada and in northern New York and New England; small and rare in southern New England and southward.

× Betula Purpusii Schn. believed to be a natural hybrid of B. lutea with B. pumila var. glandulifera Regel has been found in Michigan and in Tamarack Swamps in Hennepin, Pine and Anoka Counties, Minnesota.

3. Betula nigra L. Red Birch. River Birch.

Leaves rhombic-ovate, acute, abruptly or gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, doubly serrate, and on vigorous young branches often more or less laciniately cut into acute doubly serrate lobes, when they unfold light yellow-green and pilose above and coated below, especially on the midrib and petioles, with thick white tomentum, at maturity thin and tough, 1½′—3′ long, 1′—2′ wide, deep green and lustrous above, glabrescent, pubescent or ultimately glabrous below, except on the stout midrib and remote primary veins; turning dull yellow in the autumn; petioles slender, slightly flattened, tomentose, about ½′ long; stipules ovate, rounded or acute at apex, pale green, covered below with white hairs. Flowers: staminate aments clustered, during the winter about ⅞ long and 1/16′ thick, with ovate rounded dull chestnut-brown lustrous scales, becoming 2′—3′ long and ⅛′ thick; pistillate aments about ⅓′ long, with bright green ovate scales pubescent on the back, rounded or acute at apex, and ciliate with long white hairs. Fruit ripening in May and June; strobiles cylindric, pubescent, 1′—1½′ long, ½′ thick, erect on stout tomentose peduncles ½′ long; nut ovoid to ellipsoidal, ⅛′ in length, pubescent or puberulous at apex, about as broad as its thin puberulous wing, ciliate on the margin.

A tree, 80°—90° high, with a trunk often divided 15°—20° above the ground into 2 or 3 slightly diverging limbs, and sometimes 5° in diameter, slender branches forming in old age a narrow irregular picturesque crown, and branchlets coated at first with thick pale or slightly rufous tomentum gradually disappearing before winter, becoming dark red and lustrous, dull red-brown in their second year, and then gradually growing slightly darker until the bark separates into the thin flakes of the older branches; or often sending up from the ground a clump of several small spreading stems forming a low bushy tree. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, about ¼′ long, covered in summer with thick pale tomentum, glabrous or slightly puberulous, lustrous and bright chestnut-brown in winter, the inner scales strap-shaped, light brown tinged with red, and coated with pale hairs. Bark on young stems and large branches thin, lustrous, light reddish brown or silvery gray, marked by narrow slightly darker longitudinal lenticels, separating freely into large thin papery scales persistent for several years, and turning back and showing the light pink-brown tints of the freshly exposed inner layers, becoming at the base of old trunks from ¾′—1′ thick, dark red-brown, deeply furrowed and broken on the surface into thick closely appressed scales. Wood light, rather hard, strong, close-grained, light brown, with pale sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; used in the manufacture of furniture, wooden ware, wooden shoes, and in turnery.

Distribution. Banks of streams, ponds, and swamps, in deep rich soil often inundated for several weeks at a time; near Manchester, Hillsboro County, New Hampshire, northeastern Massachusetts, Long Island, New York, southward to northern Florida through the region east of the Alleghany Mountains except in the immediate neighborhood of the coast, through the Gulf states to the valley of the Navasota River, Brazos County, Texas, and through Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, southeastern Kansas, and Missouri to Tennessee and Kentucky, southern and eastern Iowa, southern Minnesota, the valley of the Eau Claire River, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, southern Illinois, the valley of the Kankakee River, Indiana, and southern Ohio; the only semiaquatic species and the only species ripening its seeds in the spring or early summer; attaining its largest size in the damp semitropical lowlands of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas; the only Birch-tree of such warm regions.

Often cultivated in the northeastern states as an ornamental tree, growing rapidly in cultivation.

4. Betula populifolia Marsh. Gray Birch. White Birch.

Leaves nearly triangular to rhombic, long-pointed, coarsely doubly serrate with stout spreading glandular teeth except at the broad truncate or slightly cordate or cuneate base, thin and firm, dark green and lustrous and somewhat roughened on the upper surface early in the season by small pale glands in the axils of the conspicuous reticulate veinlets, 2½′—3′ long, 1½′—2½′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib covered with minute glands, and raised and rounded on the upper side, and obscure yellow primary veins; turning pale yellow in the autumn; petioles slender, terete, covered with black glands, often stained with red on the upper side, ¾′—1′ long; stipules broadly ovate, acute, membranaceous, light green slightly tinged with red. Flowers: staminate aments usually solitary or rarely in pairs, 1¼′—1½′ long, about ⅛′ thick during the winter, becoming 2½′—4′ long, with ovate acute apiculate scales; pistillate aments slender, as long as their glandular peduncles about ½′ in length, with ovate acute pale green glandular scales. Fruit: strobiles cylindric, pubescent, obtuse at apex, about ¾′ long and ⅓′ thick, pendant or spreading on slender stems; nut ellipsoidal to obovoid, acute or rounded at base, a little narrower than its obovate wing.

A short-lived tree, 20°—30° or exceptionally 40° high, with a trunk rarely 18′ in diameter, short slender often pendulous more or less contorted branches usually clothing the stem to the ground and forming a narrow pyramidal head, and branchlets roughened by small raised lenticels, resinous-glandular when they first appear, gradually growing darker, bright yellow and lustrous before autumn like the young stems, bright reddish brown during their first winter, and ultimately white near the trunk; often growing in clusters of spreading stems springing from the stumps of old trees. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, pale chestnut-brown, glabrous, about ¼′ long. Bark about ⅓′ thick, dull chalky white on the outer surface, bright orange on the inner, close and firm, with dark triangular markings at the insertion of the branches, becoming at the base of old trees thicker, nearly black, and irregularly broken by shallow fissures. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, not durable, light brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; used in the manufacture of spools, shoe-pegs and wood pulp, for the hoops of barrels, and largely for fuel.

Distribution. Dry gravelly barren soil or on the margins of swamps and ponds; Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the valley of the lower St. Lawrence River southward to northeastern, central and on South Mountain, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and northern Delaware, and westward through northern New England and New York, ascending sometimes to altitudes of 1800°, to the southern shores of Lake Ontario, and at the foot of Lake Michigan, Indiana; rare and local in the interior, very abundant in the coast region of New England and the middle states; springing up in great numbers on abandoned farm-lands or on lands stripped by fire of their original forest covering; most valuable in its ability to grow rapidly in sterile soil and to afford protection to the seedlings of more valuable and less rapid-growing trees.

A form with deeply divided leaves (var. laciniata Loud.) and one with purple leaves (var. purpurea E & B) are occasionally cultivated.

A shrub believed to be a natural hybrid of B. populifolia with B. pumila Michx. has been found near Mt. Mansfield, Vermont.

5. Betula cœrulea Blanch. Blue Birch.

Leaves ovate, long-pointed, broadly or narrowly concave-cuneate at the entire often unequal base, sharply mostly doubly serrate above with straight or incurved glandular often apiculate teeth, covered above when they unfold with pale deciduous glands, at maturity dull bluish green above, pale yellow-green below, and sparingly villose along the under side of the slender yellow midrib and primary veins, 2′—2½′ long, 1′—1½′ wide; petioles slender, ¾′—1¼′ long, yellow more or less deeply tinged with red. Flowers: staminate aments usually in pairs, or singly or in 3’s, 1¼′—2′ long, about 3/16′ thick, with ovate rounded short-pointed scales; pistillate aments slender, about ⅓′ long, with acuminate pale green much reflexed scales. Fruit: strobiles cylindric, pubescent, slightly narrowed at the obtuse apex, about 1′ long and ¼′ thick, pendant on slender peduncles ¼′—½′ in length; nut ellipsoidal, much narrower than its broad wing.

A tree, rarely more than 30° high, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, small ascending finally spreading branches, and slender branchlets marked by numerous small raised pale lenticels, purplish and sparingly villose when they first appear, soon glabrous, becoming bright red-brown; often forming clumps of several stems. Bark thin, white tinged with rose, lustrous, not readily separable into layers, the inner bark light orange color.

Distribution. Moist slopes, Stratton and Windham, Windham County, Vermont, at altitudes of about 1800° (W. H. Blanchard), Haystack Mountain, Aroostook County, Maine (M. L. Fernald); the American representative of the European Betula pendula Roth., and probably widely distributed over the hills of northern New England and eastern Canada. Perhaps with its variety best considered a natural hybrid between B. papyrifera and B. populifolia.

Apparently passing into a form with larger leaves often rounded and truncate at the broad base, 3′—3½′ long and 2′ wide, stouter staminate aments, and strobiles frequently 1½′ long and ½′ thick (var. Blanchardii Sarg. fig. 198 A). This under favorable conditions is a tree 60°—70° high, with a trunk 18′ in diameter; common with Betula cœrulea at Windham and Stratton, Vermont (W. H. Blanchard), and on a hill near the coast in Washington County, Maine (M. L. Fernald).

6. Betula papyrifera Marsh. Canoe Birch. Paper Birch.

Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate with a short broad point, coarsely usually doubly and often very irregularly serrate except at the rounded abruptly cuneate or gradually narrowed base, bright green, glandular-resinous, pubescent and clothed below on the midrib and primary veins and on the petioles with long white hairs when they unfold, at maturity thick and firm, dull dark green and glandless or rarely glandular on the upper surface, light yellow-green and glabrous or puberulous, with small tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the primary veins and covered with many black glands on the lower surface, 2′—3′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib marked, like the remote primary veins, with minute black glands, turning light clear yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, yellow, glandular, glabrous or pubescent, ½′—¾′ long; stipules ovate, acute, ciliate on the margins with pale hairs, light green. Flowers: staminate aments clustered during the winter, ¾′—1¼′ long, about ⅛′ thick, with ovate, acute scales light brown below the middle, dark red-brown above it, becoming 3½′—4′ long, and about ⅓′ thick; pistillate aments 1′—1¼′ long, about 1/16′ thick, with light green lanceolate scales long-pointed and acute or rounded at apex; styles bright red. Fruit: strobiles cylindric, glabrous, about 1½′ long and ⅓′ thick, hanging on slender stalks, their scales very rarely entire (var. elobata Sarg.); nut ellipsoidal, about 1/16′ long, much narrower than its thin wing.

A tree, usually 60°—70° tall, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, becoming in old age, or when crowded by other trees, branchless below and supporting a narrow open head of short pendulous branches, and branchlets at first light green, slightly viscid, marked by scattered orange-colored oblong lenticels and covered with long pale hairs, dark orange color and glabrous or pubescent during the summer, becoming dull red in their first winter, gradually growing dark orange-brown, lustrous for four or five years and ultimately covered with the white papery bark of older branches. Winter-buds obovoid, acute, about ¼′ long, pubescent below the middle and coated with resinous gum at midsummer, dark chestnut-brown, glabrous and slightly resinous during the winter, their inner scales becoming strap-shaped, rounded at apex, about ½′ long and ⅛′ wide. Bark on young trunks and large limbs thin, creamy white or rarely bronze color or orange-brown and lustrous on the outer surface, bright orange color on the inner, marked by long narrow slightly darker colored raised lenticels, separating into thin papery layers, pale orange color when first exposed to the light, becoming on old trunks for a few feet above the ground sometimes ½′ thick, dull brown or nearly black, sharply and irregularly furrowed and broken on the surface into thick closely appressed scales. Wood light, strong, hard, tough, very close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick nearly white sapwood; largely used for spools, shoe-lasts, pegs, and in turnery, the manufacture of wood-pulp, and for fuel. The tough resinous durable bark impervious to water is used by all the northern Indians to cover their canoes and for baskets, bags, drinking-cups, and other small articles, and often to cover their wigwams in winter.

Distribution. Rich wooded slopes and the borders of streams, lakes, and swamps scattered through forests of other trees; Labrador to the southern shores of Hudson’s Bay, and southward to Long Island, New York, northern Pennsylvania, central Michigan, northern Wisconsin, northern-central Iowa, eastern Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Wyoming; common in the maritime provinces of Canada and North of the Great Lakes, and in northern New England and New York; small and comparatively rare in the coast region of southern New England and southward; on the highest mountains of New England and northward the var. minor S. Wats and Cov. is common as a small shrub.

Often planted in the northeastern states as an ornamental tree.

× Betula Sandbergii Britt. and its f. maxima Rosend. generally believed to be natural hybrids of B. papyrifera and B. pumila var. glandulifera Regl. occur in Tamarack swamps in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Passing into the following varieties.

Betula papyrifera var. cordifolia Fern.

Leaves ovate, abruptly pointed and acuminate or acute at apex, cordate at base, coarsely doubly serrate, glabrous or pilose on the under side of the midrib and veins, often furnished below with axillary tufts of pale hairs, 1½′—3′ long, 1′—2½′ wide; petioles glabrous or rarely villose, ½′—¾′ in length. Fruit: strobiles ¾′—2′ long and ¼′—½′ thick, on villose peduncles up to ¾′ in length; scales glabrous or pubescent.

A tree rarely more than 30° tall, with slender glabrous or pubescent branchlets, and at high altitudes on the New England mountains reduced to a low shrub. Bark separating in thin layers, white or dark reddish brown.

Distribution. Labrador and Newfoundland to northern New England, and westward to the shores of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and those of Lake Superior, Minnesota (Grand Marais, Cook County); on Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina, at an altitude of 5550° (W. W. Ashe).

Betula papyrifera var. subcordata Sarg.

Betula subcordata Rydb.

Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate at apex, slightly cordate or rounded at base, rarely slightly lobed above the middle, finely often doubly serrate with teeth pointing forward or spreading, glabrous, 2′—2½′ long, 1′—1½′ wide; petioles sparingly villose or glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length. Fruit: strobiles drooping on slender peduncles 1′—1½′ long, about ⅓′ thick, their scales puberulous, ciliate on the margins, the middle lobe acute, rather longer than the broad truncate lateral lobes; nut obovoid, cuneate at base, 1/12′ long, narrower than its wings.

A tree 25°—40° or occasionally 60° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, and slightly glandular glabrous red-brown branchlets. Bark separating freely into thin layers, white or occasionally dark reddish brown or orange color.

Distribution. Alberta (Crow Nest Pass, neighborhood of Jasper and Cypress Hills), through northern Montana and Idaho to western Washington, northeastern Oregon (Minum River Valley) and British Columbia.

Betula papyrifera var. montanensis Sarg.

Betula montanensis Butler.

Leaves broadly ovate, acute at apex, truncate or rounded at base to oblong-ovate or lanceolate and long-pointed and acuminate at apex, narrowed and rounded at base, coarsely doubly serrate, thick, dark green above, paler, sparingly pubescent and furnished with conspicuous tufts of axillary hairs below, 3′—5′ long, 2′—2¼′ wide; petioles puberulous, ¾′—1′ in length. Flowers unknown. Fruit: strobiles cylindric, 1¾′—2′ long, ½′ thick, pendent on puberulous peduncles ½′—¾′ in length, their scales puberulous, finely ciliate on the margins, the slender base of those below the middle of the ament rather more than twice as long as the expanded upper portion of the scale.

A tree 40°—50° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, and slender branchlets red-brown, lustrous, marked by small pale lenticels and puberulous during their first season. Winter-buds narrow-obovoid, acuminate, dark red-brown, resinous, ⅓′ long. Bark white, or dark gray or brown.

Distribution. Shore of Yellow Bay, Flathead Lake, Flathead County, Montana, and at Sandpoint, Bonner County, Idaho.

Betula papyrifera var. occidentalis Sarg.

Betula occidentalis Hook.

Leaves ovate, acute, or abruptly acuminate at apex, rounded or occasionally cordate or rarely cuneate at the broad base, coarsely and generally doubly serrate with straight or incurved glandular teeth, thin and firm in texture, dull dark green above, pale yellow-green below, and puberulous on both sides of the stout yellow midrib and slender primary veins, 3′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide; petioles stout, glandular, at first tomentose, ultimately pubescent or puberulous, about ¾′ long; stipules oblong-obovate, rounded and acute or apisculate at apex, ciliate on the margin, puberulous, glandular-viscid. Flowers: staminate aments during the winter about ¾′ long and ⅛′ thick, with ovate scales rounded or abruptly narrowed and acute at apex; puberulous on the outer surface, ciliate on the margins, becoming 3′—4′ long and about ¼′ thick; pistillate aments about 1′ long and 1/16′ thick, with acuminate bright green scales. Fruit: strobiles cylindric, puberulous, spreading, 1¼′—1½′ long, ¼′—½′ thick, on stout peduncles ¾′ in length, their scales ciliate on the margins; nut oval, about 1/16′ in length, and nearly as wide as its wings.

A tree, 100°—120° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, comparatively small branches often pendulous on old trees, and pale orange-brown branchlets more or less glandular and coated with long pale hairs when they first appear, becoming bright orange-brown and nearly destitute of glands during their first winter, and in their second year orange-brown, glabrous, and very lustrous. Winter-buds acute, bright orange-brown, ⅛′—¼′ long, their light brown inner scales sometimes becoming ¾′ in length. Bark thin, marked by long oblong horizontal raised lenticels, dark orange-brown or white, very lustrous, separating freely into thin papery layers displaying in falling the bright orange-yellow inner bark.

Distribution. Banks of streams and lakes; southwestern British Columbia and northwestern Washington and eastward through eastern Washington and northern Idaho to northern Montana west of the continental divide; nowhere common and probably of its largest size on the alluvial banks of the lower Fraser River, and on the islands of Puget Sound.

Betula papyrifera var. kenaica A. Henry. Red Birch. Black Birch.

Betula kenaica Evans.

Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, broadly cuneate or somewhat rounded at the entire base, irregularly coarsely often doubly serrate, glabrous, dark dull green above, pale yellow-green below, 1½′—2′ long, 1′—1¾′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib and 5 pairs of thin primary veins; petioles slender, ¾′—1′ long. Flowers: staminate aments clustered, 1′ long, with ovate acute scales apiculate at apex, puberulous on the outer surface; pistillate aments, ⅓′—½′ long, about 1/16′ thick, on slender glandular pubescent peduncles ½′—¾′ in length; scales acuminate light green strongly reflexed; styles bright red. Fruit: strobiles cylindric, glabrous, 1′ long, their scales ciliate on the margins; nut oval, somewhat narrower than its thin wing.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a trunk 12′—20′ in diameter, wide-spreading branches, stout branchlets marked by numerous small pale lenticels, bright red-brown during 2 or 3 years, gradually becoming darker. Bark thin, more or less furrowed, very dark brown or nearly black near the base of the trunk, grayish white or light reddish brown and separating into thin layers higher on the stem and on the branches.

Distribution. Coast of Alaska from Cook Inlet southward to the head of the Lynn Canal.

7. Betula alaskana Sarg. White Birch.

Leaves rhombic to deltoid-ovate, long-pointed, truncate, rounded or broadly cuneate, or on leading shoots occasionally cordate at the entire base, coarsely and often doubly glandular-serrate, thin, dark green above, pale and yellow-green below, 1½′—3′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a slender midrib and primary veins pubescent or ultimately glabrous below; petioles often bright red, somewhat hairy at first, finally glabrous, about 1′ long; Flowers: staminate aments clustered, sessile, 1′ long, ⅛′ thick, with ovate acuminate scales puberulous on the outer surface, and bright red, with yellow margins; pistillate aments slender, cylindric, glandular, 1′ long, ⅛′ thick, on stout peduncles nearly ½′ in length. Fruit: strobiles glabrous, pendulous or spreading, 1′—1¼′ long, ⅓′—½′ thick, their scales ciliate on the margins; nut oval, narrower than its broad wing.

A tree, usually 30°—40°, occasionally 80°, high, with a trunk 6′—12′ in diameter, slender erect and spreading or pendulous branches, and glabrous bright red-brown branchlets more or less thickly covered during their first year with resinous glands sometimes persistent until the second or third season. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse at the gradually narrowed apex, about ¼′ long, with light red-brown shining outer scales sometimes ciliate on the margins, and oblong rounded scarious inner scales hardly more than ½′ long when fully grown. Bark thin, marked by numerous elongated dark slightly raised lenticels, dull reddish brown or sometimes nearly white on the outer surface, light red on the inner surface, close and firm, finally separable into thin plate-like scales.

Distribution. Valley of the Saskatchewan northwestward to the valley of the Yukon, growing sparingly near the banks of streams in forests of coniferous trees and in large numbers on sunny slopes and hillsides; the common Birch-tree of the Yukon basin.

× Betula commixta Sarg., a shrub, growing on the tundra near Dawson, Yukon Territory, is believed to be a hybrid between B. alaskana and B. glandulosa Michx.

8. Betula fontinalis Sarg. Black Birch.

Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, sharply and often doubly serrate, except at the rounded or abruptly cuneate often unequal base, and sometimes slightly laciniately lobed, pale green, pilose above, and covered by conspicuous resinous glands when they unfold, at maturity thin and firm, dark dull green above, pale yellow-green, rather lustrous and covered by minute glandular dots below, 1′—2′ long, ¾′—1′ wide, with a slender pale midrib, remote glandular veins, and rather conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning dull yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, puberulous, light yellow, glandular-dotted, flattened on the upper side, often flushed with red, ⅓′—½′ long; stipules broadly ovate, acute or rounded at apex, slightly ciliate, bright green, soon becoming pale and scarious. Flowers: staminate aments clustered, ½′—¾′ long and 1/16′ thick during the winter, with ovate acute light chestnut-brown scales pale and slightly ciliate on the margins, becoming 2′—2½′ long, and about ⅛′ thick, with apiculate scales; pistillate aments short-stalked, about ¾′ long, with ovate acute green scales; styles bright red. Fruit: strobiles cylindric, rather obtuse, puberulous or nearly glabrous, 1′—1¼′ long, ½′ thick, erect or pendulous on slender glandular peduncles, ¼′ to nearly ¾′ in length; their scales ciliate, puberulous, the lateral lobes ascending, shorter than the middle lobe; nut ovoid or obovoid, puberulous at apex, nearly as wide as its wing.

A tree 20°—25° high with a short trunk, rarely more than 12′ or 14′ in diameter, ascending spreading and somewhat pendulous branches forming a broad open head, and slender branchlets, when they first appear light green glabrous or puberulous and covered with lustrous resinous glands persistent during their second season, and dark red-brown in their first winter; more commonly shrubby, with many thin spreading stems forming open clusters, 15°—20° high; often much lower, and frequently crowded in almost impenetrable thickets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, very resinous, chestnut-brown, ¼′ long. Bark about ¼′ thick, dark bronze color, very lustrous, marked by pale brown longitudinal lenticels becoming on old trunks often 6′—8′ long and ¼′ wide. Wood soft and strong, light brown, with thick lighter-colored sapwood; sometimes used for fuel and fencing.

Distribution. Moist soil near the banks of streams usually in mountain cañons; generally distributed, although nowhere very common: valley of the Saskatchewan (Saskatoon), Saskatchewan, westward to the basin of the upper Fraser and Pease Rivers, British Columbia, southward along the Rocky Mountains to eastern Utah, northern New Mexico and Arizona, the valleys of the Shasta region and the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, northern California, and eastward in the United States to the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and northwestern Nebraska. Passing into

Betula fontinalis var. Piperi Sarg.

Betula Piperi Britt.

A tree occasionally 50°—60° high with a tall trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, short spreading branches, and usually longer and often narrower strobiles.

Distribution. Spokane, Spokane County, Almota and Pullman, Whitman County, eastern Washington.

9. Betula Eastwoodæ Sarg.

Leaves broad-ovate to elliptic, acute, rounded or abruptly short-pointed at apex, coarsely serrate except at the cuneate base, thick, glabrous, dark green above, pale below, reticulate-venulose, the veinlets more conspicuous on the lower surface, 1′—1½′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous ⅕′—⅓′ in length; stipules scarious, ovate-oblong, rounded at apex. Flowers: staminate aments usually solitary or in pairs, sessile, 1′—1¼′ long, ⅕′ thick, with broadly ovate pubescent dark red scales acute and apiculate at apex; pistillate aments ½′ long, about 1/12′ thick, with acute light green scales. Fruit: strobiles pendulous on peduncles ⅓′—½′ long, cylindric, ¾′ in length, about ⅙′ thick, their scales glabrous longer than broad, the lobes narrowed at the rounded apex, ciliate, the lateral slightly spreading, one third shorter than the terminal lobe.

A tree 18°—20° high, with a trunk rarely more than 6′ in diameter, and slender red glabrous branchlets thickly covered with circular white glands. Bark close, chestnut-brown, marked by conspicuous horizontal white lenticels, about ⅕′ thick.

Distribution. Swamps near Dawson, Yukon Territory, forming jungles with Betula glandulosa Michx., B. alaskana Sarg., and various Willows; as a large shrub in Jasper Park near Jasper, Alberta.

4. ALNUS L. Alder.

Trees and shrubs, with astringent scaly bark, soft straight-grained wood, naked stipitate winter-buds formed in summer and nearly inclosed by the united stipules of the first leaf, becoming thick, resinous, and dark red. Leaves open and convex in the bud, falling without change of color; stipules of all but the first leaf ovate, acute, and scarious. Flowers vernal, or rarely opening in the autumn from aments of the year, in 1—3-flowered cymes in the axils of the peltate short-stalked scales of stalked aments formed in summer or autumn in the axils of the last leaves of the year or of those of minute leafy bracts; staminate aments elongated, pendulous, paniculate, naked and erect during the winter, each staminate flower subtended by 3—5 minute bractlets adnate to the scales of the ament, and composed of a 4-parted calyx, and 1—3 or usually 4 stamens inserted on the base of the calyx opposite its lobes, with short simple filaments; pistillate aments ovoid or oblong, erect, stalked, produced in summer in the axils of the leaves of a branch developed from the axils of an upper leaf of the year, and below the staminate inflorescence, inclosed at first in the stipules of the first leaf, emerging in the autumn and naked during the winter, or remaining covered until early spring; pistillate flowers in pairs, each flower subtended by 2—4 minute bractlets adnate to the fleshy scale of the ament becoming at maturity thick and woody, obovate, 3—5-lobed or truncate at the thickened apex, forming an ovoid or subglobose strobile persistent after the opening of its closely imbricated scales; calyx 0; ovary compressed; nut minute, bright chestnut-brown, ovoid to oblong, flat, bearing at the apex the remnants of the style, marked at the base by a pale scar, the outer coat of the shell produced into lateral wings often reduced to a narrow membranaceous border.

Alnus inhabits swamps, river bottom-lands, and high mountains, and is widely and generally distributed through the northern hemisphere, often forming the most conspicuous feature of vegetation on mountain slopes, ranging at high altitudes southward in the New World through Central America to Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, and to upper Assam and Japan in the Old World. Of the eighteen or twenty species now recognized nine are North American; of these, six attain the size and habit of trees. Of the exotic species, Alnus vulgaris Hill., a common European, north African, and Asiatic timber-tree, was introduced many years ago into the northeastern states, where it has become locally naturalized. The wood of Alnus is very durable in water, and the astringent bark and strobiles are used in tanning leather and in medicine.

Alnus is the classical name of the Alder.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Flowers opening in spring with or after the leaves; stamens 4; pistillate aments inclosed during the winter; wing of the nut broad; leaves ovate, sinuately lobed, lustrous on the lower surface. 1. A. sinuata (B, F, G). Flowers opening in winter or early spring before the unfolding of the leaves; pistillate aments usually naked during the winter. Wing of the nut broad; leaves ovate or elliptic, rusty-pubescent on the lower surface; pistillate aments often inclosed during the winter; stamens 4. 2. A. rubra (B, G). Wing of the nut reduced to a narrow border. Stamens 4; leaves oblong-ovate, glabrous or puberulous on the lower surface. 3. A. tenuifolia (B, F, G). Stamens usually 2, or 3. Leaves ovate or oval. 4. A. rhombifolia (B, F, G). Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute. 5. A. oblongifolia (H). Flowers opening in autumn from aments of the year; stamens 4; wing of the nut reduced to a narrow border; leaves oblong-ovate or obovate, dark green and lustrous above, pale yellow-green below. 6. A. maritima (A).

1. Alnus sinuata Rydb. Alder.

Alnus sitchensis Sarg.

Leaves ovate, acute, full and rounded and often unsymmetrical and somewhat oblique or abruptly narrowed and cuneate at base, divided into numerous short acute lateral lobes, sharply and doubly serrate with straight glandular teeth, glandular-viscid as they unfold, at maturity membranaceous, yellow-green on the upper surface, pale and very lustrous on the lower surface, glabrous, or villose along the under side of the stout midrib with short brown hairs also forming tufts in the axils of the numerous slender primary veins, 3′—6′ long, 1½′—4′ wide; petioles stout, grooved, abruptly enlarged at the base, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules oblong to spatulate, rounded and apiculate at apex, puberulous, about ¼′ long. Flowers: staminate aments sessile, in pairs in the axils of the upper leaves sometimes reduced to small bracts, and single in the axil of the leaf next below, during the winter about ½′ long and ⅛′ thick, with dark red-brown shining puberulous apiculate scales, becoming when the flowers open from spring to midsummer 4′ or 5′ long, with a puberulous light red rachis and ovate acute apiculate 3-flowered scales; calyx-lobes rounded, shorter than the 4 stamens; pistillate aments in elongated panicles, inclosed during winter in buds formed the previous summer in the axils of the leaves of short lateral branchlets, long-pedunculate, ⅓′ long, ⅙′ thick. Fruit: strobiles on slender peduncles in elongated sometimes leafy panicles 4′—6′ in length, oblong, ½′—⅝′ long, about ⅓′ thick, their truncate scales thickened at the apex; nut oval, about as wide as its wings.

A tree, sometimes 40° high, with a trunk 7′—8′ in diameter, short small nearly horizontal branches forming a narrow crown, and slender slightly zigzag branchlets puberulous and very glandular when they first appear, bright orange-brown and lustrous and marked by numerous large pale lenticels during their first season, much roughened during their second year by the elevated crowded leaf-scars, becoming light gray. Winter-buds acuminate, dark purple, covered especially toward the apex with close fine pubescence, about ½′ long. Bark thin bluish gray, with bright red inner bark; often a shrub only a few feet tall spreading into broad thickets.

Distribution. Northwest coast from the borders of the Arctic Circle to the high mountains of northern California; common in the valley of the Yukon and eastward through British Columbia to Alberta, and through Washington and Oregon to the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains in Montana; at the north with dwarf Willows, forming great thickets; in southeastern Alaska often a tall tree on rich moist bottom-lands near the mouths of mountain streams, and at the upper limits of tree growth a low shrub; very abundant in the valley of the Yukon on the wet banks of streams and often arborescent in habit; in British Columbia and the United States generally smaller and a shrub, growing usually only at altitudes of more than 3000° above the sea, and often forming thickets on the banks of streams and lakes.

2. Alnus rubra Bong. Alder.

Alnus oregona Nutt.

Leaves ovate to elliptic, acute, abruptly or gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, crenately lobed, dentate with minute gland-tipped teeth, and slightly revolute on the margins, covered when they unfold with pale tomentum, at maturity thick dark green and glabrous or pilose with scattered white hairs above, clothed below with short rusty pubescence, 3′—5′ long, 1¾′—3′ wide, or on vigorous branchlets sometimes 8′—10′ long, with a broad midrib and primary veins green on the upper side and orange-colored on the lower, the primary veins running obliquely to the points of the lobes and connected by conspicuous slightly reticulate cross veinlets; petioles orange-colored, nearly terete, slightly grooved, ¼′—¾′ in length; stipules ovate, acute, pale green flushed with red, tomentose, ⅛′—¼′ long. Flowers: staminate aments in red-stemmed clusters, during the winter 1¼′ long, ⅛′ thick, with dark red-brown lustrous closely appressed scales, becoming 4′—6′ long and ¼′ thick, with ovate acute orange-colored glabrous scales; calyx yellow, with ovate rounded lobes rather shorter than the 4 stamens; pistillate aments in short racemes usually inclosed during the winter in buds formed during the early summer and opening in the early spring, ⅓′—½′ long, about 1/16′ thick, with dark red acute scales; styles bright red. Fruit: strobiles raised on stout orange-colored peduncles sometimes ½′ in length, ovoid or oblong, ½′—1′ long, ⅓′—½′ thick, with truncate scales much thickened toward the apex; nut orbicular to obovoid, surrounded by a membranaceous wing.

A tree, usually 40°—50°, occasionally 90° high, with a trunk sometimes 3° in diameter, slender somewhat pendulous branches forming a narrow pyramidal head, and slender branchlets marked by minute scattered pale lenticels, light green and coated at first with hoary tomentum sometimes persistent until their second year, becoming during the first winter bright red and lustrous and ultimately ashy gray. Winter-buds about ⅓′ long, dark red, covered with pale scurfy pubescence. Bark rarely more than ¾′ thick, close, roughened by minute wart-like excrescences, pale gray or nearly white, with a thin outer layer, and bright red-brown inner bark. Wood light, soft, brittle, not strong, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick nearly white sapwood; in Washington and Oregon largely used in the manufacture of furniture and for smoking salmon; by the Indians of Alaska the trunks are hollowed into canoes.

Distribution. Shores of Yakutat Bay, southeastern Alaska, southward near the coast to the cañons of the Santa Inez Mountains, Santa Barbara County, California; common along the banks of streams, and of its largest size near the shores of Puget Sound; in California most abundant in Mendocino, Humboldt and Marin Counties, forming groves on bottom-lands near the coast; often ranging inland for 20 or 30 miles, and occasionally ascending to altitudes of 2000° above the sea.

3. Alnus tenuifolia Nutt. Alder.

Leaves ovate-oblong, acute or acuminate, broad and rounded or cordate or occasionally abruptly narrowed and cuneate at base, usually acutely laciniately lobed and doubly serrate, when they unfold light green often tinged with red, pilose on the upper surface and coated on the lower with pale tomentum, at maturity thin and firm, dark green and glabrous above, pale yellow-green and glabrous or puberulous below, 2′—4′ long, 1½′—2½′ wide, with a stout orange-colored midrib impressed on the upper side, and slender primary veins running to the points of the lobes; petioles stout, slightly grooved, orange-colored, ½′—1′ in length; stipules ovate, acute, thin, and scarious, ½′ long, about ⅛′ wide, covered with pale pubescence. Flowers: staminate aments 3 or 4 in number in slender-stemmed racemes, nearly sessile or raised on stout peduncles often ½′ long, during the winter light purple, ¾′—1′ long and ¼′ thick, becoming 1½′—2′ in length; calyx-lobes rounded, shorter than the 4 stamens; pistillate aments naked during the winter, dark red-brown, nearly ¼′ long, with acute apiculate loosely imbricated scales, only slightly enlarged when the flowers open. Fruit: strobiles obovoid-oblong, ⅓′—½′ long, their scales much thickened, truncate and 3-lobed at apex; nut nearly circular to slightly obovoid, surrounded by a thin membranaceous border.

A tree, occasionally 30° tall, with a trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, small spreading slightly pendulous branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets marked at first by a few large orange-colored lenticels and coated with fine pale or rusty caducous pubescence, becoming light brown or ashy gray more or less deeply flushed with red in their first winter and ultimately paler; more often shrubby, with several spreading stems, and at the north and at high altitudes frequently only 4°—5° tall. Winter-buds ¼′—⅓′ long, bright red, and puberulous. Bark rarely more than ¼′ thick, bright red-brown and broken on the surface into small closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Banks of streams and mountain cañons from Francis Lake in latitude 61° north to the valley of the lower Fraser River, British Columbia, eastward along the Saskatchewan to Prince Albert, and southward through the Rocky Mountains to northern New Mexico; on the Sierra Nevada of southern California, and in Lower California; the common Alder of mountain streams in the northern interior region of the continent; very abundant on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountains, and on the southern California Sierras; forming great thickets at 6000°—7000° above the sea along the headwaters of the rivers of southern California flowing to the Pacific Ocean; the common Alder of eastern Washington and Oregon, and of Idaho and Montana; very abundant and of its largest size in Colorado and northern New Mexico.

4. Alnus rhombifolia Nutt. White Alder. Alder.

Leaves ovate or oval or sometimes nearly orbicular, rounded or acute at apex, especially on vigorous shoots, gradually or abruptly narrowed and cuneate at base, finely or sometimes coarsely and occasionally doubly serrate, slightly thickened and reflexed on the somewhat undulate margins, when they unfold pale green and covered with deciduous matted white hairs, at maturity dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, frequently marked, especially on the midrib, with minute glandular dots, light yellow-green and slightly puberulous below, 2′—3′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib and primary veins; petioles slender, yellow, hairy, flattened and grooved on the upper side, ½′—¾′ long; stipules ovate, acute, scarious, puberulous, about ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate aments in slender-stemmed pubescent clusters, usually short-stalked, during the summer dark olive-brown and lustrous, ¾′—1′ long and about 1/16′ thick, beginning to lengthen late in the autumn before the leaves fall, fully grown and 4′—6′ long and ¼′ thick in January, with dark orange-brown scales, and deciduous in February before the appearance of the new leaves; calyx yellow, 4-lobed, rather shorter than the 2 or occasionally 3 or rarely single stamen; pistillate aments in short pubescent racemes emerging from the bud in December, their scales broadly ovate and rounded. Fruit: strobiles oblong, ⅓′—½′ long, with thin scales slightly thickened and lobed at apex, fully grown at midsummer, remaining closed until the trees flower the following year; nut broadly ovoid, with a thin margin.

A tree, frequently 70°—80° high, with a tall straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, long slender branches pendulous at the ends, forming a wide round-topped open head, and slender branchlets marked by small scattered lenticels, at first light green and coated with pale caducous pubescence, soon becoming dark orange-red and glabrous, and darker during the winter and following summer. Winter-buds nearly ½′ long, very slender, dark red, and covered with pale scurfy pubescence. Bark on old trunks 1′ thick, dark brown, irregularly divided into flat often connected ridges broken into oblong plates covered with small closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle, close-grained, light brown, with thick lighter colored often nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Banks of streams from northern Idaho to the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains of Washington and southeastern Oregon, and southward from the valley of the Willamette River, Oregon (near Salem, Marion County, J. C. Nelson) over the coast ranges and along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the mountains of southern California (San Bernardino, San Jacinto, and Cuyamaca Ranges); the common Alder of the valleys of central California, occasionally ascending on the southern Sierra Nevada to altitudes of 8000°, and the only species at low altitudes in the southern part of the state.

5. Alnus oblongifolia Torr. Alder.

Alnus acuminata Sarg., not H. B. K.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute; or rarely obovate and rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, sharply and usually doubly serrate, more or less thickly covered, especially early in the season, with black glands, dark yellow-green and glabrous or slightly puberulous above, pale and glabrous or puberulous below, especially along the slender yellow midrib and veins, with small tufts of rusty hairs in the axils of the primary veins, 2′—3′ long, about 1½′ wide; petioles slender, grooved, pubescent, ¾′ long; stipules ovate-lanceolate, brown and scarious, about ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate aments in short stout-stemmed racemes, during the winter light yellow, ½′—¾′ long and about 1/16′ thick, becoming when the flowers open at the end of February before the appearance of the leaves 2′—2½′ in length, with ovate pointed dark orange-brown scales; calyx 4-lobed; stamens 3 or occasionally 2, with pale red anthers soon becoming light yellow; pistillate aments naked during the winter, ⅛′ to nearly ¼′ long, with light brown ovate rounded scales; stigmas bright red. Fruit: strobiles ½′—1′ long, with thin scales slightly thickened and nearly truncate at apex; nut broadly ovoid, with a narrow membranaceous border.

A tree, in the United States rarely more than 20°—30° high, with a trunk sometimes 8′ in diameter, long slender spreading branches forming an open round-topped head, and slender branchlets slightly puberulous when they first appear, light orange-red and lustrous during their first winter, and marked by small conspicuous pale lenticels, becoming in their second year dark red-brown or gray tinged with red and much roughened by the elevated leaf-scars. Winter-buds acute, red, lustrous, glabrous, ½′ long. Bark thin, smooth, light brown tinged with red.

Distribution. Banks of streams in cañons of the mountains of southern New Mexico and Arizona at altitudes of 4000°—6000° above the sea; in Oak Creek Cañon near Flagstaff, northern Arizona (tree 100° × 3°, P. Lowell); and on the mountains of northern Mexico.

6. Alnus maritima Nutt. Alder.

Leaves oblong-ovate, or obovate, acute, acuminate or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, remotely serrate with minute incurved glandular teeth, and somewhat thickened on the slightly undulate margins, when they unfold, light green tinged with red, hairy on the midrib, veins, and petioles, and coated above with pale scurfy pubescence, at maturity dark green, very lustrous, and covered below by minute pale glandular dots, 3′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib and primary veins prominent and glandular on the upper side and slightly puberulous below; petioles stout, yellow, glandular, flattened and grooved on the upper side, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules oblong, acute, about ⅛′ long, dark reddish brown, caducous. Flowers opening in the autumn: aments appearing in July on branches of the year and fully grown in August or early in September; staminate in short scurfy-pubescent glandular-pitted racemes on slender peduncles sometimes 1′ in length from the axils of upper leaves, covered at first with ovate acute dark green very lustrous scales slightly ciliate on the margins and furnished at apex with minute red points, at maturity 1½′—2½′ long, ¼′ to nearly ½′ thick, with dark orange-brown scales raised on slender stalks, and 4 bright orange-colored stamens; pistillate usually solitary from the axils of the lower leaves on stout pubescent peduncles, bright red at apex and light green below before opening, with ovate acute scales slightly ciliate on the margins, about ⅛′ long when the styles protrude from between the scales, beginning to enlarge the following spring. Fruit attaining full size at midsummer and then raised on a stout peduncle, broadly ovoid, rounded and depressed at base, gradually narrowed to the rather obtuse apex, about ⅝′ long and ½′ broad, with thin lustrous scales slightly thickened and crenately lobed at apex, turning dark reddish brown or nearly black and opening late in the autumn and remaining on the branches until after the flowers open the following year; nut oblong-obovoid, gradually narrowed and apiculate at apex, with a thin membranaceous border.

A tree, occasionally 30° high, with a tall straight trunk 4′—5′ in diameter, small spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, slender slightly zigzag branchlets, light green and hairy at first, pale yellow-green, very lustrous, slightly puberulous, marked with occasional small orange-colored lenticels, and glandular with minute dark glandular dots during their first summer, becoming dull light orange or reddish brown in the winter, and ashy gray often slightly tinged with red the following season; more often shrubby, with numerous slender spreading stems 15°—20° tall. Winter-buds acute, dark red, coated with pale lustrous scurfy pubescence, about ¼′ long. Bark ⅛′ thick, smooth, light brown or brown tinged with gray. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light brown, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood.

Distribution. Banks of streams and ponds in southern Delaware and Maryland, and in south central Oklahoma (Johnson and Bryan Counties).

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in the eastern states and hardy as far north as Massachusetts.

X. FAGACEÆ.

Trees, with watery juice, slender terete branchlets marked by numerous usually pale lenticels, alternate stalked penniveined leaves, and narrow mostly deciduous stipules. Flowers monœcious, the staminate in unisexual heads or aments, composed of a 4—8-lobed calyx, and 4 or 8 stamens, with free simple filaments and introrse 2-celled anthers, the cells parallel and contiguous, opening longitudinally; the pistillate solitary or clustered, in terminal unisexual or bisexual spikes or heads, subtended by an involucre of imbricated bracts becoming woody and partly or entirely inclosing the fruit, and composed of a 4—8-lobed calyx adnate to the 3—7-celled ovary with as many styles as its cells and 1 or 2 pendulous anatropous or semianatropous ovules in each cell. Fruit a nut 1-seeded by abortion, the outer coat cartilaginous, the inner membranaceous or bony. Seed filling the cavity of the nut, without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous; cotyledons fleshy, including the minute superior radicle; hilum, basal, minute.

The six genera of this widely distributed family occur in North America with the exception of Nothofagus, separated from Fagus to receive the Beech-trees of the southern hemisphere.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA.

Staminate flowers fascicled in globose-stalked heads; the pistillate in 2—4-flowered clusters. 1. Fagus. Staminate flowers in slender aments. Pistillate flowers in 2—5-flowered clusters below the staminate, in bisexual aments. Nut inclosed in a prickly burr. Leaves deciduous; ovary 6-celled; nut maturing in one season; branchlets lengthening by an upper axillary bud; bud-scales 4. 2. Castanea. Leaves persistent; ovary 3-celled; nut maturing at the end of the second season; branchlets lengthening by a terminal bud; bud-scales numerous. 3. Castanopsis. Nut inclosed only partly in a shallow cup covered by slender recurved scales united only at the base, free above. 4. Lithocarpus. Pistillate flowers solitary, in few-flowered unisexual spikes; nut more or less inclosed in a cup covered by thin or thickened scales, closely appressed or often free toward its rim. 5. Quercus.

1. FAGUS L. Beech.

Trees, with smooth pale bark, hard close-grained wood, and elongated acute bright chestnut-brown buds, their inner scales accrescent and marking the base of the branchlets with persistent ring-like scars. Leaves convex and plicate along the veins in the bud, thick and firm, deciduous; petioles short, nearly terete, in falling leaving small elevated semioval leaf-scars, with marginal rows of minute fibro-vascular bundle-scars; stipules linear-lanceolate, infolding the leaf in the bud. Flowers vernal after the unfolding of the leaves; staminate short-pedicellate, in globose many-flowered heads on long drooping bibracteolate stems at base of shoots of the year or from the axils of their lowest leaves, and composed of a subcampanulate 4—8-lobed calyx, the lobes imbricated in æstivation, ovate and rounded, and 8—16 stamens inserted on the base of and longer than the calyx, with slender filaments and oblong green anthers; pistillate in 2—4-flowered stalked clusters in the axils of upper leaves of the year, surrounded by numerous awl-shaped hairy bracts, the outer bright red, longer than the flowers, deciduous, the inner shorter and united below into a 4-lobed involucre becoming at maturity woody, ovoid, thick-walled, and covered by stout recurved prickles, inclosing or partly inclosing the usually 3 nuts, and ultimately separating into 4 valves; calyx urn-shaped, villose, divided into 4 or 5 linear-lanceolate acute lobes, its 3-angled tube adnate to the 3-celled ovary surmounted by 3 slender recurved pilose styles green and stigmatic toward the apex and longer than the involucre; ovules 2 in each cell. Nut ovoid, unequally 3-angled, acute or winged at the angles, concave and longitudinally ridged on the sides, chestnut-brown and lustrous, tipped with the remnants of the styles, marked at the base by a small triangular scar, with a thin shell covered on the inner surface with rufous tomentum. Seed dark chestnut-brown, suspended with the abortive ovules from the tip of the hairy dissepiment of the ovary pushed by the growth of the seed into one of the angles of the nut; cotyledons sweet, oily, plano-convex.

Fagus as here limited is confined to the northern hemisphere, with a single American species and seven Old World species; of these one is widely distributed through Europe, another is found in the Caucasus, and the others are confined to eastern temperate Asia. Of exotic species, the European Fagus sylvatica L., an important timber-tree, is frequently planted for ornament in the eastern states in several of its forms, especially those with purple leaves, and with pendulous branches. The wood of Fagus is hard and close-grained. The sweet seeds are a favorite food of swine, and yield a valuable oil.

Fagus is the classical name of the Beech-tree.

1. Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. Beech.

Fagus americana Sweet.

Leaves remote at the ends of the branches and clustered on short lateral branchlets, oblong-ovate, acuminate with a long slender point, coarsely serrate with spreading or incurved triangular teeth except at the gradually narrowed generally cuneate base, when they unfold pale green and clothed on the lower surface and margins with long pale lustrous silky hairs, at maturity dull dark bluish green above, light yellow-green, very lustrous, and glabrous or rarely pilose below (f. pubescens Fern. & Rehd.) with tufts of long pale hairs in the axils of the veins, 2½′—5′ long, 1′—3′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib covered above with short pale hairs, and slender primary veins running obliquely to the points of the teeth; turning bright clear yellow in the autumn; very rarely deeply laciniate; petioles hairy, ¼′—½′ length; stipules ovate-lanceolate on the lower leaves, strap-shaped to linear-lanceolate on the upper, brown or often red below the middle, membranaceous, lustrous, 1′—1½′ long. Flowers opening when the leaves are about one third grown; staminate in globose heads 1′ in diameter, on slender hairy peduncles about 2′ long; pistillate in usually 2-flowered clusters, on short clavate hoary peduncles ½′—¾′ long. Fruit: involucres ½′—¾′ in length often shorter than the nuts, on stout hairy club-shaped peduncles ¼′—¾′ long, fully grown at midsummer, and then puberulous, dark orange-green, and covered by long slender recurved prickles red above the middle, becoming at maturity in the autumn light brown and tomentose, with crowded much recurved pubescent prickles, persistent on the branch after opening late into the winter; nut about ¾′ long.

A tree, usually 70°—80° but exceptionally 120° high, sending up from the roots numerous small stems sometimes extending into broad thickets round the parent tree, in the forest with a long comparatively slender stem free of branches for more than half its length, and short branches forming a narrow head, in open situations short-stemmed, with a trunk often 3°—4° in diameter, and numerous limbs spreading gradually and forming a broad compact round-topped head of slender slightly drooping branches clothed with short leafy laterals, and branchlets pale green and coated with long soft caducous hairs when they first appear, olive-green or orange-colored during their first summer, and conspicuously marked by oblong bright orange lenticels, gradually growing red, bright reddish brown during their first winter, darker brown in their second season and ultimately ashy gray. Winter-buds puberulous, especially toward the apex, ¾′ to nearly 1′ long, about ⅛′ broad, the inner scales hirsute on the inner surface and along the margins and when fully grown often 1′ long, lustrous, brown above the middle, and reddish below. Bark ¼′—½′ thick, with a smooth light steel-gray surface. Wood hard, strong, tough, very close-grained, not durable, difficult to season, dark or often light red, with thin nearly white sapwood of 20—30 layers of annual growth; largely used in the manufacture of chairs, shoe-lasts, plane-stocks, the handles of tools, and for fuel. The sweet nuts are gathered and sold in the markets of Canada and of some of the western and middle states.

Distribution. Rich uplands and mountain slopes, often forming nearly pure forests, and southward on the bottom-lands of streams and the margins of swamps; valley of the Restigouche River, New Brunswick, to the northern shores of Lake Huron and the southern shores of Lake Superior, and southward to Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, the ravines of Rock River near Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois, Minnesota and northern Missouri; southward passing into the var. caroliniana Fern. & Rehd., differing in its ovate to short-ovate thicker leaves, usually rounded or subcordate at base, and often less coarsely serrate or undulate on the margins, glabrous or rarely densely soft pubescent below (f. mollis Fern. & Rehd.), in the often shorter involucre of the fruit with shorter and less crowded prickles; usually on the bottom-lands of streams and the borders of swamps, New Jersey, and southern Ohio and Missouri to western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, eastern Texas, and northeastern Oklahoma; ascending on the southern Appalachian Mountains to altitudes of 3000°; probably growing to its largest size in eastern Louisiana.

The northern form is occasionally planted in the northern states as a shade and park tree.

2. CASTANEA Adans. Chestnut.

Trees or shrubs, with furrowed bark, porous brittle wood, durable in the ground, terete branchlets without terminal buds, axillary buds covered by 2 pairs of slightly imbricated scales, the outer lateral, the others accrescent, becoming oblong-ovate and acute and marking the base of the branch with narrow ring-like scars, and stout perpendicular tap-roots; producing when cut numerous stout shoots from the stump. Leaves convolute in the bud, ovate, acute, coarsely serrate, except at the base, with thin veins running to the points of the slender glandular teeth, deciduous; petioles leaving in falling small elevated semioval leaf-scars marked by an irregular marginal row of minute fibro-vascular bundle-scars; stipules ovate to linear-lanceolate, acute, scarious, infolding the leaf in the bud, caducous. Flowers opening in early summer, unisexual, strong-smelling; the staminate, in 3—7-flowered cymes, in the axils of minute ovate bracts, in elongated simple deciduous aments first appearing with the unfolding of the leaves from the inner scales of the terminal bud and from the axils of the lower leaves of the year, composed of a pale straw-colored slightly puberulous calyx deeply divided into 6 ovate rounded segments imbricated in the bud, and 10—20 stamens inserted on the slightly thickened torus, with filiform filaments incurved in the bud, becoming elongated and exserted, and ovoid or globose pale yellow anthers; the pistillate scattered or spicate at the base of the shorter persistent androgynous aments from the axils of later leaves, sessile, 2 or 3 together or solitary within a short-stemmed or sessile involucre of closely imbricated oblong acute bright green bracts scurfy-pubescent or tomentose below the middle, subtended by a bract and 2 lateral bractlets, each flower composed of an urn-shaped calyx, with a short limb divided into 6 obtuse lobes, minute sterile stamens shorter than the calyx-lobes, an ovary 6-celled after fecundation, with 6 linear spreading white styles hairy below the middle and tipped by minute acute stigmas, and 2 ovules in each cell, attached on its inner angle, descending, semianatropous. Fruit maturing in one season, its involucre inclosing 1—3 nuts, globose or short-oblong, pubescent or tomentose and spiny on the outer surface, with elongated ridged bright green ultimately brown branched spines fascicled between the deciduous scales, coated on the inner surface with lustrous pubescence, splitting at maturity into 2—4 valves; nut ovoid, acute, crowned by the remnants of the style, bright chestnut-brown and lustrous, tomentose or pubescent at apex, cylindrical, or when more than 1 flattened, marked at the broad base by a large conspicuous pale circular or oval thickened scar, its shell lined with rufous or hoary tomentum. Seed usually solitary by abortion, dark chestnut-brown, marked at apex by the abortive ovules, with thick and fleshy more or less undulate ruminate sweet farinaceous cotyledons.

Castanea is confined to the northern hemisphere, and is widely distributed through eastern North America, southern Europe, northern Africa, southwestern Asia, and central and northern China, Korea, and Japan. Seven species are distinguished. In the countries of the Mediterranean Basin much attention has been given to improving the fruit of the native species Castanea sativa Mill., which is occasionally planted in the middle United States; in Japan the seeds of Castanea crenata S. & Zucc. in many varieties and in China those of Castanea mollissima Bl. are important articles of food. Castanea produces coarse-grained wood very durable in contact with the soil, and rich in tannin. Chestnut-trees suffer in the eastern United States from the attacks of a fungus, Endothia parasitica Anders. which has nearly exterminated them in many parts of the country.

Castanea is the classical name of the Chestnut-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Involucre of the fruit containing 2 or 3 flattened nuts. 1. C. dentata (A, C). Involucre of the fruit containing a single terete nut. Involucre of the fruit densely covered with spines; branchlets hoary tomentose. 2. C. pumila (A, C). Involucre of the fruit covered with scattered spines; branchlets glabrous or sparingly pilose. 3. C. alnifolia (C).

1. Castanea dentata Borkh. Chestnut.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute and long-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, when they unfold puberulous on the upper surface and clothed on the lower with fine cobweb-like tomentum, at maturity thin, glabrous, dark dull yellow-green above, pale yellow-green below, 6′—8′ long, about 2′ wide, with a pale yellow midrib and primary veins; turning bright clear yellow late in the autumn; petioles stout, slightly angled, puberulous, ½′ long, often flushed with red; stipules ovate-lanceolate, acute, yellow-green, puberulous, about ½′ long. Flowers: staminate aments about ½′ long when they first appear, green below the middle and red above, becoming when fully grown 6′—8′ long, with stout green puberulous stems covered from base to apex with crowded flower-clusters; androgynous aments, slender, puberulous, 2½′—5′ long, with 2 or 3 irregularly scattered involucres of pistillate flowers near their base. Fruit: involucre attaining its full size by the middle of August, 2′—2½′ in diameter, sometimes a little longer than broad, somewhat flattened at apex, pubescent and covered on the outer surface with crowded fascicles of long slender glabrous much-branched spines, opening with the first frost and gradually shedding their nuts; nuts usually much compressed, ½′—1′ wide, usually rather broader than long, coated at apex or nearly to the middle with thick pale tomentum, the interior of the shell lined with thick rufous tomentum; seed very sweet.

A tree, occasionally 100° high, with a tall straight columnar trunk 3°—4° in diameter, or often when uncrowded by other trees with a short trunk occasionally 10°—12° in diameter, and usually divided not far above the ground into 3 or 4 stout horizontal limbs forming a broad low round-topped head of slightly pendulous branches frequently 100° across, and branchlets at first light yellow-green sometimes tinged with red, somewhat angled, lustrous, slightly puberulous, soon becoming glabrous and olive-green tinged with yellow or brown tinged with green and ultimately dark brown. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, about ¼′ long, with thin dark chestnut-brown scales scarious on the margins. Bark from 1′—2′ thick, dark brown and divided by shallow irregular often interrupted fissures into broad flat ridges separating on the surface into small thin closely appressed scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, liable to check and warp in drying, easily split, reddish brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 3 or 4 layers of annual growth; largely used in the manufacture of cheap furniture and in the interior finish of houses, for railway-ties, fence-posts, and rails. The nuts, which are superior to those of the Old World chestnuts in sweetness were formerly gathered in great quantities in the forest and sold in the markets of the eastern cities.

Distribution. Southern Maine to Woodstock, Grafton County, New Hampshire (rare) and to the valley of the Winooski River, Vermont, southern Ontario, and southern Michigan, southward to Delaware and Ohio, southern Indiana, and southwestern Illinois (Pulaski County) along the Appalachian Mountains up to altitudes of 4000° to northern Georgia, and to western Florida (Crestview, Walton County) southeastern (Henry and Dale Counties) and south central (Dallas County) Alabama, Northern, central and southeastern Mississippi (Pearl River County), and to central Kentucky and Tennessee; very common on the glacial drift of the northern states and, except at the north, mostly confined to the Appalachian hills; attaining its greatest size in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

Formerly sometimes planted in the eastern states as an ornamental and timber tree, and for its nuts, of which several varieties have been recognized.

× Castanea neglecta Dode with leaves intermediate between those of C. dentata and C. pumila and an involucre containing a single large nut occurs on the Blue Ridge near Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina.

2. Castanea pumila Mill. Chinquapin.

Leaves oblong-elliptic to oblong-obovate, acute, coarsely serrate, with slender rigid spreading or incurved teeth, gradually narrowed and usually unequal and rounded or cuneate at base, when they unfold tinged with red and coated above with pale caducous tomentum and below with thick snowy white tomentum, at maturity rather thick and firm in texture, bright yellow-green on the upper surface, hoary or silvery pubescent on the lower, 3′—5′ long, 1½′—2′ wide; turning dull yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, pubescent, flattened on the upper side, ¼′—½′ long; stipules light yellow-green, pubescent, those of the 2 lowest leaves broad, ovate, acute, covered at apex by rufous tomentum, on later leaves ovate-lanceolate, often oblique and acute, becoming linear at the end of the branch. Flowers: staminate aments ½′ long when they first appear, pubescent, green below, bright red at apex, becoming when fully grown 4′—6′ long, with stout hoary tomentose stems and crowded or scattered flower-clusters; androgynous aments silvery tomentose, 3′—4′ long; involucres 1-flowered, scattered at the base of the ament or often spicate and covering its lower half, sessile or short-stalked. Fruit: involucre 1′—1½′ in diameter, with thin walls covered with crowded fascicles of slender spines tomentose toward the base; nut ovoid, terete, rounded at the slightly narrowed base, gradually narrowed and pointed at apex, more or less coated with silvery white pubescence, dark chestnut-brown, very lustrous, ¾′—1′ long, ⅓′ thick, with a thin shell lined with a coat of lustrous hoary tomentum, and a sweet seed.

A round-topped tree, rarely 50° high, with a short straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, slender spreading branches, and branchlets coated at first with pale tomentum, becoming during their first winter pubescent or remaining tomentose at the apex, bright red-brown, glabrous, lustrous, olive-green or orange-brown during their second season and ultimately darker; east of the Mississippi River often a shrub spreading into broad thickets by prolific stolons, with numerous intricately branched stems often only 4° or 5° tall. Winter-buds ovoid, or oval, about ⅛′ long, clothed when they first appear in summer with thick hoary tomentum, becoming red during the winter and scurfy-pubescent. Bark ½′—1′ thick, light brown tinged with red, slightly furrowed and broken on the surface into loose plate-like scales. Wood light, hard, strong, coarse-grained, dark brown, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood of 3 or 4 layers of annual growth; used for fence-posts, rails, and railway-ties. The sweet nuts are sold in the markets of the western and southern states.

Distribution. Dry sandy ridges, rich hillsides and the borders of swamps; southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania to central (Lake County) and western Florida and westward through the Gulf States to the valley of the Neches River, Texas, and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma and southwestern Missouri; on the Appalachian Mountains ascending to altitudes of 4500°; most abundant and of its largest size in southern Arkansas and eastern Texas.

3. Castanea alnifolia Nutt. Chinquapin.

A low shrub spreading into broad thickets by underground stems, with leaves pale pubescent on the lower surface; and distributed in the neighborhood of the coast from the valley of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, to southern Georgia. Passing into

Castanea alnifolia var. floridana Sarg. Chinquapin.

Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, acute, acuminate or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, irregularly sinuate-toothed with apiculate teeth, hoary tomentose below when they unfold, soon glabrous with the exception of the last leaves of vigorous summer shoots, and at maturity thin, glabrous, dark green above, light green and lustrous below, 3′—4′ long and 1′—1¾′ wide; petioles stout, glabrous, about 1/12′ in length. Flowers: staminate aments pale pubescent, 4′—5′ long; androgynous aments pubescent, as long or rather longer with ten or twelve involucres of pistillate flowers below the middle, often only the lowest being fertilized. Fruit: involucre 1-seeded, subglobose to short-oblong, pale tomentose, ¾′ to 1¼′ in diameter, covered with stout pubescent scattered spines divided at base into numerous branches; nut ovoid, terete, acute, dark chestnut-brown, lustrous, ½′ to nearly ¾′ in length.

A tree occasionally 40°—45° high, with a tall trunk sometimes a foot in diameter, small irregularly spreading branches forming a narrow head, and slender glabrous or rarely pilose red-brown branchlets; more often a shrub sometimes with broader obovoid leaves sometimes puberulous on the lower surface.

Dry sandy soil; coast of North Carolina, near Wrightsville, New Hanover County; Dover, near the Ogechee River, Screven County, Georgia; Jacksonville, Duval County, and Panama City on Saint Andrew’s Bay, Bay County, Florida; near Selma, Dallas County, Alabama; and Covington, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.

A tree only on the shores of Saint Andrew’s Bay.

3. CASTANOPSIS Spach.

Trees, with scaly bark, astringent wood, and winter-buds covered by numerous imbricated scales. Leaves convolute in the bud, 5-ranked, coriaceous, entire or dentate, penniveined, persistent; stipules obovate or lanceolate, scarious, mostly caducous. Flowers in 3-flowered cymes, or the pistillate rarely solitary or in pairs, in the axils of minute bracts, on slender erect aments from the axils of leaves of the year; the staminate on usually elongated and panicled aments, and composed of a campanulate 5 or 6-lobed or parted calyx, the lobes imbricated in the bud, usually 10 or 12 stamens inserted on the slightly thickened torus, with elongated exserted filiform filaments and oblong anthers, and a minute hirsute rudimentary ovary; the pistillate on shorter simple or panicled aments or scattered at the base of the staminate inflorescence, the cymes surrounded by an involucre of imbricated scales; calyx urn-shaped, the short limb divided into 6 obtuse lobes; abortive stamens inserted on the limb of the calyx and opposite its lobes; ovary sessile on the thin disk, 3-celled after fecundation, with 3 spreading styles terminating in minute stigmas, and 2 ovules in each cell attached to its interior angle. Fruit maturing at the end of the second or rarely of the first season, its involucre inclosing 1—3 nuts, ovoid or globose, sometimes more or less depressed, rarely obscurely angled, dehiscent or indehiscent, covered by stout spines, tuberculate or marked by interrupted vertical ridges; nut more or less angled by mutual pressure when more than 1, often pilose, crowned with the remnants of the style, marked at the base by a large conspicuous circular depressed scar, the thick shell tomentose on the inner surface. Seed usually solitary by abortion, bearing at apex the abortive ovules; cotyledons plano-convex, fleshy, farinaceous.

Castanopsis inhabits California with two species, and southeastern Asia where it is distributed with about twenty-five species from southern China to the Malay Archipelago and the eastern Himalayas. Of the California species one is usually arborescent and the other Castanopsis sempervirens Dudley is a low alpine shrub of the coast ranges and the Sierra Nevada.

Castanopsis from κὰστανα and ὄψις, in allusion to its resemblance to the Chestnut-tree.

1. Castanopsis chrysophylla A. DC. Chinquapin. Golden-leaved Chestnut.

Leaves lanceolate or oblong-ovate, gradually narrowed at the ends or sometimes abruptly contracted at apex into a short broad point, entire with slightly thickened revolute margins, when they unfold thin, coated below with golden yellow persistent scales and above with scattered white scales, at maturity thick and coriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, 2′—6′ long, ½′ to nearly 2′ wide, with a stout midrib raised and rounded on the upper side; turning yellow at maturity and falling gradually at the end of their second or in their third year; petioles ¼′—⅓′ in length; stipules ovate, rounded or acute at apex, brown and scarious, puberulous, ¼′—⅓′ long. Flowers appearing irregularly from June until February in the axils of broadly ovate apiculate pubescent bracts on staminate and androgynous scurfy stout-stemmed aments 2′—2½′ long and crowded at the ends of the branches; calyx of the staminate flower coated on the outer surface with hoary tomentum, divided into broadly ovate rounded lobes much shorter than the slender stamens; calyx of the pistillate flower oblong-campanulate, free from the ovary, clothed with hoary tomentum, divided at apex into short rounded lobes, rather shorter than the minute abortive stamens; anthers red; ovary conic, hirsute, with elongated slightly spreading thick pale stigmas. Fruit ripening at the end of the second season, involucre globose, dehiscent, irregularly 4-valved, often slightly shorter than the nuts, sessile, solitary, or clustered, tomentose and covered on the outer surface by long stout or slender rigid spines, 1′—1½′ in diameter, containing 1 or occasionally 2 nuts; nuts broadly ovoid, acute, obtusely 3-angled, light yellow-brown and lustrous; seeds dark purple-red, sweet and edible.

A tree, 50°—100° high, with a massive trunk 3°—6° in diameter, frequently free of branches for 50°, stout spreading branches forming a broad compact round-topped or conic head, and rigid branchlets coated when they first appear with bright golden-yellow scurfy scales, dark reddish brown and slightly scurfy during their first winter, and gradually growing darker in their second season; often much smaller and sometimes reduced to a shrub, 2°—12° high (var. minor A. De Candolle). Winter-buds fully grown at mid-summer, usually crowded near the end of the branch, ovoid or subglobose, with broadly ovate apiculate thin and papery light brown scales slightly puberulous on the back, ciliate on the scarious often reflexed margins, the terminal about ¼′ long and broad and rather larger than the often stipitate axillary buds. Bark 1′—2′ thick and deeply divided into rounded ridges 2′—3′ wide, broken into thick plate-like scales, dark red-brown on the surface and bright red internally. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not strong, light brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 50—60 layers of annual growth; occasionally used in the manufacture of ploughs and other agricultural implements.

Distribution. Skamania County, Washington, valley of the lower Columbia River, Oregon, southward along the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains, and in California along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and through the coast ranges to the elevated valleys of the San Jacinto Mountains, sometimes ascending to altitudes of 4000° above the sea; of its largest size in the humid coast valleys of northern California.

Occasionally cultivated in the gardens of temperate Europe.

4. LITHOCARPUS Bl.

Pasania Örst.

Trees, with astringent properties, pubescence of fascicled hairs, deeply furrowed scaly bark, hard close-grained brittle wood, stout branchlets, and winter-buds covered by few erect or spreading foliaceous scales. Leaves convolute in the bud, petiolate, persistent, entire or dentate, with a stout midrib, primary veins running obliquely to the points of the teeth, or on entire leaves forked and united near the margins, and reticulate veinlets; stipules oblong-obovate to linear-lanceolate, those of the upper leaves persistent and surrounding the buds during the winter. Flowers in erect unisexual and in bisexual tomentose aments from the axils of leaves of the year, from the inner scales of the terminal bud or from separate buds in the axils of leaves of the previous year; staminate in 3-flowered clusters in the axils of ovate rounded bracts, the lateral flowers subtended by similar but smaller bracts, each flower composed of a 5-lobed tomentose calyx, with nearly triangular acute lobes, 10 stamens, with slender elongated filaments and small oblong or emarginate anthers, and an acute abortive hairy ovary; pistillate scattered at the base of the upper aments below the staminate flowers, solitary in the axils of acute bracts, furnished with minute lateral bractlets, and composed of a 6-lobed ovoid calyx, with rounded lobes, inclosed in the tomentose involucral scales, 6 stamens, with abortive anthers, an ovoid-oblong 3-celled ovary, 3 elongated spreading light green styles thickened and stigmatic at apex, and 2 anatropous ovules in each cell. Fruit an oval or ovoid nut maturing at the end of the second season, 1-seeded by abortion, surrounded at base by the accrescent woody cupular involucre of the flower, marked by a large pale circular basal scar, the thick shell tomentose on the inner surface. Seed red-brown, filling the cavity of the nut, bearing at apex the abortive ovules; cotyledons thick and fleshy, yellow and bitter.

Lithocarpus is intermediate between the Oaks and the Chestnuts, and, with the exception of one California species, is confined to southeastern Asia, where it is distributed with many species from southern Japan and southern China through the Malay Peninsula to the Indian Archipelago.

Lithocarpus from λίθος and καρπός, in allusion to the character of the fruit.

1. Lithocarpus densiflora Rehd. Tan Bark Oak. Chestnut Oak.

Quercus densiflora Hook. & Arn. Pasania densiflora Örst.

Leaves oblong or oblong-obovate, rounded or acute or rarely cordate at base, acute or occasionally rounded at apex, or rarely lanceolate and acuminate (f. lanceolata Rehdr.) repand-dentate, with acute callous teeth, or entire with thickened revolute margins, coated when they unfold with fulvous tomentum and glandular on the margins with dark caducous glands, at maturity pale green, lustrous and glabrous or covered with scattered pubescence on the upper surface, rusty-tomentose on the lower, ultimately becoming glabrous above and glabrate and bluish white below, 3′—5′ long, ¾′—3′ wide, with a midrib raised and rounded on the upper side, thin or thick primary veins and fine conspicuous reticulate veinlets; persistent until the end of their third or fourth year; petioles stout, rigid, tomentose, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules brown and scarious, hirsute on the outer surface. Flowers in early spring and frequently also irregularly during the autumn; aments stout-stemmed, 3′—4′ long; staminate flowers crowded, hoary-tomentose in the bud, their bracts tomentose. Fruit solitary or often in pairs, on a stout tomentose peduncle ½′—1′ in length; nut full and rounded at base, gradually narrowed and acute or rounded at apex, scurfy-pubescent when fully grown, becoming light yellow-brown, glabrous and lustrous at maturity, ¾′—1′ long, ½′—1′ thick, its cup shallow, tomentose with lustrous red-brown hairs on the inner surface, and covered by long linear rigid spreading or recurved light brown scales coated with fascicled hairs, frequently tipped, especially while young, with dark red glands and often tomentose near the base of the cup.

A tree, usually 70°—80° but sometimes 150° high, with a trunk 1°—4° in diameter, stout branches ascending in the forest and forming a narrow spire-like head, or in open positions spreading horizontally and forming a broad dense symmetrical round-topped crown, and branchlets coated at first with a thick fulvous tomentum of fascicled hairs often persistent until the second or third year, becoming dark reddish brown and frequently covered with a glaucous bloom; or sometimes reduced to a shrub, with slender stems only a few feet high (var. montana Rehdr.). Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, ¼′—⅓′ long, often surrounded by the persistent stipules of the upper leaves, with tomentose loosely imbricated scales, those of the outer ranks linear-lanceolate, increasing in width toward the interior of the bud, those of the inner ranks ovate or obovate and rounded at apex. Bark ¾′—1½′ thick, deeply divided by narrow fissures into broad rounded ridges broken into nearly square plates covered by closely appressed light red-brown scales. Wood hard, strong, close-grained, brittle, reddish brown, with thick darker brown sapwood; largely used as fuel. The bark is exceedingly rich in tannin and is largely used for tanning leather.

Distribution. Valley of the Umpqua River, Oregon, southward through the coast ranges to the Santa Inez Mountains, California, and along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada up to elevations of 4000° above the sea to Mariposa County; very abundant in the humid coast region north of San Francisco Bay and on the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia Mountains, and of its largest size in the Redwood forest of Napa and Mendocino Counties; southward and on the Sierras less abundant and of smaller size; the form lanceolata in southern Oregon and in Del Norte and Mendocino Counties, California; the var. montana at high altitudes on the Siskiyou Mountains, in the region of Mount Shasta and on the northern Sierra Nevada.

5. QUERCUS L. Oak.

Trees or shrubs, with astringent properties, pubescence of fascicled hairs, scaly or dark and furrowed bark, hard and close-grained or porous brittle wood, slender branchlets marked by pale lenticels and more or less prominently 5-angled. Winter-buds clustered at the ends of the branchlets, with numerous membranaceous chestnut-brown slightly accrescent caducous scales closely imbricated in 5 ranks, in falling marking the base of the branchlet with ring-like scars. Leaves 5-ranked, lobed, dentate or entire, often variable on the same branch, membranaceous or coriaceous, the primary veins prominent and extending to the margins or united within them and connected by more or less reticulate veinlets, deciduous in the autumn or persistent until spring or until their third or fourth year; petioles in falling leaving slightly elevated semiorbicular more or less obcordate leaf-scars broader than high, marked by the ends of numerous scattered fibro-vascular bundles; stipules obovate to lanceolate, scarious, caducous, or those of upper leaves occasionally persistent through the season. Flowers vernal with or after the unfolding of the leaves; staminate solitary in the axils of lanceolate acute caducous bracts, or without bracts, in graceful pendulous clustered aments, from separate or leaf-buds in the axils of leaves of the previous year, or from the axils of the inner scales of the terminal bud or from those of the leaves of the year; calyx campanulate, lobed or divided to the base into 4—7, usually 6, membranaceous lobes; stamens 4—6, rarely 2, or 10—12, inserted on the slightly thickened torus, with free filiform exserted filaments and ovate-oblong or subglobose glabrous or rarely hairy 2-celled usually yellow anthers; pistillate solitary, subtended by a caducous bract and 2 bractlets, in short or elongated few-flowered spikes from the axils of leaves of the year; calyx urn-shaped, with a short campanulate 6-lobed limb, the tube adnate to the incompletely 3 or rarely 4 or 5-celled ovary inclosed more or less completely by an accrescent involucre of imbricated scales, becoming the cup of the fruit; styles as many as the cells of the ovary, short or elongated, erect or incurved, dilated above, stigmatic on the inner face or at apex only, generally persistent on the fruit; ovules anatropous or semianatropous, 2 in each cell. Fruit a nut (acorn) maturing in one or in two years, ovoid, subglobose, or turbinate, short-pointed at apex, 1-seeded by abortion, marked at base by a large conspicuous circular scar, with a thick shell, glabrous or coated on the inner surface with pale tomentum, more or less surrounded or inclosed in the accrescent cupular involucre of the flower (cup), its scales thin or thickened, loosely or closely imbricated. Seed marked at base or at apex or rarely on the side by the abortive ovules; cotyledons thick and fleshy, usually plano-convex and entire.

Quercus inhabits the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere and high altitudes within the tropics, ranging in the New World southward to the mountains of Colombia and in the Old World to the Indian Archipelago. Two hundred and seventy-five species have been described; of the North American species fifty-four are large or small trees. Of exotic species, the European Quercus Robur L., and Quercus sessiliflora Salisb., have been frequently cultivated as ornamental trees in the eastern United States, where, however, they are usually short-lived and unsatisfactory. Many of the species are important timber-trees; their bark is often rich in tannin and is used for tanning leather, and all produce wood valuable for fuel and in the manufacture of charcoal.

Quercus is the classical name of the Oak-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Fruit maturing at the end of the second season (except 22); shell of the nut silky tomentose on the inner surface; leaves or their lobes bristle-tipped. Black Oaks. Stamens usually 4—6; styles elongated, finally recurved; abortive ovules apical. Leaves deciduous in their first autumn or winter. Leaves pinnately lobed, convolute in the bud. Leaves green on both surfaces. Scales of the cup of the fruit closely appressed. Leaves usually dull on the upper surface, 7—11-lobed; cup of the fruit cup-shaped or in one variety broad and saucer-shaped, its scales thin. 1. Q. borealis (A). Leaves lustrous. Leaves dimorphous, 5—7-lobed, axillary clusters of hairs large and prominent; cup of the fruit saucer-shaped or in one form deep cup-shaped. 2. Q. Shumardii (A, C). Leaves similar on upper and lower branches. Cup of the fruit turbinate or deep cup-shaped. Leaves 5-lobed, the lobes usually entire, rarely furnished with tufts of axillary hairs below. 3. Q. texana (C). Leaves 5—7-lobed, the lobes dentate, furnished with tufts of axillary hairs below. 4. Q. ellipsoidalis (A). Cup of the fruit deep cup-shaped to turbinate; leaves 5—9-lobed, the lobes toothed. 5. Q. coccinea (A, C). Cup of the fruit saucer-shaped. Leaves 5—9-lobed. 6. Q. palustris (A, C). Leaves 3—5-lobed. 7. Q. georgiana (C). Scales of the cup of the fruit more or less loosely imbricated, forming a free margin on its rim. Leaves usually 7-lobed. Winter-buds tomentose. 8. Q. velutina (A, C). Winter-buds pubescent only at apex. 9. Q. Kelloggii (G). Leaves usually 3—5-lobed; winter-buds rusty pubescent. 10. Q. Catesbæi (C). Leaves whitish or grayish tomentulose below. Leaves mostly acutely 5-lobed, pale or silvery white below. 11. Q. ilicifolia (A). Leaves often dimorphous, 3—11-lobed, the lobes often falcate. 12. Q. rubra (A, C). Leaves broad-obovate, often abruptly dilated at the wide obscurely lobed apex. Leaves rounded or cordate at base. Lower surface of the leaves orange color or brownish, the upper scales of the cup forming with several rows a thick rim on its inner surface, often reflexed. 13. Q. marilandica (A, C). Lower surface of the leaves pale, the erect scales on the rim of the cup in a single row. 14. Q. arkansana (C). Leaves cuneate at base. Leaves oblong-obovate. 15. Q. nigra (C). Leaves rhombic. 16. Q. rhombica (C). Leaves lanceolate-oblong or lanceolate-obovate, usually entire, involute in the bud. Willow Oaks. Leaves glabrous. Leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, deciduous in autumn. 17. Q. Phellos (A, C). Leaves elliptic or rarely oblong-obovate, deciduous in the late winter. 18. Q. laurifolia (C). Leaves tomentose or pubescent below, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-obovate. Leaves pale blue-green, hoary tomentose below. 19. Q. cinerea (C). Leaves dark green, pubescent below. 20. Q. imbricaria (A). Leaves not deciduous in the autumn, revolute in the bud (convolute in 23). Leaves mostly persistent until after the appearance of those of the following year. Leaves lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or elliptic, pale and tomentose below. 21. Q. hypoleuca (E, H). Leaves oval, orbicular to oblong, green and pubescent below; fruit maturing at the end of the first season. 22. Q. agrifolia (G). Leaves persistent until their second summer or autumn. Leaves lanceolate to oval or oblong-lanceolate, entire or serrate; cup of the fruit turbinate or tubular. 23. Q. Wislizenii (G). Leaves oval to oblong-obovate; cup of the fruit saucer-shaped or turbinate. 24. Q. myrtifolia (C). Stamens usually 6—8; styles dilated; abortive ovules basal or lateral; leaves persistent until their third or fourth season, involute in the bud. Leaves oblong, entire, dentate, or sinuate-toothed, fulvous-tomentose and ultimately pale on the lower surface; cup of the fruit usually thick. 25. Q. chrysolepis (G, H). Leaves oblong-lanceolate, crenate-dentate or entire, pubescent or tomentose below; cup of the fruit usually thin. 26. Q. tomentella (G). Fruit maturing at the end of the first season; shell of the nut glabrous on the inner surface (hoary-tomentose in 27); abortive ovules basal; stamens 6—8; styles dilated; lobes of the leaves not bristle-tipped. White Oaks. Leaves mostly persistent until the appearance of those of the following year, revolute in the bud (convolute in 28). Leaves yellow-green. Fruit sessile or short-stalked. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, entire or repand-dentate; inner surface of the nut hoary tomentose. 27. Q. Emoryi (F, H). Leaves oblong or obovate, entire, sinuate-toothed or lobed. 28. Q. dumosa (G). Fruit long-stalked; leaves oblong, elliptic or obovate, pale, glabrous or in one form densely tomentose below. 29. Q. virginiana (C). Leaves blue-green. Fruit usually in many-fruited long-stalked clusters; leaves broad-obovate, coarsely reticulate-venulose. 30. Q. reticulata (H). Fruit solitary or in pairs. Cup of the fruit saucer-shaped; leaves ovate to ovate-oblong, entire. 31. Q. Toumeyi (H). Cup of the fruit cup-shaped or hemispherical, oblong-lanceolate to broad-obovate, pubescent below. 32. Q. arizonica (H). Cup of the fruit usually cup-shaped or turbinate. Leaves ovate, oval or obovate, usually cordate at base; fruit rather long-stalked. 33. Q. oblongifolia (E, H). Leaves oblong to obovate, usually cuneate or rounded or cordate at base. 34. Q. Engelmannii (G). Leaves deciduous in their first season. Leaves blue-green. Arboreous; leaves oblong, lobed, spinescent-dentate or entire, pubescent below; cup of the fruit shallow cup-shaped. 35. Q. Douglasii (G). Arborescent or shrubby. Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, undulate-lobed; cup of the fruit saucer-shaped to cup-shaped. 36. Q. Vaseyana (C). Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic or lanceolate, undulate, serrate-toothed or irregularly lobed; cup of the fruit hemispheric to cup-shaped. 37. Q. Mohriana (C). Leaves oblong to oblong-ovate, slightly lobed or entire; cup of the fruit cup-shaped or rarely saucer-shaped. 38. Q. Laceyi (C). Leaves yellow-green. Leaves entire or slightly lobed. Leaves different on upper and lower branches, oblong to oblong-obovate, slightly lobed or entire. Cup of the fruit cup-shaped. 39. Q. annulata (C). Cup of the fruit shallow saucer-shaped. 40. Q. Durandii (C). Leaves similar on upper and lower branches, entire or slightly sinuate-lobed toward the apex, oblong or oblong-obovate. 41. Q. Chapmanii (C). Leaves more or less deeply sinuate-lobed. Leaves white-tomentulose below (sometimes green and pubescent in 43). Leaves obovate or oblong, lyrately pinnatifid or deeply sinuate-lobed; cup of the fruit fringed by the awned scales. 42. Q. macrocarpa (A, C, F). Leaves obovate-oblong, deeply 5—9-lobed or pinnatifid; nut often inclosed in the cup. 43. Q. lyrata (A, C). Leaves pubescent below. Leaves usually covered above with fascicled hairs, obovate, 3—5-lobed, their lobes truncate or rounded. 44. Q. stellata (A, C). Leaves glabrous above at maturity. Leaves obovate to oblong; cup of the fruit shallow cup-shaped or slightly turbinate, its scales usually thin. 45. Q. Garryana (B, G). Leaves oblong-obovate; cup of the fruit hemispheric, the scales often much thickened. 46. Q. utahensis (F). Leaves oblong-obovate, deeply lobed; nut conic, elongated, inclosed for one-third its length in the cup-shaped cup. 47. Q. lobata (G). Leaves glabrate or puberulous below, oblong to oblong-obovate. 48. Q. leptophylla (F). Leaves glabrous below. Leaves oblong-obovate, usually 5-lobed. 49. Q. austrina (C). Leaves oblong-obovate, obliquely pinnatifid or 3—9-lobed. 50. Q. alba (A, C). Leaves coarsely sinuate-toothed. Chestnut Oaks. Fruit on peduncles much longer than the petioles; leaves obovate or oblong-obovate, generally sinuate-dentate or lobed, pubescent, and usually hoary on the lower surface. 51. Q. bicolor (C). Fruit on peduncles about as long or shorter than the petioles. Leaves obovate or oblong-obovate, cuneate or rounded at the broad or narrow base, tomentose or pubescent and often silvery white below. 52. Q. Prinus (A, C). Leaves obovate or oblong to lanceolate, acuminate, with rounded or acute teeth. 53. Q. montana (A, C). Fruit sessile or nearly so; leaves oblong to lanceolate, acute or acuminate or broadly obovate, puberulous and pale, often silvery white on the lower surface. 54. Q. Muehlenbergii (A, C).

1. Quercus borealis Michx. Red Oak.

Leaves obovate or oblong, acute or acuminate, abruptly or gradually cuneate or rounded at the broad or narrow base, usually divided about half way to the midrib by wide oblique sinuses rounded at the bottom into 11 or sometimes into 7 or 9 acute oblique ovate lobes tapering from broad bases and mostly sinuately 3-toothed at apex with elongated bristle-pointed teeth, or sometimes oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, and sinuately lobed with broad acute usually entire or slightly dentate lobes, when they unfold pink, covered with soft silky pale pubescence on the upper surface and below with thick white tomentum, soon glabrous, at maturity thin and firm, dark green, dull and glabrous above, pale yellow-green, glabrous or rarely puberulous and sometimes furnished with small tufts of rusty hairs in the axils of the veins below, 5′—9′ long, 4′—6′ wide; falling early in the autumn after turning dull or sometimes bright orange color or brown; petioles stout, yellow or red, 1′—2′ in length. Flowers: staminate in pubescent aments 4′—5′ long; calyx divided into 4 or 5 narrow ovate rounded lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short glabrous peduncles, their involucral scales broadly ovate, dark reddish brown, shorter than the conspicuous linear acute bract of the flower and as long as the lanceolate acute calyx-lobes; stigmas bright green. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or short-stalked, ovoid, gradually narrowed and acute at apex or cylindric and rounded at apex, pale brown, lustrous, more or less tomentose toward the ends, ½′—1′ long; ½′—¾′ in diameter; cup cup-shaped, puberulous on the inner surface, covered with small closely appressed ovate acute red-brown pubescent scales slightly thickened on the back toward the base of the cup, with a thin dark-colored tip and margins.

A tree usually not more than 60°—70° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, often much smaller, stout branches forming a narrow head, and slender lustrous branchlets light green and covered with pale scurfy pubescence when they first appear, dark red during their first winter and ultimately dark brown. Winter-buds ovoid, gradually narrowed to the acute apex, about ¼′ long, with thin ovate acute light chestnut-brown scales. Bark on young stems and on the upper part of the limbs of old trees 1′—1½′ thick, dark brown tinged with red and divided into small thick appressed plates scaly on the surface. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light reddish brown, with thin lighter-colored sapwood; used in construction, for the interior finish of houses, and in furniture.

Distribution. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, through Quebec to southern Ontario, and southward to northern New England, western New York, northern Pennsylvania (Presque Isle, Erie County), northern Michigan, southeastern Wisconsin, central Minnesota, central Iowa (Winneshick County), and on the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina at altitudes of about 4000°. Passing with many intermediate forms differing in the size of the nut and in the depth of the cup into

Quercus borealis var. maxima Ashe. Red Oak.

Quercus rubra Du Roi, not L.

Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or short-stalked; nut ovoid to slightly obovoid, gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, slightly narrowed at base, usually 1′—1¼′ long and ½′—⅔′ thick, occasionally not more than ⅔′ long and thick, inclosed only at the base in a thick saucer-shaped cup.

A tree, usually 70°—80°, or occasionally 150° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, and stout spreading and ascending branches forming a broad head.

Distribution. Province of Quebec in the neighborhood of Montreal, and southern Ontario, westward through southern Michigan to southeastern Nebraska, and southward to northern Georgia, on the southern Appalachian Mountains up to altitudes of 3000°, southern Kentucky, eastern and central Tennessee, northeastern (Tishomingo County), northwestern (Yazoo County), and central and southern (Hinds and Union Counties) Mississippi, northern and southwestern Alabama (Dekalb, Cullman, Jefferson, and Dallas Counties), northwestern Arkansas, and eastern Kansas and Oklahoma; one of the largest and most generally distributed trees of the northern states; rare and local in the south; of its largest size in the region north of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers.

Often planted as a park and shade tree in the northeastern states and in the counties of western and northern Europe; generally more successful in Europe than other American Oaks.

× Quercus Lowellii Sarg., a possible hybrid of Quercus borealis and Q. ilicifolia, has been found in the neighborhood of Seabury, York County, Maine.

× Quercus Porterii Trel., probably a hybrid of Quercus borealis var. maxima and Q. velutina, has been found on Bowditch Hill, Jamaica Plain, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on College Hill, Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and near Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio.

× Quercus runcinata Engelm., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus borealis var. maxima and Q. imbricaria first found near St. Louis, occurs also in the neighborhood of Independence, Jackson County, and at Williamsville, Wayne County, Missouri, and in Richland and Wayne Counties, Illinois.

2. Quercus Shumardii Buckl.

Quercus texana Sarg. in part, not Buckl.

Leaves obovate, seven rarely five-lobed, the lobes two or three-lobed and sometimes dentate at apex, on leaves of lower branches short and broad, and separated by narrow sinuses pointed or rounded in the bottom, on upper branches deeply divided by broad rounded sinuses into narrow acuminate lobes, when they unfold often tinged with red and covered with pale loose tomentum deciduous before they are half grown, at maturity glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler and furnished below with large axillary tufts of pale hairs, 6′—8′ long, 4′—5′ wide, with a thin midrib and slender primary veins running to the points of the lobes; petioles slender, glabrous, 2′—2½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender glabrous aments 6′—7′ long; calyx divided into 4 or 5 rounded slightly villose lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate on pubescent peduncles, their involucral scales ovate, light brown, pubescent; stigmas red. Fruit: nut oblong-ovoid, narrowed and rounded at apex, ¾′—1¼′ long, ½′—1′ in diameter, inclosed at the base only in the thick saucer-shaped cup with a slightly incurved rim and covered with closely appressed ovate pale pubescent or nearly glabrous scales narrowed above the middle, abruptly long-pointed, thin or often conspicuously tuberculate.

A tree up to 120° high, with a tall trunk occasionally 5° in diameter, stout wide-spreading branches forming a broad rather open head, and gray or grayish brown glabrous branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute or acuminate, about ¼′ long, with closely imbricated gray glabrous or rarely pubescent scales. Bark 1′—1½′ thick, ridged, broken into small appressed plates scaly on the surface. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, light reddish brown, often manufactured into lumber in the Mississippi valley and considered more valuable than that of the northern Red Oak.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps in moist rich soil; coast region of Texas eastward from the Colorado River and ranging inland up the valley of that river to Burnet County, southeastern Oklahoma, through Arkansas, southeastern Kansas and Missouri to Fayette County, Iowa, southern Illinois and Indiana, the neighborhood of Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, and southeastern Michigan (near Portage Lake, Jackson County); through the eastern Gulf States to western and central Florida and northward in the neighborhood of the coast to the valley of the Neuse River, North Carolina; Chesapeake Beach, Calvert County, Maryland (W. W. Ashe); ranging inland in the south Atlantic States to Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, Calhoun Falls, Abbeville County, and Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina, and Chapel Hill, Orange County, North Carolina. Passing into

Quercus Shumardii var. Schneckii Sarg.

Quercus texana Sarg. in part, not Buckl. Quercus Schneckii Britt.

Differing from the type in the deep cup-shaped cup of the fruit covered with thin scales, rarely much thickened and tuberculate at base (only on river banks near Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi), and connected with it by forms with the cups of the fruit differing from saucer to deep cup-shaped.

Distribution. Growing with Quercus Shumardii; more common in Texas and in the Mississippi valley than the type, and ranging eastward through Louisiana and Mississippi to central and southern Alabama, central and southeastern Tennessee (neighborhood of Chattanooga), and central Kentucky; apparently not reaching the Atlantic States.

3. Quercus texana Buckl.

Leaves widest above the middle, broad-cuneate, concave-cuneate or nearly truncate at base, deeply or rarely only slightly divided by broad sinuses rounded in the bottom into 5 or 7 lobes, the terminal lobe 3-lobed and acute at apex, the upper lateral lobes broad and more or less divided at apex and much larger and more deeply lobed than those of the lowest pair, when they unfold densely covered with fascicled hairs and often bright red, soon glabrous, thin, dark green and lustrous above, pale and lustrous and rarely furnished below with small inconspicuous axillary tufts of pale hairs, 3′—3½′ long, 2½′—3′ wide, with a thin midrib and slender primary veins running to the points of the lobes; petioles slender, soon glabrous, ¾′—1½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender villose aments 3′—4′ long; calyx thin, villose on the outer surface, divided into 4 or 5 acute lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short hoary tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales brown tinged with red; stigmas bright red. Fruit short-stalked, usually solitary; nut ovoid, narrowed and rounded at apex, light red-brown, often striate, ¼′—¾′ long and broad, sometimes acute, nearly 1′ in length and not more than ⅓′ in diameter; cup turbinate, covered with thin ovate acuminate slightly appressed glabrous scales, in the small fruit of trees on dry hills inclosing a third or more of the nut, in the larger fruit of trees on better soil comparatively less deep.

A tree on dry hills rarely more than 30° tall, with a trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, small spreading or erect branches and slender red or reddish brown glabrous or rarely pubescent branchlets; often a shrub; on better soil at the foot of hills occasionally 50° high with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ⅙′—¼′ long and covered with closely imbricated acute slightly or densely pubescent red scales. Bark light brown tinged with red, ¾′—1′ thick, deeply ridged and broken into plate-like scales.

Distribution. Dry limestone hills and ridges, and in the more fertile soil at their base; central and western Texas (Dallas, Tarrant County to Travis and Bexar Counties), and to the Edwards Plateau (San Saba, Kerr, Brown, Coke and Uvalde Counties); westward replaced by the var. chesosensis Sarg. differing in the acuminate lobes of the leaves and smaller cups of the fruit; known only on the dry rocky slopes of the Chesos Mountains, Brewster County, Texas; and by the var. stellapila Sarg., differing in the presence of fascicled hairs on both surfaces of the mature leaves and on the branchlets of the year; above Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, Texas.

4. Quercus ellipsoidalis E. J. Hill. Black Oak.

Leaves elliptic to obovate-orbicular, acute or acuminate, truncate or broadly cuneate at base, deeply divided by wide sinuses rounded in the bottom into 5—7 oblong lobes repandly dentate at apex, or often, especially those of the upper pair, repandly lobulate, when they unfold slightly tinged with red and hoary-tomentose, soon becoming glabrous with the exception of small tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the principal veins, at maturity thin and firm, bright green and lustrous above, paler and sometimes entirely glabrous below, 3′—5′ long, 2½′—4′ wide, with a stout midrib and primary veins and prominent reticulate veinlets; late in the autumn turning yellow or pale brown more or less blotched with purple; petioles slender, glabrous or rarely puberulous, 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers: staminate in puberulous aments 1½′—2′ long; calyx campanulate, usually tinged with red, 2—5-lobed or parted into oblong-ovate or rounded segments, glabrous or slightly villose, fringed at apex with long twisted hairs, about as long as the 2—5 stamens, with short filaments and oblong anthers; pistillate on stout tomentose 1—3-flowered peduncles, red, their involucral scales broad, oblong, acute, hairy; calyx campanulate, 4—7-lobed, ciliate on the margins. Fruit short-stalked or nearly sessile, solitary or in pairs; nut ellipsoidal to subglobose, chestnut-brown, often striate and puberulous, inclosed for one third to one half its length in a turbinate or cup-shaped cup gradually narrowed at base, thin, light red-brown, and covered by narrow ovate obtuse or truncate brown pubescent closely appressed scales.

A tree, 60°—70° high, with a short trunk rarely 3° in diameter, much forked branches ascending above and often pendulous low on the stem, forming a narrow oblong head, and slender branchlets covered at first with matted pale hairs, bright reddish brown during their first winter, becoming dark gray-brown or reddish brown in their second season. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse or acute, sometimes slightly angled, about ⅛′ long, with ovate or oval red-brown lustrous slightly puberulous outer scales ciliate on the margins. Bark thin, light yellow internally, close, rather smooth, divided by shallow connected fissures into thin plates, dark brown near the base of the tree, dull above, gray-brown and only slightly furrowed on the large branches.

Distribution. In the neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, to southeastern Minnesota common; often covering large areas of sandy soil with a stunted growth and on the prairies sometimes a low shrub; eastern Iowa (Muscatine County), and the Lower Peninsular of Michigan (Montmorency, Arenac, and St. Clair Counties).

5. Quercus coccinea Muench. Scarlet Oak. Spanish Oak.

Leaves oblong-obovate or elliptic, truncate or cuneate at base, deeply divided by wide sinuses rounded in the bottom into 7 or rarely 9 lobes repand-dentate at apex, the terminal lobe, ovate, acute, and 3-toothed, the middle division the largest and furnished with 2 small lateral teeth, the lateral lobes obovate, oblique or spreading, sometimes falcate, usually broad and oblique at the coarsely toothed apex, when they unfold bright red covered with loose pale pubescence above and below with silvery white tomentum, green at the end of a few days, at maturity thin and firm, bright green, glabrous and very lustrous above, paler and less lustrous and sometimes furnished with small tufts of rusty pubescence in the axils of the veins below, 3′—6′ long, 2½′—4′ broad, with a yellow midrib and primary veins, late in the autumn turning brilliant scarlet; petioles slender, terete, 1½′—2½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender glabrous aments 3′—4′ long; calyx pubescent, bright red before opening, divided into 4 or 5 ovate acute segments shorter than the stamens; pistillate on pubescent peduncles sometimes ½′ long, bright red, their involucral scales ovate, pubescent, shorter than the acute calyx-lobes. Fruit sessile or stalked, solitary or in pairs; nut oval, oblong-ovate or hemispheric, truncate or rounded at base, rounded at apex, ½′—1′ long, ⅓′—⅔′ thick, light reddish brown and occasionally striate, inclosed for one third to one half its length in a deep cup-shaped or turbinate thin cup light reddish brown on the inner surface, covered by closely imbricated oblong-ovate acute thin, or rarely much thickened (var. tuberculata Sarg.) light reddish brown slightly puberulous scales.

A tree, 70°—80° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, comparatively small branches spreading gradually and forming a rather narrow open head, and slender branchlets coated at first with loose scurfy pubescence, soon pale green and lustrous, light red or orange-red in their first winter and light or dark brown the following year; usually much smaller. Winter-buds ellipsoidal or ovoid, gradually narrowed at apex, ⅛′—¼′ long, dark reddish brown, and pale-pubescent above the middle. Bark of young stems and branches smooth, light brown, becoming on old trunks ½′—1′ thick and divided by shallow fissures into irregular ridges covered by small light brown scales slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, light or reddish brown, with thicker darker colored sapwood.

Distribution. Light dry usually sandy soil; valley of the Androscoggin River, Maine, southern New Hampshire and Vermont to southern Ontario, southward to the District of Columbia and along the Appalachian Mountains to eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and northern Georgia; in central Georgia and northeastern Mississippi (near Corinth, Alcorn County), and westward through New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and southern Wisconsin to central Missouri (Jerome, Phelps County); in eastern Oklahoma (Arkansas River valley near Fisher, Creek County, G. W. Stevens); ascending to altitudes of nearly 5000° on the southern mountains; the prevailing Oak above 2500° to the summits of the Blue Ridge of the Carolinas; very abundant in the coast region from Massachusetts Bay to southern New Jersey; less common in the interior, growing on dry gravelly uplands, and on the prairies skirting the western margins of the eastern forest.

Occasionally planted in the northeastern states and in Europe as an ornamental tree valued chiefly for the brilliant autumn color of the foliage.

× Quercus Robbinsii Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus coccinea and Q. ilicifolia, occurs at North Easton, Bristol County, Massachusetts.

× Quercus Benderi Baenitz, a supposed hybrid of Quercus coccinea and Q. borealis var. maxima, appeared several years ago in Silesia, and a similar tree has been found in the Blue Hills Reservation near Boston.

6. Quercus palustris Muench. Pin Oak. Swamp Spanish Oak.

Leaves obovate, narrowed and cuneate or broad and truncate at base, divided by wide deep sinuses rounded in the bottom into 5—7 lobes, the terminal lobe ovate, acute, 3-toothed toward the apex, or entire, the lateral lobes spreading or oblique, sometimes falcate, especially those of the lowest pair, gradually tapering and acute at the dentate apex, or obovate and broad at apex, when they unfold light bronze-green stained with red on the margins, lustrous and puberulous above, coated below and on the petioles with pale scurfy pubescence, at maturity thin and firm, dark green and very lustrous above, pale below, with large tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the conspicuous primary veins; 4′—6′ long, 2′—4′ wide, with a stout midrib; late in the autumn gradually turning deep scarlet; petioles slender, yellow, ½′—2′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 2′—3′ long; calyx puberulous and divided into 4 or 5 oblong rounded segments more or less laciniately cut on the margins, shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales broadly ovate, tomentose, shorter than the acuminate calyx-lobes; stigmas bright red. Fruit sessile or short-stalked, solitary or clustered; nut nearly hemispheric, about ½′ in diameter, light brown, often striate, inclosed only at the base in a thin saucer-shaped cup dark red-brown and lustrous within, and covered by closely appressed ovate light red-brown thin puberulous scales.

A tree, usually 70°—80° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, often clothed with small tough drooping branches, or when crowded in the forest sometimes 120° high, with a trunk 60°—70° tall and 4°—5° in diameter, slender branches beset with short-ridged spur-like laterals a few inches in length, forming on young trees a broad pyramidal head, becoming on older trees open and irregular, with rigid and more pendulous branches often furnished at first with small drooping branchlets, and slender tough branchlets dark red and covered by short pale silvery tomentum, soon becoming green and glabrous, lustrous dark red-brown or orange color in their first winter, growing darker in their second year and ultimately dark gray-brown. Winter-buds ovoid, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, about ⅛′ long, with imbricated light chestnut-brown scales puberulous toward the thin sometimes ciliate margins. Bark of young trunks and branches smooth, lustrous, light brown frequently tinged with red, becoming on older trunks ¾′—1¼′ thick, light gray-brown, generally smooth and covered by small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, light brown, with thin rather darker colored sapwood; sometimes used in construction, and for shingles and clapboards.

Distribution. Borders of swamps and river-bottoms in deep rich moist soil; valley of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts and Connecticut; on Grand Isle in the Niagara River, New York to southern Ontario and southwestern Michigan, and westward to eastern Iowa (Muscatine County), and southward to southern West Virginia (Hardy and Mercer Counties), southwestern Virginia (Wythe County), central North Carolina (on Bowling’s Creek, near Chapel Hill, Orange County, and on Dutchman’s Creek, Forsyth County); and to southern Kentucky, central Tennessee, southern Arkansas (Fulton, Hempstead County), and northeastern Oklahoma; rare and of small size in New England; exceedingly common on the coast plain south of the Hudson River; very abundant on the bottom-lands of the streams of the lower Ohio River.

Often cultivated as an ornamental tree in the northeastern states and occasionally in the countries of western and central Europe.

7. Quercus georgiana M. A. Curtis.

Leaves convolute in the bud, elliptic or obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, divided generally about half way to the midrib by wide or narrow oblique sinuses rounded in the bottom into 3—7 lobes, the terminal lobe ovate, acute, or rounded and entire or frequently furnished with 1 or 2 small lateral teeth, the lateral lobes oblique or spreading, mostly triangular, acute and entire, or those of the upper and of the middle pair often broad and repand-lobulate at the oblique ends, sometimes gradually 3-lobed at the broad apex and narrowed and entire below, or equally 3-lobed, with broad or narrow spreading lateral lobes, or occasionally pinnatifid, when they unfold bright green tinged with red, ciliate on the margins and coated on the midrib, veins, and petioles with loose pale pubescence, at maturity thin, bright green and lustrous above, paler below, and glabrous or furnished with tufts of hairs in the axils of the primary veins, usually about 2½′ long and 1½′ wide; turning dull orange and scarlet in the autumn; petioles slender, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender glabrous or pubescent aments 2′—3′ long; calyx divided into 4 or 5 broadly ovate rounded segments rather shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short glabrous slender peduncles; their involucral scales rather shorter than the acute calyx-lobes, pubescent or puberulous; stigmas bright red. Fruit short-stalked; nut ellipsoidal or subglobose, ⅓′—½′ long, light red-brown and lustrous, inclosed for one third to nearly one half its length in a thick cup-shaped cup light red-brown and lustrous on the inner surface, and covered by thin ovate bright light red-brown truncate erose scales.

Distribution. Georgia; on Stone Mountain, and Little Stone Mountain, Dekalb County; on a few other granite hills between the Yellow and Oconee rivers in the region south and east of Stone Mountain (Winder, Jackson County, Rockmart, Polk County and at Warm Springs, Meriwether County).

Occasionally cultivated, and hardy in eastern Massachusetts.

× Quercus Smallii Trel., a possible hybrid of Quercus georgiana and Q. marilandica, occurs on the slopes and summit of Little Stone Mountain, Dekalb County, Georgia.

8. Quercus velutina Lam. Black Oak. Yellow-bark Oak.

Leaves ovate or oblong, rounded, cuneate or truncate at base, mostly 7-lobed and sometimes divided nearly to the middle by wide rounded sinuses into narrow obovate more or less repand-dentate lobes, or into elongated nearly entire mucronate lobes tapering gradually from a broad base, the terminal lobe oblong, elongated, acute, furnished with small lateral teeth, or broad, rounded, and coarsely repand-dentate, or slightly divided into broad dentate lobes or sinuate-dentate, bright crimson when they unfold, and covered above by long loose scattered white hairs and below with thick pale or silvery white tomentum, hoary-pubescent when half grown, and at maturity thick and firm or subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, below yellow-green, brown or dull copper color and more or less pubescent or glabrous with the exception of tufts of rusty hairs in the axils of the principal veins, 3′—12′ long and 2′—10′ wide, but usually 5′—6′ long and 3′—4′ wide, with a stout midrib and primary veins; late in the autumn turning dull red, dark orange color, or brown, and falling gradually during the winter; petioles stout, yellow, glabrous or puberulous, 3′—6′ in length. Flowers: staminate in tomentose or pubescent aments 4′—6′ long; calyx coated with pale hairs, with ovate acute lobes; pistillate on short tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales ovate, shorter than the acute calyx-lobes; stigmas bright red. Fruit sessile or short-stalked, solitary or in pairs; nut ovoid-oblong, obovoid, oval or hemispheric, broad and rounded at base, full and rounded at apex, light red-brown, often striate, frequently coated with soft rufous pubescence, ½′—¾′ long and broad, or rarely 1′ long and broad, inclosed for about half its length or rarely nearly to the apex in the thin deeply cup-shaped or turbinate cup dark red-brown on the inner surface, covered by thin light chestnut-brown acute hoary scales closely appressed at the base of the cup, loosely imbricated above the middle, with free scarious tips forming a fringe-like border to its rim.

A tree, often 70°—80° and occasionally 150° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, slender branches spreading gradually into a narrow open head, stout branchlets coated at first with pale or fulvous scurfy tomentum, becoming in their first winter glabrous, dull red or reddish brown, growing dark brown in their second year or brown slightly tinged with red. Winter-buds ovoid, strongly angled, gradually narrowed and obtuse at apex, hoary-tomentose, ¼′—½′ long. Bark of young stems and branches smooth, dark brown, deep orange color internally, becoming ¾′—1½′ thick on old trunks, and deeply divided into broad rounded ridges broken on the surface into thick dark brown or nearly black closely appressed plate-like scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, bright brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood; of little value except as fuel. The bark abounds in tannic acid and is largely used in tanning, as a yellow dye, and in medicine.

Distribution. Dry gravelly uplands and ridges; coast of southern Maine to northern Vermont, southern and western Ontario, the southern peninsula of Michigan, northwestern, eastern and southern Iowa, and southeastern Nebraska, and southward to western Florida, southern Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, eastern Kansas, northeastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas to the valley of the Brazos River; one of the commonest Oaks on the gravelly drift of southern New England and the middle states; ascending on the southern Appalachian Mountains to altitudes of about 4000°, and often forming a large part of the forest growth on their foothills; abundant in all parts of the Mississippi basin, and of its largest size in the valley of the lower Ohio River; the common species of the Black Oak group reaching the south-Atlantic and Gulf Coast, and here generally scattered on dry ridges through the maritime Pine belt.

Quercus velutina, which is more variable in the form of its leaves than the other North American Black Oaks, is easily recognized by the bright yellow color of the inner bark, in early spring by the deep red color of the unfolding leaves, becoming pale and silvery in a few days, and by the large tomentose winter-buds. From western Missouri to northwestern Arkansas a form occurs (var. missouriensis Sarg.) with the mature leaves covered above with fascicled hairs, and coated below and on the petioles and summer branchlets with rusty pubescence, and with broader more loosely imbricated hoary-tomentose cup-scales.

9. Quercus Kelloggii Newb. Black Oak.

Quercus californica Coop.

Leaves oblong or obovate, truncate, cuneate or rounded at the narrow base, 7 or rarely 5-lobed by wide and deep or shallow and oblique sinuses rounded in the bottom, the terminal lobe ovate, 3-toothed at the acute apex, the lateral lobes tapering gradually from the base or broad and obovate, coarsely repand-dentate with acute pointed teeth, or rarely entire, when they unfold dark red or purple and pilose above and coated below and on the petioles with thick silvery white tomentum, at maturity thick and firm, lustrous, dark yellow-green and glabrous or rarely pubescent above, light yellow-green or brownish and glabrous or pubescent, or occasionally hoary-tomentose below, 3′—6′ long, 2′—4′ wide; turning yellow or brown in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, yellow, 1′—2′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 4′—5′ long; calyx pubescent, divided into 4 or 5 ovate acute segments shorter than the stamens; anthers bright red; pistillate on short tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales ovate, coated like the acute calyx-lobes with pale tomentum; stigmas dark red. Fruit short-stalked, solitary or clustered; nut oblong, ellipsoidal or obovoid, broad and rounded at base, full and rounded or gradually narrowed and acute at the puberulous apex, 1′—1½′ long, about ¾′ broad, light chestnut-brown, often striate, inclosed for one fourth to two thirds of its length in the deep cup-shaped cup light brown on the inner surface, and covered by thin ovate-lanceolate lustrous light chestnut brown scales, sometimes rounded and thickened on the back toward the base of the cup, their tips elongated, thin and erose on the margins, often forming a narrow fringe-like border to the rim of the cup.

A tree, occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, stout spreading branches forming an open round-topped head, and branchlets coated at first with thick hoary caducous tomentum, bright red or brown tinged with red, and usually glabrous or pubescent or puberulous during their first winter, becoming dark red-brown in their second year; frequently much smaller and at high elevations a small shrub (f. cibata Jeps.). Winter-buds ovoid, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, about ¼′ long, with closely imbricated pale chestnut-brown scales ciliate on the thin scarious margins and pubescent toward the point of the bud. Bark of young stems and branches smooth, light brown, becoming on old trunks 1′—1½′ thick, dark brown slightly tinged with red or nearly black, divided into broad ridges at the base of old trees and broken above into thick irregular oblong plates covered by minute closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, very brittle, bright red, with thin lighter colored sapwood; occasionally used as fuel.

Distribution. Valleys and mountain slopes; basin of the Mackenzie River in western Oregon, southward over the California coast ranges, and along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to altitudes of 6500° to the Cuyamaca Mountains near the southern boundary of California; extending across the Sierra Nevada to the foothills of Owens valley (Jepson) in eastern California; rare in the immediate neighborhood of the coast; the largest and most abundant Oak-tree of the valleys of southwestern Oregon and of the Sierra Nevada, sometimes forming groves of considerable extent in coniferous forests; of its largest size at altitudes of about 6000° above the sea.

10. Quercus Catesbæi Michx. Turkey Oak.

Leaves oblong or obovate or nearly triangular, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, deeply divided by wide rounded sinuses into 3 or 5 or rarely 7 lobes, the terminal lobe ovate, elongated, acute and entire or repand-dentate, or obovate and coarsely equally or irregularly 3-toothed at apex, the lateral lobes spreading, usually falcate, entire and acute, tapering from the broad base, and broad, oblique, and repand-lobulate at apex, or 3-toothed at the broad apex and gradually narrowed to the base, coated when they unfold with rufous fascicled hairs, and when fully grown thick and rigid, bright yellow-green and lustrous above, paler, lustrous, and glabrous below, with large tufts of rusty hairs in the axils of the veins, 3′—12′ long, 1′—10′ wide, but usually about 5′ long and wide, with a broad yellow or red-brown midrib; turning bright scarlet before falling in the late autumn or early winter; petioles stout, grooved, ¼′—¾′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender hairy red-stemmed aments 4′—5′ long; calyx puberulous and divided into 4 or 5 ovate acute lobes; pistillate on short stout tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales bright red, pubescent, hairy at the margins; stigmas dark red. Fruit short-stalked, usually solitary; nut oval, full and rounded at the ends, about 1′ long and ¾′ broad, dull light brown, covered at the apex by a thin coat of snow-white tomentum, inclosed for about one third its length in a thin turbinate cup often gradually narrowed into a stout stalk-like base, light red-brown and lustrous on the inner surface, covered by ovate-oblong rounded scales extending above the rim of the cup and down over the upper third of the inner surface, and hoary-pubescent except their thin bright red margins.

A tree, usually 20°—30°, or occasionally 50°—60° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 2° in diameter, stout spreading more or less contorted branches forming a broad or narrow open irregular generally round-topped head, and stout branchlets coated at first with fascicled hairs, nearly glabrous and deep red when the leaves are half grown, dark red in their first winter, gradually growing dark brown; generally much smaller and sometimes shrubby. Winter-buds elongated, acute, ½′ long, with light chestnut-brown scales erose on the thin margins, and coated, especially toward the point of the bud, with rusty pubescence. Bark ½′—1′ thick, red internally, dark gray tinged with red on the surface, and at the base of old trunks becoming nearly black, deeply and irregularly furrowed and broken into small appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, rather close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; largely used for fuel.

Distribution. Dry barren sandy ridges and sandy bluffs and hummocks in the neighborhood of the coast; southeastern Virginia (near Zuni, Isle of Wight County) to the shores of Indian River and Peace Creek, Florida, and westward to eastern Louisiana; comparatively rare toward the western limits of its range, and most abundant and of its largest size on the high bluff-like shores of bays and estuaries in South Carolina and Georgia; the prevailing tree with Quercus cinerea in the flat woods of the interior of the Florida peninsula as far south as the sandy ridges in the neighborhood of Lake Istokpoga, De Soto County.

× Quercus Mellichampii Trel. believed to be a hybrid of Quercus Catesbæi and Q. laurifolia occurs at Bluffton on the coast of South Carolina, in the neighborhood of Orlando, Orange County and near San Mateo, Putnam County, Florida.

× Quercus Ashei Trel. believed to be a hybrid of Quercus Catesbæi with Q. cinerea occurs at Folkston and near Trader’s Hill, Charlton County and St. Mary’s, Camden County, Georgia.

× Quercus blufftonensis Trel., a probable hybrid of Quercus Catesbæi and Q. rubra L., has been found at Bluffton, South Carolina.

× Quercus Walteriana Ashe, believed to be a hybrid of Quercus Catesbæi and Q. nigra, is not rare in the immediate neighborhood of the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, and occurs on sand hills in Sampson County, North Carolina, near Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, at Mount Vernon, Mobile County and in the neighborhood of Selma, Dallas County, Alabama.

11. Quercus ilicifolia Wang. Bear Oak. Scrub Oak.

Quercus nana Sarg.

Leaves obovate or rarely oblong, gradually or abruptly cuneate at base, divided by wide shallow sinuses into 3—7, usually 5, acute lobes, the terminal lobe ovate, elongated, rounded and 3-toothed or acute and dentate or entire at apex, the lateral lobes spreading, mostly triangular and acute, or those of the upper pair broad, oblique and repand-lobulate or broad at apex, slightly 3-lobed and entire below, or deeply 3-lobed above and sinuate below, or occasionally oblong to oblong-obovate and entire, with undulate margins, when they unfold dull red and puberulous or pubescent on the upper surface and coated on the lower and on the petioles with thick pale tomentum, with conspicuous tufts of silvery white hairs in the axils of the veins, at maturity thick and firm, dark green and lustrous above, covered below with pale or silvery white pubescence, 2′—5′ long, 1½′—3′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib and slender primary veins; turning dull scarlet or yellow in the autumn; petioles slender, glabrous, or pubescent, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 4′—5′ long, and often persistent until midsummer; calyx red or green tinged with red and irregularly divided into 3—5 ovate rounded lobes shorter than the stamens; anthers bright red ultimately yellow; pistillate on stout tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales ovate, about as long as the acute calyx-lobes, red and tomentose; stigmas dark red. Fruit produced in great profusion, sessile or stalked, in pairs or rarely solitary; nut ovoid, broad, flat or rounded at base, gradually narrowed and acute or rounded at apex, about ½′ long and broad, light brown, lustrous, usually faintly striate, inclosed for about one half its length in the cup-shaped or saucer-shaped cup often abruptly enlarged above the stalk-like base, thick, light reddish brown within, and covered by thin ovate closely imbricated red-brown puberulous scales acute or truncate at apex, the minute free tips of the upper scales forming a fringe-like border to the cup.

A tree, occasionally 18°—20° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, with slender spreading branches usually forming a round-topped head, and slender branchlets dark green more or less tinged with red and hoary-pubescent at first, during their first winter red-brown or ashy gray and pubescent or puberulous, becoming glabrous and darker in their second year and ultimately dark brown or nearly black; more frequently an intricately branched shrub, with numerous contorted stems 3°—10° tall. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, about ⅛′ long, with dark chestnut-brown rather loosely imbricated glabrous or pilose scales. Bark thin, smooth, dark brown, covered by small closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Dry sandy barrens and rocky hillsides; coast of eastern Maine southward through eastern and southern New England to southern and southwestern Pennsylvania and along the Appalachian Mountains, principally on their eastern slopes, to southern Virginia; on Crowder and King Mountains, Gaston County, North Carolina; and westward to the shores of Lake George and the valley of the Hudson River; common in eastern and southern New England, in the Pine barrens of New Jersey, and in eastern Pennsylvania.

× Quercus Brittonii Davis, believed to be a hybrid of Quercus ilicifolia and Q. marilandica, has been found on Staten Island, New York, and at Ocean Grove, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

× Quercus Giffordii Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus ilicifolia and Q. Phellos, has been found at May’s Landing, Atlantic County, New Jersey.

× Quercus Rehderi Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus ilicifolia and Q. velutina, is not rare in eastern Massachusetts and occurs on Martha’s Vineyard (Chilmark).

12. Quercus rubra L. Red Oak. Spanish Oak.

Quercus digitata Sudw.

Leaves ovate to obovate, narrowed and rounded or cuneate at base, the terminal lobe long-acuminate, entire or slightly lobed, often falcate, usually longer than the 2 or 4 acuminate entire lateral lobes narrowed from a broad base and often falcate, or oblong-obovate and divided at the broad apex by wide or narrow sinuses broad and rounded in the bottom into 3 rounded or acute entire or dentate lobes, and entire and gradually narrowed below into an acute or rounded base (var. triloba Ashe), the two forms usually occurring on different but sometimes on the same tree, at maturity thin and firm, dark green and lustrous above, coated below with soft close pale or rusty pubescence, 6′—7′ long and 4′—5′ wide, obscurely reticulate-venulose, with a stout tomentose midrib and primary veins; turning brown or dull orange color in the autumn; petioles slender, flattened, 1′—2′ in length. Flowers: staminate in tomentose aments, 3′—5′ long; calyx thin and scarious, pubescent on the outer surface, divided into 4 or 5 ovate rounded segments; pistillate on stout tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales coated with rusty tomentum, as long or rather shorter than the acute calyx-lobes; stigmas dark red. Fruit sessile or short-stalked; nut subglobose to ellipsoidal, full and rounded at apex, truncate and rounded at base, about ½′ long, bright orange-brown, inclosed only at base or sometimes for one third its length in a thin saucer-shaped cup flat on the bottom or gradually narrowed from a stalk-like base, or deep and turbinate, bright red-brown on the inner surface, covered by thin ovate-oblong reddish scales acute or rounded at apex and pale-pubescent except on the margins.

A tree, usually 70°—80° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, large spreading branches forming a broad round-topped open head, and stout branchlets coated at first, like the young leaves, with thick rusty or orange-colored clammy tomentum, dark red or reddish brown and pubescent or rarely glabrous during their first winter, becoming in their second year dark red-brown or ashy gray. The var. triloba usually 20°—30° rarely 40°—50° high. Winter-buds ovoid or oval, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with bright chestnut-brown puberulous or pilose scales ciliate with short pale hairs. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, dark brown or pale, and divided by shallow fissures into broad ridges covered by thin closely appressed scales. Wood hard, strong, not durable, coarse-grained, light red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; sometimes used in construction, and largely as fuel. The bark is rich in tannin, and is used in tanning leather and occasionally in medicine.

Distribution. Southeastern and southern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey southward to central Florida, through the Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas, and through eastern Oklahoma and southwestern Missouri to central Tennessee and Kentucky, southern Indiana and Illinois, southern Ohio (Black Fork Creek, Lawrence County), and Kanawha County, West Virginia; in the north Atlantic states only in the neighborhood of the coast and comparatively rare; very common in the south Atlantic and Gulf states on dry hills between the coast plain and the Appalachian Mountains; less abundant in the southern maritime Pine belt. The var. triloba: rare and local. Pleasant Grove, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and Jefferson County, Indiana, southward to central and western Florida, southern Alabama and Mississippi, western Arkansas and eastern Texas; on dry uplands near Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia, the prevailing form.

Quercus rubra var. pagodæfolia Ashe. Swamp Spanish Oak. Red Oak.

Quercus pagoda Rafn. Quercus pagodæfolia Ashe.

Leaves elliptic to oblong, acuminate, gradually narrowed and cuneate or full and rounded or rarely truncate at base, deeply divided by wide sinuses rounded in the bottom into 5—11 acuminate usually entire repand-dentate lobes often falcate and spreading at right angles to the midrib or pointed toward the apex of the leaf, when they unfold coated with pale tomentum, thickest on the lower surface, and dark red on the upper surface, at maturity dark green and very lustrous above, pale and tomentose below, 6′—8′ long and 5′—6′ wide, with a stout midrib usually puberulous on the upper side, slender primary veins arched to the points of the lobes, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning bright clear yellow before falling; petioles stout, pubescent or tomentose, 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers and Fruit as in the species.

A tree, sometimes 120° high, with a trunk 4°—5° in diameter, heavy branches forming in the forest a short narrow crown, or in more open situations wide-spreading or ascending and forming a great open head, and slender branchlets hoary tomentose at first, tomentose or pubescent during their first winter, and dark reddish brown and puberulous during their second year. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, often prominently 4-angled, about ¼′ long, with light red-brown puberulous scales sometimes ciliate at the apex. Bark about 1′ thick and roughened by small rather closely appressed plate-like light gray, gray-brown or dark brown scales. Wood light reddish brown, with thin nearly white sapwood; largely manufactured into lumber in the Mississippi valley, and valued almost as highly as white oak.

Distribution. Rich bottom-lands and the alluvial banks of streams; Maryland (Queen Anne County) and coast of Virginia to northern Florida, and through the Gulf states and Arkansas to southern Missouri, western Tennessee and Kentucky, and southern Illinois and Indiana; most abundant and one of the largest and most valuable timber-trees in the river swamps of the Yazoo basin, Mississippi, and of eastern Arkansas. Differing chiefly from the type in the more numerous and more acuminate lobes of the usually more elongated leaves usually paler on the lower surface, and in the generally paler bark of the trunk; passing into Quercus rubra var. leucophylla Ashe with leaves on upper branches nearly as broad as long thickly covered below with brownish pubescence and deeply divided into 5—7 lobes, and on lower branches slightly obovate, less deeply divided, thin, dark green, sometimes pubescent becoming glabrous above and often covered below with pale or brown pubescence.

A tree sometimes 120° high; in low rich soil; coast region of southeastern Virginia, southward to western Florida and through the Gulf states to the valley of the Neches River, Texas, and northward to northern Arkansas; in southern Illinois (near Mt. Carmel, Wabash County) and southwestern Indiana (near Hovey Lake, Posey County); abundant in low woods about River Junction, Gadsden County, Florida, and in central Mississippi.

× Quercus Willdenoviana Zabel is believed in Europe to be a hybrid of Quercus rubra and Quercus velutina.

13. Quercus marilandica Muench. Black Jack. Jack Oak.

Leaves broadly obovate, rounded or cordate at the narrow base, usually 3 or rarely 5-lobed at the broad and often abruptly dilated apex, with short or long, broad or narrow, rounded or acute, entire or dentate lobes, or entire or dentate at apex, sometimes oblong-obovate, undulate-lobed at the broad apex and entire below, or equally 3-lobed with elongated spreading lateral lobes broad and lobulate at apex, when they unfold coated with a clammy tomentum of fascicled hairs and bright pink on the upper surface, at maturity thick and firm or subcoriaceous, dark yellow-green and very lustrous above, yellow, orange color, or brown and scurfy-pubescent below, usually 6′—7′ long and broad, with a thick broad orange-colored midrib; turning brown or yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, yellow, glabrous or pubescent, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hoary aments 2′—4′ long; calyx thin and scarious, tinged with red above the middle, pale-pubescent on the outer surface, divided into 4 or 5 broad ovate rounded lobes; anthers apiculate, dark red; pistillate on short rusty-tomentose peduncles coated like their involucral scales with thick rusty tomentum; stigmas dark red. Fruit, solitary or in pairs, usually pedunculate; nut oblong, full and rounded at the ends, rather broader below than above the middle, about ¾′ long, light yellow-brown and often striate, the shell lined with dense fulvous tomentum, inclosed for one third to nearly two thirds of its length in a thick turbinate light brown cup puberulous on the inner surface, and covered by large reddish brown loosely imbricated scales often ciliate and coated with loose pale or rusty tomentum, the upper scales smaller, erect, inserted on the top of the cup in several rows, and forming a thick rim round its inner surface, or occasionally reflexed and covering the upper half of the inner surface of the cup.

A tree, 20°—30°, or occasionally 40°—50° high, with a trunk rarely more than 1′ in diameter, short stout spreading often contorted branches forming a narrow compact round-topped or sometimes an open irregular head, and stout branchlets coated at first with thick pale tomentum, light brown and scurfy-pubescent during their first summer, becoming reddish brown and glabrous or puberulous in the winter, and ultimately brown or ashy gray. Winter-buds ovoid or oval, prominently angled, light red-brown, coated with rusty brown hairs, about ¼′ long. Bark 1′—1½′ thick, and deeply divided into nearly square plates 1′—3′ long and covered by small closely appressed dark brown or nearly black scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, dark rich brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood; largely used as fuel and in the manufacture of charcoal.

Distribution. Dry sandy or clay barrens; Long Island and Staten Island, New York, eastern and southern Pennsylvania, and southern New Jersey to the shores of Matanzas Inlet and Tampa Bay, Florida, and westward through the Gulf states to western Texas (Callahan County) and to western Oklahoma (Dewey and Kiowa Counties), Arkansas, eastern Kansas, southeastern Nebraska and through Missouri to northeastern Illinois, southwestern and southern Indiana, and northeastern Kentucky (South Portsmouth, Greenup County, R. E. Horsey); rare in the north, very abundant southward; west of the Mississippi River often forming on sterile soils a great part of the forest growth; of its largest size in southern Arkansas and eastern Texas.

× Quercus Rudkinii Britt., with characters intermediate between those of Quercus marilandica and Q. Phellos, and probably a hybrid of these species, has been found near Tottenville, Staten Island, New York, at Keyport, Monmouth County, New Jersey, and at the Falls of the Yadkin River, Stanley County, North Carolina.

× Quercus sterilis Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus marilandica and Q. nigra has been found in Bladen County, North Carolina.

× Quercus Hastingsii Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus marilandica and Q. texana, occurs near Boerne, Kendall County, and at Brownwood, Brown County, Texas.

× Quercus Bushii Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus marilandica and Q. velutina, although not common, occurs in eastern Oklahoma (Sapulpa, Creek County), Mississippi (Oxford, Lafayette County), Alabama (Dothan, Houston County, near Berlin, Dallas County, and Daphne, Baldwin County), Florida (Sumner, Levey County), and in Georgia (Climax, Decatur County).

14. Quercus arkansana Sarg.

Leaves broadly obovate, slightly 3-lobed or dentate at the wide apex, cuneate at base, on sterile branches often oblong-ovate, acute or rounded at apex, rounded at base, the lobes ending in long slender mucros, when they unfold tinged with red, thickly covered with pale fascicled hairs persistent until summer, the midrib and veins more thickly clothed with long straight hairs, and at maturity glabrous, with the exception of small axillary tufts of pubescence on the lower surface, light yellow-green above, paler below, 2′—2¾′ long and broad, with a slender light yellow midrib, thin primary veins and prominent veinlets; on sterile branches often 4½′—5½′ long and 2½′—2¾′ wide; petioles slender, coated at first with clusters of pale hairs, becoming glabrous or puberulous, ⅗′—⅘′ in length. Flowers: staminate in aments covered with clusters of long pale hairs, 2′—2½′ long; calyx usually 4 rarely 3-lobed, thinly covered with long white hairs; stamens usually 4; anthers ovoid-oblong, apiculate, dark red; pistillate on stout peduncles, hoary-tomentose like the scales of the involucre; stigmas dark red. Fruit solitary or in pairs, on short glabrous peduncles; nut broad-ovoid, rounded at apex, sparingly pubescent especially below the middle with fascicled hairs, light brown, obscurely striate, ¼′—⅓′ long, ½′—⅝′ thick, inclosed only at base in the flat saucer-shaped cup, pubescent on the inner surface, covered with closely appressed scales obtuse at their narrow apex, red on the margins, pale pubescent, those of the upper rank smaller, erect, inserted on the top of the cup and forming a thin rim round its inner surface.

A tree when crowded in the forest often 60°—70° high, with a tall trunk, stout ascending branches forming a long narrow head, and slender branchlets thickly coated early in the season with pale fascicled hairs, pubescent or nearly glabrous in their first autumn and darker and glabrous in their second year, when not crowded by other trees rarely 40° high with a short trunk occasionally 1° in diameter. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, with thin light chestnut-brown slightly pubescent or nearly glabrous scales. Bark thick, nearly black, divided by deep fissures into long narrow ridges covered with thick closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Low woods and on rolling sand hills four miles north of Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas; rare and local.

15. Quercus nigra L. Water Oak.

Leaves oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base and enlarged often abruptly at the broad rounded entire or occasionally 3-lobed apex, on vigorous young branchlets sometimes pinnatifid with acute, acuminate or rounded lobes or broadly oblong-obovate and rounded at apex with entire or undulate margins, on upper branches occasionally linear-lanceolate, on occasional trees narrowed below to an elongated cuneate base and gradually widened above into a more or less deeply 3-lobed apex, the lobes rounded or acute (var. tridentifera Sarg.), or often acute at the ends, and on upper branchlets sometimes linear-lanceolate to linear-obovate, acute or rounded at apex, divided above the middle by deep wide rounded sinuses into elongated lanceolate acute entire lobes, or pinnatifid above the middle, when they unfold thin, light green more or less tinged with red and covered by fine caducous pubescence, with conspicuous tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the veins below, at maturity thin, dull bluish green, paler below than above, glabrous or with axillary tufts of rusty hairs, usually about 2½′ long and 1½′ wide, or on fertile branches sometimes 6′ long and 2½′ wide; turning yellow and falling gradually during the winter; petioles stout, flattened, ⅛′—½′ in length; leaves of seedling plants linear-lanceolate with entire or undulate margins, or occasionally lobed with 1 or 2 pointed lobes, often deeply 3-lobed at a wide apex, and occasionally furnished below the middle with a single acuminate lobe, all the forms often occurring on a plant less than three feet high. Flowers: staminate in red hairy-stemmed aments 2′—3′ long; calyx thin and scarious, covered on the outer surface with short hairs, divided into 4 or 5 ovate rounded segments; pistillate on short tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales a little shorter than the acute calyx-lobes and coated with rusty hairs; stigmas deep red. Fruit usually solitary, sessile or short-stalked; nut ovoid, broad and flat at base, full and rounded at the pubescent apex, light yellow-brown, often striate, ⅓′—⅔′ long and nearly as thick, usually inclosed only at the base in a thin saucer-shaped cup, or occasionally for one third its length in a cup-shaped cup, coated on the inner surface with pale silky tomentum and covered by ovate acute closely appressed light red-brown scales clothed with pale pubescence except on their darker colored margins.

A tree, occasionally 80° high, with a trunk 2°—3½° in diameter, numerous slender branches spreading gradually from the stem and forming a symmetrical round-topped head, and slender glabrous branchlets light or dull red during their first winter, becoming grayish brown in their second season. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, strongly angled, covered by loosely imbricated dark red-brown puberulous scales slightly ciliate on the thin margins. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, with a smooth light brown surface slightly tinged with red and covered by smooth closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood; little valued except as fuel.

Distribution. High sandy borders of swamps and streams and the rich bottom-lands of rivers, or northward sometimes in dry woods; southern Delaware, southward to the shores of the Indian River and Tampa Bay, Florida, ranging inland in the south Atlantic states through the Piedmont region, and westward through the Gulf states to the valley of the Colorado River, Texas, and through eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas to southeastern Missouri and to central Tennessee and Kentucky. The var. tridentifera Sarg. rare and local; southwest Virginia to Alabama (near Selma, Dallas County), central and western Mississippi, eastern Louisiana; valley of Navidad River, Lavaca County, Texas. A form (f. microcarya Sarg.—Quercus microcarya Small) occurs in the dry soil on slopes of Little Stone Mountain, Dekalb County, Georgia.

The Water Oak is commonly planted as a shade-tree in the streets and squares of the cities and towns of the southern states.

16. Quercus rhombica Sarg.

Leaves rhombic, rarely oblong-obovate to lanceolate, acute or rounded and apiculate at apex, cuneate at base, the margins entire or slightly undulate, those on vigorous shoots occasionally furnished on each side near the middle with a short lobe, when they unfold deeply tinged with red, covered with short pale caducous pubescence and furnished below with usually persistent tufts of axillary hairs, at maturity thin, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, 3½′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, with a stout conspicuous yellow midrib and slender forked primary veins; turning yellow and falling gradually in early winter, rarely at the ends of branches, obovate and rounded, slightly 3-lobed or undulate at the broad apex (var. obovatifolia Sarg.); petioles yellow, ⅕′—½′ in length. Flowers not seen. Fruit sessile or short-stalked; nut ovoid, rounded at apex, thickly covered with pale pubescence, ⅖′—½′ long, ⅗′ thick; inclosed only at the base in a saucer-shaped cup, rounded on the bottom, silky pubescent on the inner surface, and covered with slightly pubescent reddish brown loosely appressed scales rounded at apex, with free tips, those of the upper rank thin and ciliate on the margins.

A tree often 120°—150° high, with a tall trunk 3°—4½° in diameter, stout, wide-spreading smooth branches forming a broad open head, and slender glabrous branchlets red-brown during their first season and dark gray the following year. Bark pale gray, slightly furrowed and covered with closely appressed scales, ½′—¾′ thick.

Distribution. Borders of swamps and low wet woods of the coast region; southeastern Virginia (Dismal Swamp) to northern Florida, and through the Gulf states to the valley of the Neches River (Beaumont, Jefferson County), eastern Texas; in Louisiana northward to the valley of the Red River; most abundant in south central Alabama and in Louisiana.

× Quercus beaumontiana Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus rhombica and Q. rubra has been found growing by a street in Beaumont, Jefferson County, Texas.

× Quercus Cocksii Sarg., probably a hybrid of Quercus rhombica and Q. velutina, has been found at Pineville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana.

17. Quercus Phellos L. Willow Oak.

Leaves ovate-lanceolate or rarely obovate-lanceolate, often somewhat falcate, gradually narrowed and acute at the ends, and entire with slightly undulate margins, when they fold light yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, coated on the lower with pale caducous pubescence, at maturity glabrous, light green and rather lustrous above, dull and paler or rarely hoary-pubescent below, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, 2½′—5′ long, ¼′—1′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib and obscure primary veins forked and united about halfway between the midrib and margins; turning pale yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, about ⅛′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender-stemmed aments 2′—3′ long; calyx yellow, hirsute, with 4 or 5 acute segments; pistillate on slender glabrous peduncles, their involucral scales brown covered by pale hairs, about as long as the acute calyx-lobes; stigmas bright red. Fruit short-stalked or nearly sessile, solitary or in pairs; nut hemispheric, light, yellow-brown, coated with pale pubescence, inclosed only at the very base in the thin pale reddish brown saucer-shaped cup silky-pubescent on the inner surface, and covered by thin ovate hoary-pubescent closely appressed scales rounded at apex.

A tree, often 70°—90° high, with a trunk 2° or rarely 4° in diameter, small branches spreading into a comparatively narrow open or conical round-topped head, and slender glabrous reddish brown branchlets roughened by dark lenticels, becoming in their second year dark brown tinged with red or grayish brown; usually much smaller. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, about ⅛′ long, with dark chestnut-brown scales pale and scarious on the margins. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, light red-brown slightly tinged with red, generally smooth but on old trees broken by shallow narrow fissures into irregular plates covered by small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, strong, not hard, rather coarse-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood; occasionally used in construction, for clapboards and the fellies of wheels.

Distribution. Low wet borders of swamps and streams and rich sandy uplands; Staten Island, New York, southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania and southward to northeastern Florida, through the Gulf states to the valley of the Navasota River, Brazos County, Texas, and through Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma and southeastern Missouri to central Tennessee and northwestern Kentucky (Ballard County), and in southwestern Illinois (Massac and Pope Counties); in the Atlantic states usually confined to the maritime plain; less common in the middle districts, rarely extending to the Appalachian foothills.

Occasionally planted as a shade-tree in the streets of southern towns, and rarely in western Europe; hardy in eastern Massachusetts.

Quercus heterophylla Michx. f.

This has usually been considered a hybrid between Quercus Phellos and Quercus velutina or Quercus borealis var. maxima; first known in the eighteenth century from an individual growing in a field belonging to John Bartram on the Schuylkill River, Philadelphia. What appears to be the same form has since been discovered in a number of stations from New Jersey to Texas, and it is possible that Quercus heterophylla may, as many botanists have believed, best be considered a species.

× Quercus subfalcata Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus Phellos and Q. rubra has been found at Wickliffe, Ballard County, Illinois, at Campbell, Lawrence County, Mississippi, Fulton, Hempstead County, Arkansas, and Houston, Harris County, Texas; its var. microcarpa Sarg., probably of the same parentage, originated in a Dutch nursery.

× Quercus ludoviciana Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus Phellos and Q. rubra var. pagodæfolia grows in low wet woods ten miles west of Opelousas, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.

18. Quercus laurifolia Michx. Laurel Oak. Water Oak.

Leaves elliptic or rarely slightly broadest above the middle, acuminate at the ends, apiculate at apex, occasionally lanceolate or oblong-obovate and rounded at apex (var. hybrida Michx.) sometimes 3-lobed at apex, the terminal lobe acuminate, much larger than the others (var. tridentata Sarg.), frequently unequally lobed on vigorous branches of young trees, with small nearly triangular lobes, when they unfold in spring yellow-green, or later in the season often pink or bright red, and slightly puberulous, at maturity thin, green, and very lustrous above, light green and less lustrous below, usually 3′—4′ long and ¾′ wide, with a conspicuous yellow midrib; falling abruptly in early spring leaving the branches bare during only a few weeks; petioles stout, yellow, rarely more than ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in red-stemmed hairy aments 2′—3′ long; calyx pubescent on the outer surface, divided into 4 ovate rounded lobes; pistillate on stout glabrous peduncles, their involucral scales brown and hairy, about as long as the acute calyx-lobes; stigmas dark red. Fruit sessile or subsessile, generally solitary; nut ovoid to hemispheric, broad and slightly rounded at base, full and rounded at the puberulous apex, dark brown, about ½′ long, inclosed for about one fourth its length in a thin saucer-shaped cup red-brown and silky-pubescent on the inner surface, and covered by thin ovate light red-brown scales rounded at apex and pale-pubescent except on their darker colored margins.

A tree, occasionally 100° high, with a tall trunk 3°—4° in diameter, and comparatively slender branches spreading gradually into a broad dense round-topped shapely head, and slender glabrous branchlets dark red when they first appear, dark red-brown during their first winter, becoming reddish brown or dark gray in their second season. Winter-buds broadly ovoid or oval, abruptly narrowed and acute at apex, 1/16′—⅛′ long with numerous thin closely imbricated bright red-brown scales ciliate on the margins. Bark of young trees ½′—1′ thick, dark brown more or less tinged with red, roughened by small closely appressed scales, becoming at the base of old trees 1′—2′ thick, nearly black, and divided by deep fissures into broad flat ridges. Wood heavy, very strong and hard, coarse-grained, liable to check badly in drying, dark brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; probably used only as fuel.

Distribution. Sandy banks of streams and swamps and rich hummocks in the neighborhood of the coast; North Carolina (near Newbern) southward to the shores of Bay Biscayne and the valley of the Caloosahatchie River, Florida, and in the interior of the peninsula to the neighborhood of Lake Istokpaga, De Soto County, and westward to eastern Louisiana, ranging inland to Darlington, Darlington County, South Carolina, to the neighborhood of Augusta, Richmond County, Mayfield, Hancock County, Albany, Dougherty County, Cuthbert, Randolph County, and Bainbridge, Decatur County, Georgia, Georgiana, Butler County, and Berlin, Dallas County, Alabama, Rockport, Copiah County, Mississippi, and to the neighborhood of Bogalusa, Washington Parish, Louisiana (R. S. Cocks); nowhere abundant, but most common and of its largest size in eastern Florida.

19. Quercus cinerea Michx. Blue Jack. Upland Willow Oak.

Quercus brevifolia Sarg.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate to oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate or sometimes rounded at base, acute or rounded and apiculate at apex, entire with slightly thickened undulate margins, or at the ends of vigorous sterile branches occasionally 3-lobed at the apex and variously lobed on the margins (β dentato-lobata A. De Candolle), when they unfold bright pink and pubescent on the upper surface, coated on the lower with thick silvery white tomentum, at maturity firm in texture, blue-green, lustrous, conspicuously reticulate venulose above, pale-tomentose below, 2′—5′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib and remote obscure primary veins forked and united within the margins; turning red and falling gradually late in the autumn or in early winter; petioles stout, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hoary-tomentose aments 2′—3′ long; calyx pubescent, bright red and furnished at apex with a thick tuft of silvery white hairs before opening, divided into 4 or 5 ovate acute lobes, becoming yellow as it opens; stamens 4 or 5; anthers apiculate, dark red in the bud, becoming yellow; pistillate on short stout tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales about as long as the acute calyx-lobes and coated with pale tomentum; stigmas dark red. Fruit produced in great profusion, sessile or raised on a short stalk rarely ¼′ long; nut ovoid, full and rounded at the ends or subglobose, about ½′ long, often striate, hoary-pubescent at apex, inclosed only at the base or for one half its length in a thin saucer-shaped or cup-shaped cup bright red-brown and coated with lustrous pale pubescence on the inner surface, and covered by thin closely imbricated ovate-oblong scales hoary-tomentose except on the dark red-brown margins.

A tree on dry hills, usually 15°—20° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, stout branches forming a narrow irregular-head, and thick rigid branchlets coated at first with a dense fulvous or hoary tomentum of fascicled hairs, soon becoming glabrous or puberulous, dark brown sometimes tinged with red during their first winter and darker in their second year; or in low moist soil often 60°—75° high, with a trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, and a broad round-topped shapely head of drooping branches. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, with numerous rather loosely imbricated bright chestnut-brown scales ciliate on the margins, often ¼′ long on vigorous branches, frequently obtuse and occasionally much smaller. Bark ¾′—1½′ thick, and divided into thick nearly square plates 1′—2′ long, and covered by small dark brown or nearly black scales slightly tinged with red. Wood hard, strong, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick darker colored sapwood; probably only used as fuel.

Distribution. Sandy barrens and dry upland ridges, and in the rich moist soil of the pine-covered flats of the Florida peninsula; North Carolina southward to the shores of the Indian River and Peace Creek, Florida, and along the Gulf coast to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas; in the Atlantic and middle Gulf states mostly confined to a maritime belt 40°—60° wide, extending across the Florida peninsula as far south as the sand hills in the neighborhood of Lake Istokpoga, De Soto County, and west of the Mississippi River, ranging inland to the neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas County, Texas and to southeastern Oklahoma (near Antlers, Pushmataha County).

× Quercus dubia Ashe, believed to be a hybrid of Quercus cinerea and Q. laurifolia occurs at Abbottsburg, Bladen County, North Carolina, on the coast of South Carolina, in southern Georgia and northern and central Florida, and at Mississippi City, Lincoln County, Mississippi.

× Quercus subintegra Trel., a supposed hybrid of Quercus cinerea and Q. rubra occurs at Lumber City, Telfair County, Georgia, Lake City, Columbia County, Florida, and at Berlin, Dallas County, Alabama.

× Quercus sublaurifolia Trel., a supposed hybrid of Quercus cinerea and Q. laurifolia occurs at Folkston, Charlton County, Georgia, and at Biloxi, Harrison County, Mississippi.

× Quercus carolinensis Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus cinerea and Q. marilandica occurs at Newbern, Craven County, North Carolina, Lumber City, Telfair County and Climax, Decatur County, Georgia, and near Fletcher, Hardin County, Texas.

× Quercus caduca Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus cinerea and Q. nigra, occurs at Folkston, Charlton County and Lumber City, Telfair County, Georgia, Jacksonville, Duval County, and Gainsville, Alachua County, Florida, Mississippi City, Harrison County, Mississippi, and at Milano, Milano County and Bryan, Brazos County, Texas.

× Quercus oviedoensis Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus cinerea and Q. myrtifolia, has been found near Oviedo, Orange County, Florida.

20. Quercus imbricaria Michx. Shingle Oak. Laurel Oak.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate to oblong-obovate, apiculate and acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, entire with slightly thickened, revolute often undulate margins, or sometimes more or less 3-lobed, or on sterile branches occasionally repand-lobulate, when they unfold bright red, soon becoming yellow-green, covered with scurfy rusty pubescence on the upper surface and hoary-tomentose on the lower, at maturity thin, glabrous, dark green, and very lustrous above, pale green or light brown and pubescent below, 4′—6′ long, ¾′—2′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib, numerous slender yellow veins arcuate and united at some distance from the margins, and reticulate veinlets; late in the autumn turning dark red on the upper surface; petioles stout, pubescent, rarely more than ½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hoary-tomentose aments, 2′—3′ long; calyx light yellow, pubescent, and divided into 4 acute segments; pistillate on slender tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales covered with pale pubescence and about as long as the acute calyx-lobes; stigmas greenish yellow. Fruit solitary or in pairs, on stout peduncles often nearly ½′ in length; nut nearly as broad as long, full and rounded at the ends, dark chestnut-brown, often obscurely striate, ½′—⅔′ long, inclosed for one third to one half its length in a thin cup-shaped or turbinate cup bright red-brown and lustrous on the inner surface, and covered by thin ovate light red-brown scales rounded or acute at the apex and pubescent except on their darker colored margins.

A tree, usually 50°—60° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 3° in diameter, or rarely 100° high, with a long naked stem 3°—4° in diameter, slender tough horizontal or somewhat pendulous branches forming a narrow round-topped picturesque head, and slender branchlets dark green, lustrous, and often suffused with red when they first appear, soon glabrous, light reddish brown or light brown during their first winter and dark brown in their second year. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, about ⅛′ long, obscurely angled, and covered by closely imbricated light chestnut-brown lustrous scales erose and often ciliate on the margins. Bark on young stems and branches thin, light brown, smooth, and lustrous, becoming on old trunks ¾′—1½′ thick, and slightly divided by irregular shallow fissures into broad ridges covered by close slightly appressed light brown scales somewhat tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, rather coarse-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood; occasionally used in construction, and for clapboards and shingles.

Distribution. Rich hillsides and the fertile bottom-lands of streams; Lehigh County (Allentown to Dorney’s Park), Bedford, Huntington, Franklin and Union Counties, Pennsylvania, westward through Ohio to southern Michigan, southern Wisconsin and southeastern and southern Iowa (Muscatine to Taylor County), and southward to the District of Columbia, along the Appalachian Mountains and their foothills, up to altitudes of 2200°, to the valley of the Little Tennessee River, North Carolina, and to northern Georgia (Wilkes County), and middle Tennessee; through Missouri to northeastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska, and in northern and southern Arkansas (Fulton, Hempstead County); comparatively rare in the east; one of the most abundant Oaks of the lower Ohio basin; probably growing to its largest size in southern Indiana and Illinois.

Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the northern states, and hardy as far north as Massachusetts.

× Quercus Leana Nutt., scattered usually in solitary individuals from the District of Columbia and western North Carolina to southern Michigan, central and northern Illinois and southeastern Missouri, is believed to be a hybrid between this species and Quercus velutina.

× Quercus tridentata Engelm., described as a hybrid of Quercus imbricaria and Q. marilandica first found at Allenton, Saint Louis County, Missouri, occurs also near Olney, Richland County, Illinois.

× Quercus exacta Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus imbricaria and Q. palustris, occurs near Olney, Richland County, Illinois, and at Crown Point, Lake County, Indiana.

21. Quercus hypoleuca Engelm.

Leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, occasionally somewhat falcate, acute and often apiculate at apex, cuneate or rounded or cordate at the narrow base, entire or repandly serrate above the middle with occasionally small minute rigid spinose teeth, or on vigorous shoots serrate-lobed with oblique acute lobes, when they unfold light red, covered with close pale pubescence above and coated below with thick hoary tomentum, at maturity thick and firm, dark yellow-green and lustrous on the upper surface, covered on the lower with thick silvery white or fulvous tomentum, 2′—4′ long, ½′—1′ wide, with thickened revolute margins; turning yellow or brown and falling gradually during the spring after the appearance of the new leaves; petioles stout, flattened, pubescent or tomentose, ⅛′—¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender aments 4′—5′ long; calyx slightly tinged with red, covered with pale hairs and divided into 4 or 5 broadly ovate rounded lobes; anthers acute, apiculate, bright red becoming yellow; pistillate mostly solitary, sessile or short-stalked, their involucral scales thin, scarious, and soft-pubescent; stigmas dark red. Fruit sessile or borne on a stout peduncle up to ½′ in length, usually solitary; nut ovoid, acute or rounded at the narrow hoary-pubescent apex, dark green and often striate when ripe, becoming light chestnut-brown in drying, ½′—⅔′ long, the shell lined with white tomentum, inclosed for about one third its length in a turbinate thick cup pubescent on the inner surface, and covered by thin broadly ovate light chestnut-brown scales rounded at apex and clothed, especially toward the base of the cup, with soft silvery pubescence.

A tree, usually 20°—30° or sometimes 60° high, with a tall trunk 10′—15′ in diameter, slender branches spreading into a narrow round-topped inversely conic head, and stout rigid branchlets coated at first with thick hoary tomentum disappearing during the first winter, becoming light red-brown often covered with a glaucous bloom and ultimately nearly black; frequently a shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, about ⅛′ long, with thin light chestnut-brown scales. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, nearly black, deeply divided into broad ridges broken on the surface into thick plate-like scales. Wood heavy, very strong, hard, close-grained, dark brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Scattered but nowhere abundant through Pine-forests on the slopes of cañons and on high ridges usually at altitudes between 6000°—7000° above the sea on the mountains of western Texas, and of southern New Mexico and Arizona; in northern Chihuahua and Sonora.

22. Quercus agrifolia Née. Live Oak. Encina.

Leaves oval, orbicular or oblong, rounded or acute and apiculate at apex, rounded or cordate at base, entire or sinuate-dentate with slender rigid spinose teeth, when they unfold tinged with red and coated with caducous hoary tomentum, at maturity subcoriaceous, convex, dark or pale green, dull and obscurely reticulate above, paler, rather lustrous, glabrous or pubescent below, with tufts of rusty hairs in the axils of the principal veins, or sometimes covered above with fascicled hairs and coated below with thick hoary pubescence, ¾′—4′ long and ½′—3′ wide, with thickened strongly revolute margins; falling gradually during the winter and early spring; petioles stout or slender, pubescent or glabrous, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender hairy aments 3′—4′ long; calyx bright purple-red in the bud, sometimes furnished with a tuft of long pale hairs at the apex, glabrous or glabrate, divided nearly to the base into 5—7 ovate acute segments reddish above the middle; pistillate sessile or short-stalked, their involucral scales bright red and covered with thick hoary tomentum, or glabrous or puberulous; stigmas bright red. Fruit sessile or nearly so, solitary or in few-fruited clusters; nut elongated, ovate, abruptly narrowed at base, gradually narrowed to the acute puberulous apex, light chestnut-brown, ¾′—1½′ long, ¼′—¾′ thick, the shell lined with a thick coat of pale tomentum, inclosed for one third its length or only at the base in a thin turbinate light brown cup coated on the inner surface with soft pale silky pubescence, and covered by thin papery scales rounded at the narrow apex, and slightly puberulous, especially toward the base of the cup.

A tree, occasionally 80°—90° high, with a short trunk 3°—4° or rarely 6°—7° in diameter, dividing a few feet above the base into numerous great limbs often resting on the ground and forming a low round-topped head frequently 150° across, and slender dark gray or brown branchlets tinged with red, coated at first with hoary tomentum persistent until the second or third year; or with a trunk, rising to the height of 30° or 40°, and crowned by a narrow head of small branches; often much smaller; frequently shrubby in habit, with slender stems only a few feet high. Winter-buds globose and usually about 1/16′ thick, or ovoid-oblong, acute, and sometimes on vigorous shoots nearly ¼′ in length, with thin broadly ovate closely imbricated light chestnut-brown glabrous or pubescent scales. Bark of young stems and branches thin, close, light brown or pale bluish gray, becoming on old trunks 2′—3′ thick, dark brown slightly tinged with red, and divided into broad rounded ridges separating on the surface into small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, very brittle, light brown or reddish brown, with thick darker colored sapwood; valued and largely used for fuel.

Distribution. Usually in open groves of great extent from Sonoma County, California, southward over the coast ranges and islands to the San Pedro Mártir Mountains, Lower California; less common at the north; very abundant and of its largest size in the valleys south of San Francisco Bay and their commonest and characteristic tree; frequently covering with semiprostrate and contorted stems the sand dunes on the coast in the central part of the state; in southwestern California the largest and most generally distributed Oak-tree between the mountains and the sea, often covering low hills and ascending to altitudes of 4500° in the cañons of the San Jacinto Mountains.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in temperate western, and in southern Europe.

23. Quercus Wislizenii A. DC. Live Oak.

Leaves narrowly lanceolate to broadly elliptic, generally oblong-lanceolate, acute or rounded and generally apiculate at apex, rounded or truncate or gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, entire, serrulate or serrate or sinuate-dentate with spreading rigid spinescent teeth, when they unfold thin, dark red, ciliate, and covered with pale scattered fascicled hairs, at maturity thick and coriaceous, glabrous and lustrous, dark green on the upper and paler and yellow-green on the lower surface, usually 1′—1½′ long and about ⅔′ wide, with obscure primary veins and conspicuous reticulate veinlets, gradually deciduous during their second summer and autumn; petioles coated at first with hoary tomentum, usually pubescent or puberulous at maturity, ⅛′ to nearly 1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 3′—4′ long; calyx tinged with red in the bud, divided into broadly ovate ciliate glabrous light yellow lobes shorter than the 3—6 stamens; pistillate sessile or short-stalked, their involucral scales and peduncle hoary-tomentose. Fruit sessile, short-stalked or occasionally spicate; nut slender, oblong, abruptly narrowed at base, pointed and pilose at the apex, ¾′—1½′ long, about ⅓′ thick, light chestnut-brown, often striate, the shell lined with a scanty coat of pale tomentum, more or less inclosed in the thin turbinate sometimes tubular cup ½′—1′ deep, or rarely cup-shaped and shallow, light green and puberulous within, and covered by oblong lanceolate light brown closely imbricated thin scales, sometimes toward the base of the cup thickened and rounded on the back, usually pubescent or puberulous, especially above the middle, and frequently ciliate on the margins.

A tree, usually 70°—80° high, with a short trunk 4°—6° in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a round-topped head, and slender rigid branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum or covered with scattered fascicled hairs, puberulous or glabrous and rather light brown during their first season, gradually growing darker in their second year; usually much smaller and sometimes reduced to an intricately branched shrub, with numerous stems only a few feet tall. Winter-buds ovoid or oval, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with closely imbricated light chestnut-brown ciliate scales. Bark on young trees and large branches thin, generally smooth and light-colored, becoming on old trunks 2′—3′ thick, and divided into broad rounded often connected ridges separating on the surface into small thick closely appressed dark brown scales slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, very hard, strong, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; sometimes used for fuel.

Distribution. Lower slopes of Mt. Shasta southward through the coast region of California to the Santa Lucia Mountains, and to Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands, and along the slopes of the Sierra Nevada to Kern County, up to altitudes of 2000° at the north and of 4500° at the south; as a shrub 4°—6° high with small thick leaves (var. frutescens Engelm.) on the desert slopes of the San Bernardino, San Jacinto and Cuyamaca mountains, at altitudes of 5000°—7000° above the sea, and on San Pedro Mártir in Lower California; nowhere common as a tree, but most abundant and of its largest size in the valleys of the coast region of central California at some distance from the sea, and on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada; very common as a shrub in the cañons of the desert slopes of the mountains of southern California; near the coast and on the islands small and mostly shrubby.

× Quercus morehus Kell., a supposed hybrid between Quercus Wislizenii and Q. Kelloggii occurs in Lake County, California.

24. Quercus myrtifolia Willd.

Leaves oval to oblong-obovate, acute and apiculate or broad and rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or broad and rounded or cordate at base, entire, with much thickened revolute sometimes undulate margins, or on vigorous shoots sinuate-dentate and lobed above the middle, when they unfold, thin, dark red, coated below and on the petioles with clammy rusty tomentum and densely pubescent above, at maturity thick and coriaceous, lustrous, dark green, glabrous and conspicuously reticulate-venulose above, paler, yellow-green, or light orange-brown, glabrous or pubescent below, with tufts of rusty hairs in the axils of the veins, ½′—2′ long and ¼′—1′ wide; falling gradually during their second year; petioles stout, pubescent, yellow, rarely more than ⅛′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hoary pubescent aments 1′—1½′ long; calyx coated on the outer surface with rusty hairs and divided into 5 ovate-acute, segments shorter than the 2 or 3 stamens; pistillate sessile or nearly sessile, solitary or in pairs, their involucral scales tomentose and tinged with red. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or short-stalked; nut subglobose or ovoid, acute, ¼′—½′ long, dark brown, lustrous and often striate, puberulous at apex, the shell lined with a thick coat of rusty tomentum, inclosed for one fourth to one third its length in a saucer-shaped or turbinate cup light brown and puberulous within, and covered by closely imbricated broad-ovate light brown pubescent scales ciliate on the margins and rounded at their broad apex.

A round-topped tree, rarely 40° high, with a trunk 4′—5′ or rarely up to 15′ in diameter, short or rarely long spreading branches and slender branchlets coated at first with a thick pale fulvous tomentum of articulate hairs usually persistent during the summer, light brown more or less tinged with red or dark gray, and pubescent or puberulous during their first winter, becoming darker and glabrous in their second season; more often an intricately branched shrub, with slender rigid stems 3°—4° or rarely 15°—20° high and 1′—3′ in diameter. Winter-buds ovoid or oval, gradually narrowed to the acute apex, with closely imbricated dark chestnut-brown slightly puberulous scales. Bark thin and smooth, becoming near the ground dark and slightly furrowed.

Distribution. Dry sandy ridges on the coast and islands of South Carolina to Bay Biscayne, Florida, crossing the central peninsula and from the valley of the Caloosahatchee River, westward along the coast of Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi; most abundant on the islands off the coast of east Florida, and of Alabama and Mississippi; often covering large areas with low impenetrable thickets; perhaps of its largest size in Orange County, on Jupiter Island, and on the coast west of the Apalachicola River, Florida.

25. Quercus chrysolepis Liebm. Live Oak. Maul Oak.

Leaves oblong-ovate to elliptic, acute or cuspidate at apex, cordate, rounded or cuneate at base, mostly entire on old trees, often dentate or sinuate-dentate on young trees with 1 or 2 or many spinescent teeth, the two forms often appearing together on vigorous shoots, clothed when they unfold with a thick tomentum of fulvous hairs soon deciduous from the upper and more gradually from the lower surface, at maturity thick and coriaceous, bright yellow-green and glabrous above, more or less fulvous-tomentose below during their first year, ultimately becoming glabrate and bluish white, 1′—4′ long, ½′—2′ wide, with thickened revolute margins; deciduous during their third and fourth years; petioles slender, yellow, rarely ½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender tomentose aments 2′—4′ long; calyx light yellow, pubescent, divided usually into 5—7 broadly ovate acute ciliate lobes often tinged with red above the middle; pistillate sessile or subsessile or rarely in short few-flowered spikes, their broadly ovate involucral scales coated with fulvous tomentum; stigmas bright red. Fruit usually solitary, sessile or short-stalked; nut ellipsoidal or ovoid, acute or rounded at the full or narrow slightly puberulous apex, light chestnut-brown, ½′—2′ long and about as thick, the shell lined with a thin coat of loose tomentum, with abortive ovules scattered irregularly over the side of the seed, inclosed only at the base in a thin hemispheric or in a thick turbinate broad-rimmed cup pale green or dark reddish brown within, and covered by small triangular closely appressed scales with a short free tip, clothed with hoary pubescence, or often hidden in a dense coat of fulvous tomentum.

A tree, usually not more than 40°—50° high, with a short trunk 3°—5° in diameter, dividing into great horizontal limbs sometimes forming a head 150° across, and slender rigid or flexible branchlets coated at first with thick fulvous tomentum, becoming during their first winter dark brown somewhat tinged with red, tomentose, pubescent, or glabrous, and ultimately light brown or ashy gray; occasionally in sheltered cañons producing trunks 8°—9° in diameter; on exposed mountain sides forming dense thickets 15°—20° high. Winter-buds broadly ovoid or oval, acute, about ⅛′ long, with closely imbricated light chestnut-brown usually puberulous scales. Bark ¾′—1½′ thick, light or dark gray-brown tinged with red, and covered by small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, very strong, hard, tough, close-grained, light brown, with thick darker colored sapwood; used in the manufacture of agricultural implements and wagons.

Distribution. Southern Oregon, along the California coast ranges and the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains; of its largest size in the cañons of the coast ranges of central California and on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada; ascending to altitudes of 8000°—9000° above the sea; near the southern boundary of California, on the mountains of northern Lower California and Sonora and in Arizona (Santa Rita and Huachuca Mountains, on Beaver Creek and in Copper Cañon near Camp Verde, and in Sycamore Cañon south of Flagstaff), usually shrubby, with rigid branches, rigid coriaceous oblong or semiorbicular spinose-dentate leaves, subsessile or pedunculate fruit, with ovoid acute nuts 1′—1½′ long, their shells lined with thick or thin pale tomentum, and purple cotyledons (var. Palmeri Engelm.—Quercus Wilcoxii Rydb.)

26. Quercus tomentella Engelm.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, sometimes cuspidate or occasionally rounded at apex, broad and rounded or gradually narrowed and abruptly cuneate at base, remotely crenate-dentate with small remote spreading callous tipped teeth, or entire, when they unfold light green tinged with red, covered above with scattered pale fascicled hairs and below and on the petioles with thick hoary tomentum, at maturity thick and coriaceous, dark green, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and covered with fascicled hairs on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long, 1′—2′ wide, with thickened strongly revolute margins, and a pubescent midrib; gradually deciduous during their third season; petioles stout, pubescent, about ½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in pubescent aments 2½′—14′ long, calyx light yellow, pubescent, divided into 5—7 ovate acute lobes; pistillate subsessile or in few-flowered spikes on short or elongated pubescent peduncles, their involucral scales like the calyx coated with fascicled hairs; stigmas red. Fruit subsessile or short-stalked; nut ovoid, broad at base, full and rounded at apex, about 1½′ long and ¾′ thick, inclosed only at the base in a cup-shaped shallow cup thickened below, light brown and pubescent on the inner surface, and covered by thin ovate acute scales, their free chestnut-brown tips more or less hidden in a thick coat of hoary tomentum.

A tree, 30°—40°, or occasionally 60° high, with a trunk 1°—2° in diameter, spreading branches forming a shapely round-topped head, and slender branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum, becoming light brown tinged with red or orange color. Winter-buds ovoid, acute or obtuse, nearly ¼′ long, with many loosely imbricated light chestnut-brown scales more or less clothed with pale pubescence. Bark thin, reddish brown, broken into large closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, compact, pale yellow-brown, with lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Deep narrow cañons and high wind-swept slopes of Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Santa Catalina islands, California; on Guadalupe Island off the coast of Lower California.

27. Quercus Emoryi Torr. Black Oak.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute and mucronate at apex, cordate or rounded at the slightly narrowed base, entire or remotely repand-serrate with 1—5 pairs of acute rigid oblique teeth, when they unfold thin, light green more or less tinged with red and covered with silvery white tomentum, at maturity thick, rigid, coriaceous, dark green, very lustrous and glabrous or coated above with minute fascicled hairs, pale and glabrous or puberulous below, usually with 2 large tufts of white hairs at the base of the slender midrib, obscurely reticulate-venulose, 1′—2½′ long, ½′—1′ wide; falling gradually in April with the appearance of the new leaves; petioles stout, pubescent, about ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hoary tomentose aments; calyx light yellow, hairy on the outer surface, divided into 5—7 ovate acute lobes; pistillate sessile or short-stalked, their involucral scales covered with hoary tomentum. Fruit ripening irregularly from June to September, sessile or short-stalked; nut oblong, oval, or ovate, narrowed at base, rounded at the narrow pilose apex, ½′—¾′ long, about ⅓′ thick, dull light green when fully grown, dark chestnut-brown or nearly black at maturity, with a thin shell lined with thick white tomentum, inclosed for from one third to one half its length in the deeply cup-shaped or nearly hemispheric cup light green and pubescent within, and covered by closely imbricated broadly ovate acute thin and scarious light brown scales clothed with short soft pale pubescence.

A tree, usually 30°—40° high, with a short trunk 2°—3° in diameter, stout rigid rather drooping branches forming a round-topped symmetrical head, and slender rigid branchlets covered at first with close hoary tomentum, bright red, pubescent or tomentose in their first winter, ultimately glabrous and dark red-brown or black; sometimes 60°—70° high, with a trunk 4°—5° in diameter, with a head occasionally 100° across; or at high altitudes or on exposed mountain slopes a low shrub. Winter-buds ellipsoidal, acute, about ¼′ long, pale pubescent toward the apex, with thin closely imbricated light chestnut-brown ciliate scales. Bark 1′—2′ thick, dark brown or nearly black, deeply divided into large oblong thick plates separating into small thin closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, strong, brittle, close-grained, dark brown or almost black, with thick bright brown sapwood tinged with red. The sweet acorns are an important article of food for Mexicans and Indians, and are sold in the towns of southern Arizona and northern Mexico.

Distribution. Mountain ranges of western Texas, southern New Mexico, Arizona south of the Colorado plateau, and of northern Mexico; in Texas common in the cañons and on the southern slopes of the Limpio and Chisos mountains; the most abundant Oak of southern New Mexico and Arizona, forming a large part of the forests covering the mountain slopes and extending from the upper limits of the mesa nearly to the highest ridges; attaining its largest size and beauty in the moist soil of sheltered cañons.

28. Quercus dumosa Nutt. Scrub Oak.

Leaves oblong, rounded and acute at apex, broad and abruptly cuneate or rounded at base, usually about ¾′ long and ½′ wide, spinescent with a few minute teeth, or undulate and entire or coarsely spinescent, with an obscure midrib and primary veins, conspicuous reticulate veinlets, and stout petioles rarely ⅛′ long; or sometimes oblong to oblong-obovate and divided by deep sinuses into 5—9 oblong acute rounded or emarginate bristle-tipped lobes, the terminal lobe 3-lobed, rounded or acute, 2′—4′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with primary veins running to the points of the lobes, obscure reticulate veinlets, and petioles sometimes 1′ long, thin when they unfold and clothed with scattered fascicled hairs, or rarely tomentose above and coated below and on the petioles with hoary tomentum, at maturity thick and firm, dark green and glabrous on the upper surface, paler and more or less pubescent on the lower surface; mostly deciduous during the winter. Flowers: staminate in pubescent aments; calyx divided into 4—7 ovate lanceolate hairy segments; pistillate sessile or stalked, in long many-flowered tomentose spikes, their involucral scales and calyx hoary-tomentose; stigmas red. Fruit sessile or short-stalked; nut ovoid, broad at base, broad and rounded or acute at apex, ½′—1′ long, ⅓′—⅔′ thick, inclosed for one half to two thirds its length in a deep cup-shaped or hemispheric cup light brown and pubescent within, covered by ovate pointed scales coated with pale or rufous tomentum, usually much thickened, united and tuberculate, those above with free acute tips forming a fringe to the rim of the cup, or frequently with basal scales but little thickened and furnished with long free tips; in var. Alvordiana Jeps., with a nut 1½′—1⅝′ long, ¼′—½′ thick, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, inclosed only at base in a shallow cup-shaped cup.

A tree, rarely 20° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, small branches forming a round-topped head, and slender branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum, becoming in their first winter ashy gray or light or dark reddish brown and usually pubescent or tomentose; more often an intricately branched rigid shrub, with stout stems covered by pale gray bark and usually 6°—8° high, often forming dense thickets. Winter-buds ellipsoidal, generally acute, 1/16′—⅛′ long, with thin pale red often pilose and ciliate scales. Bark of the trunk bright brown and scaly.

Distribution. California; western slopes of the central Sierra Nevada; common on the coast ranges south of San Francisco Bay and on the islands off the coast of the southern part of the state, ranging inland to the borders of the Mohave Desert and to the cañons of the desert slopes of the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains, and southward into Lower California; arborescent only in sheltered cañons of the islands; the var. Alvordiana, in the San Emidio Cañon of the coast ranges of Kern County and on the San Carlos Range, Fresno County; north of San Francisco Bay replaced by the variety bullata Engelm. ranging to Mendocino County and to Napa valley.

× Quercus MacDonaldii Greene, a shrub or small tree with characters intermediate between those of Quercus dumosa and Q. Engelmannii, is usually considered a hybrid of these species. It occurs on Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands, and in Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles Counties, California.

29. Quercus virginiana Mill. Live Oak.

Leaves oblong, elliptic or obovate, rounded or acute at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or rarely rounded or cordate at base, usually entire with slightly revolute margins, or rarely spinose-dentate above the middle, thin, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and pubescent on the lower surface, 2′—5′ long, ½′—2½′ wide, and inconspicuously reticulate-venulose, with a narrow yellow midrib, and few slender obscure primary veins forked and united at some distance from the margins; gradually turning yellow or brown at the end of the winter and falling with the appearance of the new leaves in the spring; petioles stout, rarely more than ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 2′—3′ long; calyx light yellow, hairy, divided into 5—7 ovate rounded segments; anthers hirsute; pistillate in spikes on slender pubescent peduncles 1′—3′ long, their involucral scales and ovate calyx-lobes coated with hoary pubescence; stigmas bright red. Fruit usually in 3—5 fruited spikes or rarely in pairs or single on stout light brown puberulous peduncles 1′—5′ long; nut ellipsoidal or slightly obovoid, narrowed at base, rounded or acute at apex, dark chestnut-brown and lustrous, about 1′ long and ⅓′ thick, inclosed for about one fourth its length in a turbinate light reddish brown cup puberulous within, its scales thin, ovate, acute, slightly keeled on the back, covered by dense lustrous hoary tomentum and ending in small closely appressed reddish tips; seed sweet, with light yellow connate cotyledons.

A tree, 40°—50° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter above its swollen buttressed base, usually dividing a few feet from the ground into 3 or 4 horizontal wide-spreading limbs forming a low dense round-topped head sometimes 130° across, and slender rigid branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum, becoming ashy gray or light brown and pubescent or puberulous during their first winter and darker and glabrous the following season; occasionally 60°—70° tall, with a trunk 6°—7° in diameter; often shrubby and occasionally not more than a foot high. Winter-buds globose or slightly obovoid, about ⅙′ long, with thin light chestnut-brown scales white and scarious on the margins. Bark of the trunk and large branches ½′—1′ thick, dark brown tinged with red, slightly furrowed, separating on the surface into small closely appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard, strong, tough, close-grained, light brown or yellow, with thin nearly white sapwood; formerly largely and still occasionally used in shipbuilding.

Distribution. Shores of Mobjack Bay, Virginia, southward along the coast and islands to southern Florida, and along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to northeastern Mexico, spreading inland through Texas to the valley of the Red River and to the mountains in the extreme western part of the state; on the mountains of Cuba, southern Mexico, and Central America; most abundant and of its largest size on the Atlantic and east Gulf coasts on rich hummocks and ridges a few feet above the level of the sea; abundant in Texas in the coast region, near the banks of streams, and westward toward the valley of the Rio Grande often forming the principal part of the shrubby growth on low moist soil; in sandy barren soil in the immediate vicinity of the seacoast or on the shores of salt water estuaries and bays often a shrub, sometimes bearing fruit on stems not more than a foot high (var. maritima, Sarg., and var. dentata Sarg.).

Occasionally planted as a shade and ornamental tree in the southern United States.

Variable in habit and in the size and thickness of the leaves the different forms of Quercus virginiana show little variation in their fruit. The most important of these varieties is

Quercus virginiana var. geminata Sarg.

Quercus geminata Small.

Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, rounded or acute at apex, cuneate or narrowed and rounded at base, occasionally slightly and irregularly dentate above the middle on vigorous shoots, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, hoary tomentose below, 1½′—3′ long, ⅓′—1′ wide, with thickened strongly revolute margins; persistent until after the leaves of the typical Q. virginiana in the same locality have all fallen; occasionally in Florida with oblong-elliptic to slightly obovate leaves 4½′—5′ long and 1′—2′ wide (f. grandifolia Sarg.). Flowers and Fruit as in the species.

A tree often 75° high with a trunk 3° in diameter, with the habit, branchlets, winter-buds and bark of the typical form; often much smaller and occasionally a shrub.

Distribution. Sandy soil; coast region of North Carolina south of the Cape Fear River, South Carolina and Georgia, and southward in Florida to Jupiter Island on the east coast and the valley of the Caloosahatchee River on the west coast; abundant and often the common Live Oak in the central part of the peninsula, at least as far south as Orange County, and westward through western Florida, southeastern and southern Alabama to the Gulf coast and islands of Mississippi.

Other varieties of Quercus virginiana are var. macrophylla Sarg., differing from the type in its much larger ovate or slightly obovate leaves rounded or acute at base, entire or occasionally repand-dentate, pale tomentose below, 3½′—4′ long and 1¼′—2½′ wide. Large trees forming groves; sandy bottoms of the Atascosa River and in flat woods above them, Pleasanton, Atascosa County, Texas: var. virescens Sarg., differing from the type in the green glabrous or rarely puberulous lower surface of the leaves and in the glabrous branchlets. A large tree in sandy soil; Gainesville, Alachua County, Sanford, Seminole County, Sumner, Levey County, Simpson’s Hummock, and near Long Key in the Everglades, Dade County, Florida: var. eximea Sarg., differing from the type in its narrow elliptic to narrow oblong-obovate leaves and pale bark; a tree rarely 20° high, with a trunk 8′—12′ in diameter; rarely a shrub; dry sandy open woods, near Springfield, Livingston Parish and near Hammond, Tangipahoa Parish, eastern Louisiana. The following small shrubby small-leaved forms are recognized: var. fusiformis Sarg., with oblong-ovate leaves acute at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, entire or occasionally dentate, and pale pubescent below, and small fruit; dry limestone ridges and flat-topped hills of the Edwards Plateau (Kerr and Comal Counties), western Texas: var. dentata Chapm., distinct in the oblong-obovate repand-dentate lower leaves with large triangular teeth, acute at the broad apex, often 4′ long and 1¼′ wide at the base of the stems, and much larger than the oblong-lanceolate entire upper leaves; common in sterile pine-barrens near the coast of Florida: var. maritima Sarg., with oblong-obovate or rarely lanceolate leaves, acute and apiculate or rounded at apex, cuneate at base, and entire or slightly and irregularly toothed above the middle; fruit solitary or in pairs, or rarely in elongated spikes (Quercus succulenta Small); sandy barrens near the coast, South Carolina to Miami, Dade County, Florida: var. pygmaea Sarg., with oblong-obovate leaves, cuneate at base, 3—5 lobed at apex with small acute lobes, or rarely elliptic and entire, and nearly sessile fruit, the nut inclosed nearly to the apex; a shrub rarely 3° high; Pine-woods in sandy soil; widely distributed in Florida.

30. Quercus reticulata H. B. K.

Leaves broadly obovate, obtuse and rounded or rarely acute at apex, usually cordate or occasionally rounded at the narrow base, repandly spinose-dentate above the middle or only toward the apex with slender teeth, and entire below, when they unfold coated with dense fulvous tomentum, at maturity thick, firm, and rigid, dark blue and covered with scattered fascicled hairs above, paler and coated with thick fulvous pubescence below, 1′—5′ long, ¾′—4′ broad, with a thick midrib, and primary veins running to the points of the teeth or arcuate and united within the slightly revolute margins, and very conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles stout about ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in short tomentose aments in the axils of leaves of the year; calyx light yellow, hirsute, with pale hairs, divided into 5—7 ovate acute segments; pistillate in spikes on elongated peduncles, clothed like their involucral scales with hoary tomentum; stigmas dark red. Fruit usually in many-fruited spikes or occasionally in pairs or rarely solitary, on slender hirsute or glabrous peduncles 2′—5′ long; nut oblong, rounded or acute at the pilose apex, broad at base, about ½′ long, inclosed for about one fourth its length in a shallow cup-shaped cup dark brown and pubescent within, hoary tomentose without and covered by small ovate acute scales, with thin free scarious tips, slightly thickened and rounded on the back at the bottom of the cup.

A tree, rarely more than 40° high, with a trunk 1° in diameter, and stout branchlets coated at first with thick fulvous tomentum, light orange color and more or less thickly clothed with pubescence during their first winter, becoming ashy gray or light brown; in the United States usually shrubby in habit and sometimes only a few feet tall; becoming on the Sierra Madre of Mexico a large tree. Winter-buds ovoid to oval, often surrounded by the persistent stipules of the upper leaves, about ⅛′ long, with thin loosely imbricated light red scales ciliate on the margins. Bark about ¼′ thick, dark or light brown, and covered by small thin closely appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, dark brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Near the summits of the mountain ranges of southeastern New Mexico (Mogollon Mountains) and southeastern Arizona, and southward in Mexico.

31. Quercus Toumeyi Sarg.

Leaves ovate or ovate-oblong or oval, acute and apiculate at apex, rounded or cordate at base, entire with thickened slightly revolute margins, or remotely spinulose-dentate, often minutely 3-toothed at apex, thin but firm in texture, light blue-green, glabrous and lustrous above, pale and puberulous below, conspicuously reticulate-venulose; ½′—¾′ long, ¼′—½′ wide; falling early in spring with the appearance of the new leaves; petioles stout, tomentose, about 1/16′ in length. Flowers unknown. Fruit sessile, solitary or in pairs, ripening in June; nut oval or ovoid, ½′—⅔′ long, ¼′ thick, light brown and lustrous, furnished at the acute apex with a narrow ring of pale pubescence, inclosed for about one half its length in a thin shallow tomentose cup light green and pubescent within, and covered by thin ovate regularly and closely imbricated light red-brown scales ending in a short rounded tip and coated on the back with pale tomentum.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with a short trunk 6′—8′ in diameter, dividing not far from the ground into numerous stout wide-spreading branches forming a broad irregular head, and slender branchlets bright red-brown more or less thickly coated with pale tomentum at midsummer, covered during their second and third years with thin dark brown nearly black bark broken into small thin closely appressed scales. Wood light brown, with thick pale sapwood.

Distribution. Forming an open forest on the Mule Mountains, Cochise County, southeastern Arizona.

32. Quercus arizonica Sarg. White Oak.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate to broadly obovate, generally acute or sometimes rounded at apex, rounded or cordate at base, repandly spinose-dentate usually, except on vigorous shoots, only above the middle or toward the apex, or entire and sometimes undulate on the margins, when they unfold light red clothed with bright fulvous tomentum and furnished with dark dental glands, at maturity thick, firm and rigid, dull dark blue-green and glabrate above, duller and covered with thick fulvous or pale pubescence below, 1′—4′ long, ½′—2′ wide, with a broad yellow midrib, slender primary veins, arcuate and united near the thickened revolute margins, and coarsely reticulate veinlets; falling in the early spring just before the appearance of the new leaves; petioles stout, tomentose, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in tomentose aments 2′—3′ long; calyx pale yellow, pubescent, and divided into 4—7 broad acute ciliate lobes; anthers red or yellow; pistillate on short stems tomentose like their involucral scales. Fruit sessile or on hoary-tomentose stems rarely ½′ long, usually solitary, ripening irregularly from September to November; nut oblong, oval or slightly obovoid, obtuse and rounded at the puberulous apex, ¾′—1′ long, ½′ thick, dark chestnut-brown, lustrous and often striate, soon becoming light brown, inclosed for half its length in a cup-shaped or hemispheric cup light brown and pubescent within, covered by regularly and closely imbricated scales coated with pale tomentum and ending in thin light red pointed tips, those below the middle of the cup much thickened and rounded on the back; seed dark purple, very astringent.

A tree, occasionally 50°—60° tall, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, and thick contorted branches spreading nearly at right angles and forming a handsome round-topped symmetrical head, and stout branchlets clothed at first with thick fulvous tomentum persistent during their first winter, reddish brown or light orange color and pubescent or puberulous in their second season, ultimately glabrous and darker; usually not more than 30°—40° tall; at high elevations reduced to a low shrub. Winter-buds subglobose, about 1/16′ long, with loosely imbricated bright chestnut-brown puberulous scales ciliate on the margins. Bark of young stems and branches thin, pale, scaly with small appressed scales, becoming on old trunks about 1′ thick and deeply divided by narrow fissures into broad ridges broken into long thick plate-like scales pale or ashy gray on the surface. Wood heavy, strong, hard, close-grained, dark brown or nearly black, with thick lighter colored sapwood; used only for fuel.

Distribution. The most common and generally distributed White Oak of southern New Mexico and Arizona, covering the slopes of cañons of mountain ranges at altitudes of from 5000°—10,000° above the sea, often ascending nearly to the summits of the high peaks; and in northern Mexico.

33. Quercus oblongifolia Torr. White Oak.

Leaves ovate, elliptic, or slightly obovate, rounded and occasionally emarginate or acute at apex, usually cordate or occasionally rounded at base, entire and sometimes undulate with thickened revolute margins, or remotely dentate with small callous teeth, on vigorous shoots and young plants oblong, rounded or cuneate at the narrow base, coarsely sinuate or undulate-toothed or 3-toothed at the broad apex and entire below, when they unfold bright red and coated with deciduous hoary tomentum, at maturity thin and firm, blue-green and lustrous above, paler below, 1′—2′ long, ½′—¾′ wide, or on vigorous shoots sometimes 3′—4′ long, with a prominent pale midrib, slender primary veins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; persistent during the winter without change of color, gradually turning yellow in the spring and falling at the appearance of the new leaves; petioles stout, nearly terete, about ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in short hoary-tomentose aments; calyx bright yellow, pilose, divided into 5 or 6 laciniately cut or entire acute segments tinged with red above the middle; pistillate usually sessile, or on peduncles tomentose like the involucral scales; stigmas bright red. Fruit usually solitary and sessile, rarely long-stalked; nut ovoid, ellipsoidal, or slightly obovoid, full and rounded at apex surrounded by a narrow ring of white pubescence, dark chestnut-brown, striate, and very lustrous, soon becoming light brown in drying, ½′—¾′ long, about ⅓′ thick, inclosed for about one third its length in a cup-shaped or rarely turbinate thin cup yellow-green and pubescent on the inner surface and covered by ovate-oblong scales slightly thickened on the back, coated with hoary tomentum and ending in thin acute bright red tips ciliate on the margins and sometimes forming a minute fringe to the rim of the cup.

A tree, rarely more than 30° high, with a short trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, many stout spreading often contorted branches forming a handsome round-topped symmetrical head, and slender rigid branchlets coated at first with pale or fulvous tomentum, light red-brown, dark brown or dark orange color in their first winter, becoming ashy gray in their second or third year. Winter-buds subglobose, 1/16′—⅛′ long, with thin light chestnut-brown scales. Bark ¾′—1¼′ thick, ashy gray, and broken into small nearly square or oblong close plate-like scales. Wood very heavy, hard, strong, brittle, dark brown or nearly black, with thick brown sapwood; sometimes used as fuel.

Distribution. Chisos Mountains, western Texas, southeastern New Mexico, southern Arizona, and southward into northern Mexico; comparatively rare in Texas; abundant on the foothills of the mountain ranges of southern New Mexico and Arizona at altitudes of about 5000°, and dotting the upper slopes of the mesa where narrow cañons open to the plain.

34. Quercus Engelmannii Greene. Evergreen Oak.

Leaves oblong to obovate, usually obtuse and rounded or sometimes acute at apex, gradually or abruptly cuneate or rounded or cordate at base, entire, often undulate, or sinuate-toothed with occasionally rigid teeth, or at the ends of sterile branches frequently coarsely crenately serrate with incurved teeth, or rarely lobed with acute oblique rounded lobes, when they unfold bright red and coated with thick pale rufous tomentum, at maturity thick, dark blue-green and glabrous or covered with fascicled hairs above, pale, usually yellow-green and clothed with light brown pubescence, or puberulous or often glabrous below, 1′—3′ long, ½′—2′ wide; deciduous in the spring with the appearance of the new leaves; petioles slender, tomentose, becoming pubescent, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender hairy aments 2′—3′ long; calyx light yellow, pilose, with lanceolate acute segments; pistillate on slender peduncles, clothed like their involucral scales with dense pale tomentum. Fruit sessile or on slender pubescent peduncles sometimes ¾′ long; nut oblong, gradually narrowed and acute or broad rounded and obtuse at apex, broad or narrow at base, dark chestnut-brown more or less conspicuously marked by darker longitudinal stripes, turning light chestnut-brown in drying, ¾′—1′ long, about ½′ thick, inclosed for about half its length in a deep saucer-shaped, cup-shaped or turbinate cup light brown and puberulous within, and covered by ovate light brown scales coated with pale tomentum, usually thickened, united and tuberculate at the base of the cup, and near its rim produced into small acute ciliate tips.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, thick branches spreading nearly at right angles and forming a broad rather irregular head, and stout rigid branchlets coated at first with hoary tomentum, light or dark brown tinged with red and pubescent during their first winter, becoming glabrous and light brown or gray in their second or third year. Winter-buds oval or ovoid, about ⅛′ long, with thin light red pubescent scales. Bark 1½—2′ thick, light gray tinged with brown, deeply divided by narrow fissures and separating on the surface into small thin appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, brittle, dark brown or nearly black, with thick lighter brown sapwood; used only for fuel.

Distribution. Low hills of southwestern California west of the coast range, occupying with Quercus agrifolia Née, a belt about fifty miles wide, and extending to within fifteen or twenty miles of the coast, from the neighborhood of Sierra Madre and San Gabriel, Los Angeles County, to the mesa east of San Diego; in northern Lower California.

35. Quercus Douglasii Hook. & Arn. Blue Oak. Mountain White Oak.

Leaves oblong, acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate or broad and rounded or subcordate at base, divided by deep or shallow, wide or narrow sinuses acute or rounded in the bottom into 4 or 5 broad or narrow acute or rounded often mucronate lobes, 2′—5′ long, 1′—1¾′ wide, or oval, oblong or obovate, rounded or acute at apex, equally or unequally cuneate or rounded at base, regularly or irregularly sinuate-toothed with rounded acute rigid spinescent teeth, or denticulate toward the apex, 1′—2′ long, ¼′—1′ wide, when they unfold covered by soft pale pubescence, at maturity thin, firm and rather rigid, pale blue, with scattered fascicled hairs above, often yellow-green and covered by short pubescence below, with a hirsute or puberulous prominent midrib and more or less conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, tomentose, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 1½′—2′ long; calyx yellow-green, coated on the outer surface with pale hairs, deeply divided into broad acute laciniately cut segments; pistillate in short few-flowered spikes coated like the involucral scales with hoary tomentum. Fruit sessile or short-stalked, solitary or in pairs; nut ellipsoidal, sometimes ventricose, with a narrow base, gradually narrowed and acute at apex, ¾′—1′ long, ½′—1′ thick, or often ovoid and acute, green and lustrous, turning dark chestnut-brown in drying, with a narrow ring of hoary pubescence at apex, inclosed only at base in a thin shallow cup-shaped cup light green and pubescent on the inner surface, covered on the outer by small acute and usually thin or sometimes, especially in the south, thicker tumid scales coated with pale pubescence or tomentum and ending in thin reddish brown tips.

A tree, usually 50°—60°, rarely 80°—90° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, short stout branches spreading nearly at right angles and forming a dense round-topped symmetrical head, stout branchlets brittle at the joints, coated at first with short dense hoary tomentum, dark gray or reddish brown and tomentose, pubescent, or puberulous during their first winter, becoming ultimately ashy gray or dark brown; frequently not more than 20°—30° high, and sometimes, especially southward shrubby, in habit. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, ⅛′—¼′ long, with light rather bright red pubescent scales. Bark ½′—1′ thick, generally pale, and covered by small scales sometimes tinged with brown or light red. Wood hard, heavy, strong, brittle, dark brown, becoming nearly black with exposure, with thick light brown sapwood; largely used as fuel.

Distribution. Scattered over low hills, dry mountain slopes and valleys; California, Mendocino County, and the upper valley of the Sacramento River, southward along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada up to elevations of 4000°, and through valleys of the coast ranges to the Tehachapi Pass, the borders of the Mohave Desert (Sierra de la Liebre) and the neighborhood of San Fernando, Los Angeles County; most abundant and of its largest size in the valleys between the coast mountains and the interior ridges of the coast ranges south of the Bay of San Francisco.

× Quercus jolonensis Sarg. with characters intermediate between those of Quercus Douglasii and Quercus lobata and believed to be a hybrid of those species occurs, with a number of large trees, at Jolon and between Jolon and King City, Monterey County, California.

36. Quercus Vaseyana Buckl. Shin Oak.

Quercus undulata var. Vaseyana Rydb.

Leaves oblong, rarely oblong-obovate, acute or rounded at apex, cuneate at base, undulately lobed with small acute lobes pointing forward, rarely nearly entire, when they unfold covered above with short fascicled hairs sometimes persistent until midsummer, and tomentose below, and at maturity thin, pale gray-green, glabrous and lustrous above, pale pubescent below, 1′—1½′ long and ½′—¾′ wide; deciduous late in winter or in early spring; petioles covered with fascicled hairs when they first appear, becoming glabrous, ¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in villose aments 1′—1¼′ long; calyx deeply divided into 4 or 5 ovate scarious lobes rounded at apex and shorter than the stamens; pistillate on short tomentose peduncles, their involucral scales ovate, acute, pubescent, shorter than the calyx-lobes; stigmas red. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or short-stalked; nut ellipsoidal and only slightly narrowed at the rounded ends to oblong and slightly ovoid or obovoid, ½′—¾′ in length, ¼′—½′ in diameter, pale chestnut-brown and lustrous, the base only inclosed in the thin, saucer-shaped to cup-shaped cup, puberulous on the inner surface, covered with closely appressed ovate acute hoary tomentose scales, on some individuals abruptly contracted into short acute red-brown nearly glabrous tips.

A tree, rarely 15°—20° high, usually a shrub only 1°—3° tall, spreading into great thickets, with slender branchlets thickly covered with matted fascicled hairs during their first season, and light gray and glabrous or puberulous in their second year. Winter-buds ovoid or obovoid, about ⅛′ long, with red-brown scales ciliate on the margins. Bark rough, deeply furrowed and scaly.

Distribution. Limestone slopes and ridges or in sheltered cañons; western Texas; Kimble, Real, Kendall, Kerr, Uvalde, Edwards, Menard and Valverde Counties.

37. Quercus Mohriana Rydb. Shin Oak.

Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic or lanceolate, acute, acuminate or rounded at apex, rounded or cuneate and often unsymmetrical at base, entire, undulate, sinuately toothed with triangular apiculate teeth, or occasionally irregularly lobed above the middle with rounded lobes, thick, gray-green, lustrous and covered above with short fascicled hairs, and densely hoary tomentose below, 2°—4° long, ½′—1′ wide, with a stout midrib thickly covered with fascicled hairs, sometimes becoming glabrous, slender primary veins and reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, hoary tomentose, ⅛′—¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in short hoary tomentose aments; calyx densely villose, deeply divided into broad ovate lobes rounded at apex; anthers red; pistillate on hoary tomentose peduncles, with hairy bracts and calyx-lobes. Fruit solitary or in pairs, nearly sessile or raised on a pubescent peduncle ½′—¾′ in length; nut ellipsoidal or ovoid, broad and rounded at the ends, light chestnut-brown, lustrous, ⅓′—½′ long, ¼′—⅓′ thick, inclosed for from half to two thirds its length in the hemispheric to cup-shaped cup, hoary tomentose on the inner surface, and covered with small closely appressed acute hoary tomentose scales much thickened below the middle of the cup, thin and much smaller toward its rim.

A tree, rarely 18°—20° high, with a trunk rarely 1° in diameter, small spreading and ascending branches forming a round-topped head, and slender branchlets thickly coated during their first season with fascicled hairs, dark gray-brown and pubescent in their second season and ultimately gray and glabrous; usually a low shrub spreading into thickets. Winter-buds broad-ovoid, obtuse, pale pubescent. Bark thin, pale, rough, deeply furrowed.

Distribution. On dry limestone hills, usually not more than 18° high with spreading branches; on deep sand, often not more than 3° high with more erect stems, often covering thousands of acres; only a tree in the protection of ledges in deep ravines and on steep hillsides; northwestern Texas (Tom Green, Coke, Nolan, Howard, Armstrong, and Wheeler Counties); central Texas (Bryan, Brazos County); southwestern Oklahoma (Beckham County).

38. Quercus Laceyi Small.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, usually with two pairs of small rounded lateral lobes, occasionally 3-lobed toward the apex, rarely nearly entire, narrowed and rounded at apex, rounded, cuneate or rarely cordate at the gradually narrowed base, coated below when they unfold with loose white tomentum, soon glabrous, at maturity thin, blue-green above, yellow-green below, 2′—3′ long, ¾′—2′ wide, with a slender midrib and primary veins, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; deciduous late in the autumn; on vigorous shoots sometimes 6′—7′ long and 3′—4′ wide; petioles glabrous or sparingly villose, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slightly villose aments 2′—2½′ long; calyx deeply divided into 4 or 5 ovate acuminate lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate flowers not seen. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or raised on a stem up to ½′ in length; nut ellipsoidal or oblong-ovoid, rounded at apex, slightly narrowed and nearly truncate at base, light chestnut-brown and lustrous, ¾′—1′ long, ⅓′—½′ in diameter, the base inclosed in the thick, cup-shaped to rarely saucer-shaped cup, tomentose on the inner surface, covered with acute much thickened pale tomentose scales.

A tree, 30°—45° high, with a trunk 20′—30′ in diameter, heavy erect and spreading branches and slender branchlets villose when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous and red-brown or gray during their second season; often a tall shrub with numerous stems. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ⅙′ long, with chestnut-brown scales ciliate on the margins. Bark gray, thick, deeply ridged or checkered.

Distribution. Rocky banks of streams, the steep sides of cañons and on limestone bluffs; common in the southern and southwestern parts of the Edwards Plateau, western Texas (Kendall, Kerr, Bandera, Uvalde, Menard, Kemble, Real and Edwards Counties); easily distinguished in the field by the peculiar smoky or waxy appearance of the foliage.

39. Quercus annulata Buckl.

Quercus breviloba Sarg.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate or elliptic, rounded or acute at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, entire, undulate, slightly lobed with rounded or acute lobes, or 3-lobed, when they unfold covered above with fascicled hairs and tomentose below, and at maturity green, glabrous and lustrous above, green and pubescent below on lower branches, often pale or hoary tomentose on upper branches, 1¼′—2½′ long, ½′—1¼′ wide; petioles covered when they first appear with fascicled hairs, soon glabrous, ¼′—½′ in length; on vigorous branchlets sometimes thinner, glabrous, divided into broad rounded lateral lobes, gradually narrowed and cuneate at the long base, 4′ long and 2½′ wide. Flowers: staminate in pubescent aments 1′—2′ long; calyx deeply divided in villose rounded lobes, shorter than the stamens; anthers red; pistillate on tomentose peduncles, their scales rounded, tomentose; stigmas red. Fruit solitary or in 2 or 3-fruited clusters, sessile or short-stalked, oblong-ovoid to ellipsoidal, slightly narrowed and rounded at apex, light yellow-brown and lustrous, ¾′—1′ long, ⅓′—½′ in diameter; inclosed for about a quarter of its length in the cup-shaped cup, tomentose on the inner surface, covered with acute tomentose scales somewhat thickened and closely appressed below the middle of the cup, their tips chestnut-brown, free and often glabrous.

A tree, 20°—30° tall with a trunk rarely more than 1° in diameter, small spreading often slightly pendulous branches forming a round-topped head, and slender branches covered when they first appear with fascicled hairs, soon becoming glabrous and gray or grayish brown; the large stems often surrounded by a ring of smaller stems produced from its roots; more often a shrub than a tree spreading into broad thickets. Winter-buds ovoid to ellipsoidal, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with closely imbricated chestnut-brown puberulous scales ciliate on the margins. Bark thick, rough, deeply ridged.

Distribution. Dry limestone hills and bluffs; central and western Texas, from the neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas County, and Palo Pinto County to Kendall, Kerr, Brown, Bandera, Real and Menard Counties.

40. Quercus Durandii Buckl.

Quercus breviloba Sarg. in part.

Leaves thin, obovate to elliptic, entire, 3-lobed toward the rounded or acute apex or irregularly laterally lobed, the three forms appearing on different branches of the same tree, on lower branches usually lobed, dark green and lustrous above, often green and glabrous below, sometimes 6′ or 7′ long and 3′ or 3½′ wide, on upper branches mostly entire, white and pubescent or tomentose below, 2½′—3′ long, ½′—1½′ wide; falling late in the autumn; petioles glabrous, ⅓′—¼′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender villose aments 3′—4′ in length; calyx deeply divided into acute villose lobes shorter than the stamens; pistillate on a short tomentose peduncle, the linear acuminate bract and involucral scales hoary-tomentose; stigmas red. Fruit solitary or in pairs, short-stalked or nearly sessile; nut ovoid, or slightly obovoid, rounded or rarely acute at apex, nearly truncate at base, pale chestnut-brown, lustrous, ½′—⅔′ long, ⅓′—½′ thick, barely inclosed at base in the thin, shallow saucer-shaped cup, pale tomentose on the inner surface, and covered with small acuminate closely appressed tomentose scales slightly thickened on the back.

A tree, often 60°—90° high with a tall trunk 2°—3° in diameter, comparatively small branches, the lower horizontal, the upper ascending, forming a dense round-topped handsome head, and slender pale gray-brown branchlets covered when they first appear with fascicled hairs, soon glabrous, or puberulous during their first season, and darker in their second season. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ¼′—⅓′ long with dark chestnut-brown rounded scales ciliate on the margins. Bark thin, light gray or nearly white and broken into thin loosely appressed scales.

Distribution. East of the Mississippi River scattered on rich limestone prairies; westward on the well drained soil of river bottoms, and often on low hummocks; near Augusta, Richmond County, and De Soto, Sampson County, Georgia; West Point, Clay County, Columbus, Muscogee County, Brookville, Noxubesco County, and near Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi; McNab, Hempstead County, Arkansas; Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, western Louisiana; coast region of eastern Texas to the bottoms of the Guadalupe River (Victoria, Victoria County), ranging inland to San Saba County and to the neighborhood of Dallas, Dallas County; on the mountains near Monterey, Nuovo Leon; rare and local.

41. Quercus Chapmanii Sarg.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, rounded at the narrow apex, narrowed and cuneate or rounded or broad and rounded at base, entire with slightly undulate margins, or obscurely sinuate-lobed above the middle, when they unfold coated below with thick bright yellow pubescence and covered above with pale fascicled deciduous hairs, at maturity thick and firm or subcoriaceous, dark green, glabrous and lustrous above, light green or silvery white and glabrous below except on the slender often pubescent midrib, usually 2′—3′ long and 1′ wide, but varying from 1′—3′ in length and ¾′—1′ in width; falling gradually during the winter or sometimes persistent until the appearance of the new leaves in the spring; petioles tomentose, rarely ⅛′ in length. Flowers: staminate in short hirsute aments; calyx hirsute, divided into 5 acute laciniately cut segments; anthers hirsute; pistillate sessile or short-stalked, their involucral scales coated with dense pale tomentum. Fruit usually sessile, solitary or in pairs; nut oval, about ⅝′ long and ⅜′ thick, pubescent from the obtuse rounded apex nearly to the middle, inclosed for nearly half its length in the deep cup-shaped light brown cup slightly pubescent on the inner surface, and covered by ovate-oblong pointed scales thickened on the back, especially toward the base of the cup, and coated with pale tomentum except on their thin reddish brown margins.

Occasionally a tree, 50° high, with a trunk 1° in diameter, stout branches forming a round-topped head, and slender branchlets coated at first with dense bright yellow pubescence, becoming light or dark red-brown and puberulous during their first winter and ultimately ashy gray; more often a rigid shrub sometimes only 1°—2° tall. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, obtuse, about ⅛′ long, with glabrous or puberulous light chestnut-brown scales. Bark dark or pale, separating freely into large irregular plate-like scales.

Distribution. Sandy barrens usually in the neighborhood of the coast; Bluffton, Beaufort County, South Carolina, Colonels Islands, Liberty County, Georgia, southward along the east coast of Florida to the shores of Indian River; on the west coast from the valley of the Caloosahatchee River to the shores of Pensacola Bay, and in the interior of the peninsular from Lake County to De Soto County (neighborhood of Sebring); rare and local on the Atlantic coast; comparatively rare in the interior of the Florida peninsular; abundant in western Florida from the shores of Tampa Bay to those of Saint Andrews Bay.

42. Quercus macrocarpa Michx. Burr Oak. Mossy Cup Oak.

Leaves obovate or oblong, cuneate or occasionally narrow and rounded at base, divided by wide sinuses sometimes penetrating nearly to the midrib into 5—7 lobes, the terminal lobe large, oval or obovate, regularly crenately lobed, or smaller and 3-lobed at the rounded or acute apex, when they unfold yellow-green and pilose above and silvery white and coated below with long pale hairs, at maturity thick and firm, dark green, lustrous and glabrous, or occasionally pilose on the upper surface, pale green or silvery white and covered on the lower surface with soft pale or rarely rufous pubescence, 6′—12′ long, 3′—6′ wide, with a stout pale midrib sometimes pilose on the upper side and pubescent on the lower, large primary veins running to the points of the lobes, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning dull yellow or yellowish brown in the autumn; petioles stout, ⅓′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender aments 4′—6′ long, their yellow-green peduncles coated with loosely matted pale hairs; calyx yellow-green, pubescent, deeply divided into 4—6 acute segments ending in tufts of long pale hairs; pistillate sessile or stalked, their involucral scales broadly ovate, often somewhat tinged with red toward the margins and coated, like the peduncles, with thick pale tomentum; stigmas bright red. Fruit usually solitary, sessile or long-stalked, exceedingly variable in size and shape; nut ellipsoidal or broad-ovoid, broad at the base and rounded at the obtuse or depressed apex covered by soft pale pubescence, ⅗′ long and ⅓′ thick at the north, sometimes 2′ long and 1½′ thick in the south, its cup thick or thin, light brown and pubescent on the inner surface, hoary-tomentose and covered on the outer surface by large irregularly imbricated ovate pointed scales, at the base of the cup thin and free or sometimes much thickened and tuberculate, and near its rim generally developed into long slender pale awns forming on northern trees a short inconspicuous and at the south a long conspicuous matted fringe-like border, inclosing only the base or nearly the entire nut.

A tree, sometimes 170° high, with a trunk 6°—7° in diameter, clear of limbs for 70°—80° above the ground, a broad head of great spreading branches, and stout branchlets coated at first with thick soft pale deciduous pubescence, light orange color, usually glabrous or occasionally puberulous during their first winter, becoming ashy gray or light brown and ultimately dark brown, sometimes developing corky wings often 1′—1½′ wide; usually not more than 80° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter; toward the northwestern limits of its range sometimes a low shrub. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, acute or obtuse, ⅛′—¼′ long, with light red-brown scales coated with soft pale pubescence. Bark 1′—2′ thick, deeply furrowed and broken on the surface into irregular plate-like brown scales often slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, strong, hard, tough, close-grained, very durable, dark or rich light brown, with thin much lighter colored sapwood; used in ship and boat-building, for construction of all sorts, cabinet-making, cooperage, the manufacture of carriages, agricultural implements, baskets, railway-ties, fencing, and fuel.

Distribution. Low rich bottom-lands and intervales, or rarely in the northwest on low dry hills; Nova Scotia and New Brunswick southward to the valley of the Penobscot River, Maine, the shore of Lake Champlain, Vermont, western Massachusetts, central, southern and western Pennsylvania, northern Delaware, northern West Virginia (Hardy and Grant Counties), prairies of Caswell County, North Carolina, and middle Tennessee, and westward through the valley of the Saint Lawrence River and along the northern shores of Lake Huron to southern Manitoba, through western New York and Ohio, northern Michigan, to Minnesota (except in the northeastern counties), eastern and northwestern Nebraska, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota, and northeastern Wyoming, and to central Kansas, the valley of the north Fork of the Canadian River (Canton, Blaine County, and Seiling, Dewey County), Oklahoma, and the valley of the San Saba River, (Menard County and Callahan County), Texas; attaining its largest size in southern Indiana and Illinois; the common Oak of the “oak openings” of western Minnesota, and in all the basin of the Red River of the North, ranging farther to the northwest than the other Oaks of eastern America; common and generally distributed in eastern Nebraska, and of a large size in cañons or on river bottoms in the extreme northwestern part of the state; the most generally distributed Oak in southern Wisconsin, and in Kansas growing to a large size in all the eastern part of the state.

Occasionally planted as an ornamental tree in the eastern United States and in South Africa.

× Quercus Andrewsii Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus macrocarpa and Q. undulata Torr., in habit and characters intermediate between those of its supposed parents with which it grows, occurs at Seiling, Dewey County, western Oklahoma.

× Quercus guadalupensis Sarg., with characters intermediate between those of Quercus macrocarpa and Q. stellata and evidently a hybrid of these species, occurs at Fredericksburg Junction in the valley of the Guadalupe River, Kendall County, Texas.

× Quercus Hillii Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus macrocarpa and Q. Muehlenbergii, has been found at Roby, Lake County, Indiana, and near Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.

43. Quercus lyrata Walt. Overcup Oak. Swamp White Oak.

Leaves oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, divided into spreading or ascending lobes by deep or shallow sinuses rounded, straight, or oblique on the bottom, the terminal lobe oblong-ovate, usually broad, acute or acuminate at the elongated apex, and furnished with 2 small entire nearly triangular lateral lobes, the upper lateral lobes broad, more or less emarginate, or acuminate and entire or slightly lobed and much longer than the acute or rounded lower lobes, when they unfold bronze-green and pilose above with caducous hairs, and coated below with thick pale tomentum, at maturity thin and firm, dark green and glabrous above, silvery white and thickly coated with pale pubescence, or green and often nearly glabrous below, 7′—10′ long, 1′—4′ wide; turning yellow or scarlet and orange in the autumn; petioles glabrous or pubescent, ⅓′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender hairy aments 4′—6′ long; calyx light yellow, coated on the outer surface with pale hairs and divided into acute segments; pistillate sessile or stalked, their involucral scales covered, like the peduncles, with thick pale tomentum. Fruit sessile or borne on slender pubescent peduncles sometimes 1½′ in length; nut subglobose to ovoid or rarely to ovoid-oblong, ½′—1′ long, usually broader at base than long, light chestnut-brown, more or less covered above the middle with short pale pubescence, entirely or for two thirds of its length inclosed in the ovoid, nearly spherical or deep cup-shaped thin cup, bright red-brown and pubescent on the inner surface, hoary-tomentose and covered on the outer by ovate united scales produced into acute tips, much thickened and contorted at its base, gradually growing thinner and forming a ragged edge to the thin often irregularly split rim of the cup.

A tree, rarely 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, generally divided 15°—20° above the ground into comparatively small often pendulous branches forming a handsome symmetrical round-topped head, and slender branchlets green more or less tinged with red and pilose or pubescent when they first appear, light or dark orange-color or grayish brown and usually glabrous during their first winter, ultimately becoming ashy gray or light brown. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, about ⅛′ long, with light chestnut-brown scales covered, especially near their margins, with loose pale tomentum. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, light gray tinged with red and broken into thick plates separating on the surface into thin irregular appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, very durable in contact with the ground, rich dark brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood; confounded commercially with the wood of Quercus alba, and used for the same purpose.

Distribution. River swamps and small deep depressions on rich bottom-lands, usually wet throughout the year; southern New Jersey (Riddleton, Salem County), and valley of the Patuxent River, Maryland, southward near the coast to western Florida, through the Gulf states to the valley of the Navasota River, Brazos County, Texas, and through Arkansas to the valley of the Meramec River (Allenton, St. Louis County), Missouri, and to central Tennessee and Kentucky, southern Illinois, and southwestern Indiana to Spencer County; comparatively rare in the Atlantic and east Gulf states; most common and of its largest size in the valley of the Red River, Louisiana, and the adjacent parts of Texas and Arkansas.

Occasionally cultivated in the northeastern states and hardy in eastern Massachusetts.

× Quercus Comptonae Sarg., a hybrid of Quercus lyrata and Q. virginiana, with characters intermediate between those of its parents, discovered many years ago on the banks of Peyton’s Creek, Matagorda County, Texas (now gone), occurs with several individuals near dwellings in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi, near Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, and in Audubon Park and streets, New Orleans, Louisiana. A tree, sometimes 100° high and one of the handsomest of North American Oaks; also produced artificially by Professor H. Ness by crossing Quercus lyrata and Q. virginiana.

44. Quercus stellata Wang. Post Oak.

Quercus minor Sarg.

Leaves oblong-obovate, usually deeply 5-lobed, with broad sinuses oblique in the bottom, and short wide lobes, broad and truncate or obtusely pointed at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate, or occasionally abruptly narrowed and cuneate or rounded at base, when they unfold dark red above and densely pubescent, at maturity thick and firm, deep dark green and roughened by scattered fascicled pale hairs above, covered below with gray, light yellow, or rarely silvery white pubescence, usually 4′—5′ long and 3′—4′ across the lateral lobes, with a broad light-colored midrib pubescent on the upper side and tomentose or pubescent on the lower, stout lateral veins arcuate and united near the margins and connected by conspicuous coarsely reticulated veinlets; turning dull yellow or brown in the autumn; petioles stout, pubescent, ½′ to nearly 1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in aments 3′—4′ long; calyx hirsute, yellow, usually divided into 5 ovate acute laciniately cut segments; anthers covered by short scattered pale hairs; pistillate sessile or stalked, their involucral scales broadly ovate, hirsute; stigmas bright red. Fruit sessile or short-stalked; nut oval to ovoid or ovoid-oblong, broad at base, obtuse and naked or covered with pale persistent pubescence at apex, ½′—1′ long, ¼′—¾′ thick, sometimes striate with dark longitudinal stripes, inclosed for one third to one half its length in the cup-shaped, turbinate, or rarely saucer-shaped cup pale and pubescent on the inner surface, hoary-tomentose on the outer surface, and covered by thin ovate scales rounded and acute at apex, reddish brown, and sometimes toward the rim of the cup ciliate on the margins with long pale hairs.

A tree, rarely 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, and stout spreading branches forming a broad dense round-topped head, and stout branchlets coated at first, like the young leaves and petioles, the stalks of the aments of staminate flowers and the peduncles of the pistillate flowers, with thick orange-brown tomentum, light orange color to reddish brown, and covered by short soft pubescence during their first winter, ultimately gray, dark brown, nearly black or bright brown tinged with orange color; usually not more than 50°—60° tall, with a trunk 1°—2° in diameter, and at the northeastern limits of its range generally reduced to a shrub. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, obtuse or rarely acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with bright chestnut-brown pubescent scales coated toward the margins with scattered pale hairs. Bark ½′—1′ thick, red more or less deeply tinged with brown, and divided by deep fissures into broad ridges covered on the surface with narrow closely appressed or rarely loose scales. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil, difficult to season, light or dark brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood; largely used for fuel, fencing, railway-ties, and sometimes in the manufacture of carriages, for cooperage, and in construction.

Distribution. Dry gravelly or sandy uplands; Cape Cod and islands of southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Long Island, New York, to western Florida and southern Alabama and Mississippi, and from New York westward to southern Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, western (Dewey County) Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas; most abundant and of its largest size in the Mississippi basin; ascending on the southern Appalachian Mountains to altitudes of 2500°; the common Oak of central Texas on limestone hills and sandy plains forming the Texas “Cross Timbers”; usually shrubby and rare and local in southern Massachusetts; more abundant southward from the coast of the south Atlantic and the eastern Gulf states to the lower slopes of the Appalachian Mountains; in western Louisiana rarely in the moist soil of low lands.

Showing little variation in the shape of the fruit and in the character of the cup scales Quercus stellata is one of the most variable of North American Oaks in habit, in the nature of the bark, and in the presence or absence of pubescence. Some of the best marked varieties are var. araniosa Sarg., a large tree differing from the type in the usually smooth upper surface of the leaves, in the floccose persistent tomentum on their lower surface, in the less stout usually glabrous yellow or reddish branchlets, and in its scaly bark; dry sandy soil, southern Alabama, western Louisiana, southern Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas. Var. paludosa Sarg., a tree up to 75° in height, differing from the type in its oblong-obovate leaves 3-lobed above the middle, slightly pubescent branchlets becoming nearly glabrous, and in its scaly bark; in rich deep soil on the often inundated bottoms of Kenison Bayou, near Washington, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. Var. attenuata Sarg., a large tree differing from the type in the oblong to oblong-obovate narrow leaves 3-lobed at apex and gradually narrowed to the long cuneate base; near Arkansas Post on the White River, Arkansas County, Arkansas. Var. parviloba Sarg., a round-topped tree 25°—30° high, differing from the type in the smaller lobes of the leaves with more prominent reticulate veinlets; dry sandstone hills near Brownwood, Brown County, Texas. Var. anomala Sarg., a tree 15°—18° high, differing from the type in its broadly obovate subcoriaceous leaves slightly 3-lobed and rounded at apex; dry sandstone hills near Brownwood, Brown County, Texas; possibly a hybrid. Var. Palmeri Sarg., a shrub 6°—15° high, forming clumps, differing from the type in its narrow oblong or slightly obovate 5—7-lobed leaves with narrow lobes, densely tomentose below, and in the thicker and more tomentose scales of the cup; sandy uplands, Elk City, Beckham County, Oklahoma. Var. rufescens Sarg., a shrub 12°—15° high, forming large clumps, differing from the type in the rusty brown pubescence on the lower surface of the polymorphous leaves, in the deeper cups of the fruit with thicker basal scales; sandy uplands, Big Spring, Howard County, Texas, and Elk City, Beckham County, Oklahoma. Var. Boyntonii Sarg., a shrub or small tree spreading into thickets, rarely more than 15° in height, differing from the type in its obovate leaves, mostly 3—5-lobed toward the apex, with small rounded lobes, and in their yellow-brown pubescence also found on the branchlets; in glades on the summit of Lookout Mountain, above Gadsden and Attala, Etowah County, Alabama.

The common and most widely distributed of the varieties of the Post Oak is

Quercus stellata var. Margaretta Sarg.

Quercus Margaretta Ashe

Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, 3—5-lobed with usually narrow rounded, but often broad and truncate lobes, the two forms frequently occurring on the same branch, usually becoming glabrous on the upper surface early in the season, slightly pubescent, sometimes becoming nearly glabrous below, 2½′—5′ long and 2′—2½′ wide; petioles glabrous or pubescent. Flowers and Fruit as in the species.

A small tree, rarely 40° high, with slender glabrous reddish or reddish brown branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ¼′ long with closely imbricated chestnut-brown scales glabrous, or ciliate on the margins. Bark thick, rough and furrowed, light gray.

Distribution. Usually on dry sandy slopes, hills and ridges, and southward on Pine-barren lands; coast of Virginia (Capron, Southampton County) southward in the coast and middle districts to central (Lake and Orange Counties) and western Florida, through central and southern Alabama, and eastern and southern Mississippi; in Western Louisiana (Natchitoches and Caddo Parishes); southern Arkansas (McNab, Hempstead County), and southwestern Missouri (Prosperity, Jasper County). The common Post Oak of the south Atlantic and Gulf states; occasionally a shrub (f. stonolifera Sarg.) 4°—6° high, with smaller leaves, spreading into broad thickets by stoloniferous shoots; common near Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, and on the dry sand hills of central Oklahoma.

× Quercus Harbisonii Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus stellata var. Margaretta and Q. virginiana var. geminata, has been found in the neighborhood of Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida.

45. Quercus Garryana Hook. White Oak.

Leaves obovate to oblong, pointed at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, coarsely pinnatifid-lobed, with slightly thickened revolute margins, coated at first with soft pale lustrous pubescence, at maturity thick and firm or subcoriaceous, dark green, lustrous and glabrous above, light green or orange-brown and pubescent or glabrate below, 4′—6′ long, 2′—5′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib, and conspicuous primary veins spreading at right angles, or gradually diverging from the midrib and running to the points of the lobes; sometimes turning bright scarlet in the autumn; petioles stout, pubescent, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hirsute aments; calyx glabrous, laciniately cut into ovate acute slightly ciliate or linear-lanceolate much elongated segments; pistillate sessile and coated with pale tomentum. Fruit sessile or short-stalked; nut oval to slightly obovoid and obtuse, 1′—1¼′ long and ½′—1′ thick, inclosed at the base in a shallow cup-shaped or slightly turbinate cup puberulous and light brown on the inner surface, pubescent or tomentose on the outer, and covered by ovate acute scales with pointed and often elongated tips, thin, free, or sometimes thickened and more or less united toward the base of the cup, decreasing from below upward.

A tree, usually 60°—70° or sometimes nearly 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, stout ascending or spreading branches forming a broad compact head, and stout branchlets coated at first with thick pale rufous pubescence, pubescent or tomentose and light or dark orange color during their first winter, becoming glabrous and rather bright reddish brown in their second year and ultimately gray; frequently at high altitudes, or when exposed to the winds from the ocean, reduced to a low shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ⅓′—½′ long, densely clothed with light ferrugineous tomentum. Bark ⅛′—1′ thick, divided by shallow fissures into broad ridges separating on the surface into light brown or gray scales sometimes slightly tinged with orange color. Wood strong, hard, close-grained, frequently exceedingly tough, light brown or yellow, with thin nearly white sapwood; in Oregon and Washington used in the manufacture of carriages and wagons, in cabinet-making, shipbuilding, and cooperage, and largely as fuel.

Distribution. Valleys and the dry gravelly slopes of low hills; Vancouver Island and the valley of the lower Fraser River southward through western Washington and Oregon and the California coast-valleys to Marin County; rare and local and the only Oak-tree in British Columbia; abundant and of its largest size in the valleys of western Washington and Oregon; on the islands in the northern part of Puget Sound reduced to a low shrub (Vine Oak); ascending in its shrubby forms to considerable altitudes on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains; abundant in northwestern California; less common and of smaller size southward.

46. Quercus utahensis Rydb.

Leaves oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and rounded or cuneate at base, divided often nearly to the midrib by broad or narrow sinuses into four or five pairs of lateral lobes rounded or acute at apex, the upper lobes usually again lobed or undulate, the terminal lobe rounded at apex, entire or three-lobed, thick, dark green, glabrous or nearly glabrous above, pale and soft pubescent below, 2½′—7′ long, 1½′—3½′ wide, with a prominent midrib and primary veins, and conspicuous veinlets; petioles stout, hoary-tomentose early in the season, pubescent or glabrous before maturity, ⅖′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in aments covered with fascicled hairs, 2′—2½′ long; calyx scarious, divided to the middle by wide sinuses into narrow acuminate lobes; anthers yellow; pistillate usually solitary or in pairs, the scales of the involucre thickly coated with hoary tomentum. Fruit usually solitary, sessile or raised on a stout pubescent peduncle ¼′—½′ in length; nut ovoid, broad and rounded at the ends, ⅗′—¾′ long, ½′—2½′ thick, usually inclosed for about half its length in the thick hemispheric cup covered with broad ovate pale pubescent scales much thickened on the back and closely appressed below the middle of the cup, gradually reduced in size upward, thin and less closely appressed toward its rim bordered by the free projecting tips of the upper row of scales.

A tree, occasionally 30° high, with a trunk 4′—8′ in diameter, thick erect branches forming a narrow open head, and stout branchlets red-brown and covered with fascicled hairs when they first appear, becoming light orange-brown and puberulous. Bark dark gray-brown, rough and scaly.

Distribution. Dry foothill slopes and the sides of cañons; borders of southwestern Wyoming to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and to Utah, northern New Mexico and Arizona, passing into var. mollis Sarg. with thinner scales on the lower part of the cup of the fruit; with the species over its whole range, but most abundant on the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona; here rarely 40° high, with a trunk 18′—20′ in diameter.

47. Quercus lobata Née. White Oak. Valley Oak.

Leaves oblong to obovate, deeply 7—11 obliquely lobed, rounded at the narrow apex, narrow and cuneate or broad and rounded or cordate at base, the lateral lobes obovate, obtuse or retuse, or ovate and rounded, thin, 2½′—3′ or rarely 4′ long, 1′—2′ wide, dark green and pubescent above, pale and pubescent below, with a stout pale midrib, and conspicuous yellow veins running to the slightly thickened and revolute margins; petioles stout, hirsute, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hirsute aments 2′—3′ long; calyx light yellow and divided into 6 or 8 acute pubescent ciliate lobes; pistillate solitary, sessile or rarely in elongated few-flowered spikes, their involucral scales broadly ovate, acute, coated with dense pale tomentum, about as long as the narrow calyx-lobes. Fruit solitary or in pairs, nearly sessile; nut conic, elongated, rounded or pointed at apex, 1¼′—2¼′ long, bright green and lustrous when fully grown, becoming bright chestnut-brown, usually inclosed for about one third its length in the cup-shaped cup coated with pale tomentum on the outer surface, usually irregularly tuberculate below, all but the much-thickened basal scales elongated into acute ciliate chestnut-brown free tips longest on the upper scales and forming a short fringe-like border to the rim of the cup.

A tree, often 100° feet high, with a trunk generally 3°—4°, but sometimes 10° in diameter, divided near the ground or usually 20°—30° above it into great limbs spreading at wide angles and forming a broad head of slender branches hanging gracefully in long sprays and sometimes sweeping the ground; less frequently with upper limbs growing almost at right angles with the trunk and forming a narrow rigid head of variously contorted erect or pendant branches, and slender branchlets coated at first with short silky canescent pubescence, ashy gray, light reddish brown, or pale orange-brown and slightly pubescent in their first winter, becoming glabrous and lighter colored during their second year. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, usually about ¼′ long, with orange-brown pubescent scales scarious and frequently ciliate on the margins. Bark ¾′—1½′ thick and covered by small loosely appressed light gray scales slightly tinged with orange or brown, becoming at the base of old trees frequently 5′—6′ thick and divided by longitudinal fissures into broad flat ridges broken horizontally into short plates. Wood hard, fine-grained, brittle, light brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood; used only for fuel.

Distribution. Valleys of western California between the Sierra Nevada and the ocean from the valley of the Trinity River to Kern and Los Angeles (rare) Counties; most abundant and forming open groves in the central valleys of the state.

48. Quercus leptophylla Rydb.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, cuneate or rarely rounded at base, divided about halfway to the midrib into two to four acute or rounded lateral lobes entire or occasionally furnished on the lower side with a small nearly triangular lobe, the terminal lobe short, entire, rounded at apex or three-lobed, when they unfold thickly coated with hoary tomentum, about one-third grown when the flowers open and then covered above with fascicled hairs and tomentose below, at maturity thin, dark green, lustrous and glabrous or nearly glabrous on the upper surface, yellow-green and covered below by short white hairs most abundant on the midrib and veins, 3½′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender villose aments; calyx scarious, divided into five or six narrow acute lobes; anthers dark red-brown as the flowers open; pistillate not seen. Fruit solitary or racemose, sessile or raised on a stout tomentose peduncle ⅖′—⅗′ in length; nut oblong-ovoid, abruptly narrowed and rounded at base, gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, ½′—¾′ long; inclosed for half its length in the thin, hemispheric cup, ⅖′—½′ in diameter, and covered with acuminate only slightly thickened appressed scales densely covered with hoary tomentum.

A tree, 30°—45° high, with a trunk 16′—24′ in diameter, heavy spreading ashy gray branches forming a round-topped head, and stout branchlets, light red-brown or purple and covered with long fascicled hairs when they first appear, becoming light brown and glabrous before autumn. Bark thick, deeply furrowed, covered with small appressed pale gray scales.

Distribution. Rich bottom-lands of the Cucharas River above La Veta, Huerfano County, Colorado; on the Mogollon Mountains, Socorro County, New Mexico.

49. Quercus austrina Small.

Leaves oblong-obovate, acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed to the long cuneate base or rarely rounded at base, usually 5-lobed with rounded lobes, the terminal lobe often 3-lobed, the upper lateral lobes pointing forward and much larger than those of the lower pair, or occasionally 3-lobed at the broad apex, or rarely nearly entire with undulate margins, when they unfold sparsely covered below with caducous fascicled hairs, at maturity glabrous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, 3′—8′ long, 1′—4′ wide, with a prominent midrib and slender primary veins; petioles slender, at first pubescent, soon glabrous, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers not seen. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or raised on a stout stalk up to ½′ in length; nut ovoid, slightly narrowed toward the base, narrowed at the rounded pubescent apex, ½′—¾′ long, ½′ thick, inclosed for a third to a half its length in the thin hemispheric or deep cup-shaped cup, pale tomentose on the inner surface and covered with thin narrow loosely appressed blunt-pointed tomentose scales.

A tree, 70°—80° and rarely 100° high, with a tall trunk 2°—3° in diameter, spreading and ascending branches forming a broad rather open head, and slender glabrous red-brown or gray-brown brittle-jointed branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid to ellipsoid, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with closely imbricated acute puberulous chestnut-brown scales ciliate on the margins. Bark pale, scaly, and on old trunks divided into broad ridges.

Distribution. Banks of streams and river bluffs in deep rich soil; coast of South Carolina (Bluffton, Clay County, and near Charleston); Dover, Scriven County, McIntosh County, De Soto Co., Sumter County, and near Bainbridge, Decatur County, Georgia, to central and western Florida (Gainesville, Alachua County, near Santos, Marion County, Lake City, Columbia County, River Junction, Gadsden County, Marianna, Jackson County); western Alabama (Gallion, Hale County, and the neighborhood of Selma [common] and Pleasant Hill, Dallas County); and southern Mississippi (Meridian, Lauderdale County, Laurel, Jones County, Byram and near Jackson, Hinds County, near Natchez, Adams County).

50. Quercus alba L. White Oak.

Leaves oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, divided often nearly to the midrib by narrow or broad sinuses usually oblique in the bottom into 7 or 9 lobes, the lateral, narrow, lanceolate or obovate, pointing forward, rounded or acute and often lobed at apex, the terminal usually obovate and 3-lobed, when they unfold bright red above, pale below and coated with soft pubescence, soon becoming silvery white and very lustrous, at maturity thin, firm, glabrous, bright green and lustrous or dull above, pale or glaucous below, 5′—9′ long, 2′—4′ wide, with a stout bright yellow midrib and conspicuous primary veins; turning late in the autumn deep rich vinous red, gradually withering and sometimes remaining on the branches nearly through the winter; petioles stout, glabrous, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hirsute or nearly glabrous aments 2½′—3′ long; calyx bright yellow and pubescent, with acute lobes; pistillate bright red, their involucral scales broadly ovate, hirsute, about as long as the ovate acute calyx-lobes. Fruit sessile or raised on a slender peduncle 1′—2′ long, the two forms sometimes appearing on the same branch; nut ovoid to oblong, rounded at apex, lustrous, ¾′ long, green when fully grown, becoming light chestnut-brown, inclosed for about one fourth its length in the cup-shaped cup coated with pale or light brown tomentum, its scales at the base much thickened, united and produced into short obtuse membranaceous tips, and thinner toward the rim of the cup.

A tree, 80°—100° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, tall and naked in the forest, short in the open, and surmounted by a broad round-topped head of stout limbs spreading irregularly, small rigid branches, and slender branchlets at first bright green, often tinged with red, and coated with a loose mass of long pale or ferrugineous deciduous hairs, reddish brown during the summer, bright red and lustrous or covered with a glaucous bloom during their first winter, becoming ultimately ashy gray. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, rather obtuse, dark red-brown, about ⅛′ long. Bark light gray slightly tinged with red or brown, or occasionally nearly white, broken into thin appressed scales, becoming on old trunks sometimes 2′ thick and divided into broad flat ridges. Wood strong, very heavy, hard, tough, close-grained, durable, light brown, with thin light brown sapwood; used in shipbuilding, for construction and in cooperage, the manufacture of carriages, agricultural implements, baskets, the interior finish of houses, cabinet-making, for railway-ties and fences, and largely as fuel.

Distribution. Sandy plains and gravelly ridges, rich uplands, intervales, and moist bottom-lands, sometimes forming nearly pure forests; southern Maine to southwestern Quebec, westward through southern Ontario, the southern peninsula of Michigan, southeastern Minnesota, eastern Iowa, and southeastern Nebraska, and southward to western Florida, through the Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky; ascending the southern Appalachian Mountains as a low bush to altitudes of 4500°; most abundant and of its largest size on the lower western slopes of the Alleghany Mountains and on the bottom-lands of the lower Ohio Basin. Passing into

Quercus alba var. latiloba Sarg.

Leaves obovate-oblong, acute or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, divided usually less than half way to the midrib into broad rounded lobes; rarely obovate, with undulate margins, or slightly lobed, with broad rounded lobes (var. repanda Michx.). Flowers as in the type. Fruit rarely more than 1½′ in length, with usually thinner cup scales.

Distribution. More abundant than the species and the common northern White Oak.

× Quercus Beadlei Trel., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus alba and Q. Prinus, has been found in a swamp near Clarkton, Bladen County, North Carolina.

× Quercus Bebbiana Schn., probably a hybrid of Quercus alba and Q. macrocarpa, occurs at Charlotte, Chittenden County, Vermont, and near Kenton, Hardin County, Ohio.

× Quercus Deamii Trel., with characters intermediate between those of Quercus alba and Q. Muehlenbergii and evidently a hybrid of these species, is growing near Bluffton, Wells County, Indiana.

× Quercus Faxonii Trel., with characters intermediate between those of Quercus alba and Q. prinoides and evidently a hybrid of these species, has been found in East Walpole, Norfolk County, and Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and at Greenville, Montcalm County, Michigan.

× Quercus Fernowii Trel., evidently a hybrid of Quercus alba and Q. stellata, has been found near Allenton, St. Louis County, Missouri, and on Red Clay Creek, Virginia.

× Quercus Jackiana Schn., evidently a hybrid of Quercus alba and Q. bicolor, is growing in Franklin Park, Boston.

× Quercus Saulei Schn., with characters intermediate between those of Q. alba and Q. montana and evidently a hybrid of these species, occurs with widely distributed individuals in Vermont (Monkton, Addison County), eastern Massachusetts, near Providence, Rhode Island, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia, on the Appalachian Mountains near Biltmore, Buncombe County, and Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina, at Valleyhead, Gadsden County, Alabama, and in Richland County, Illinois.

51. Quercus bicolor Willd. Swamp White Oak.

Quercus platanoides Sudw.

Leaves obovate to oblong-obovate, rounded at the narrowed apex, acute or rounded at the gradually narrowed and cuneate entire base, coarsely sinuate-dentate, or sometimes pinnatifid, with oblique rounded or acute entire lobes, when they unfold light bronze-green and pilose above, covered below with silvery white tomentum, with conspicuous glands on the teeth, at maturity thick and firm, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale or often silvery white or tawny on the lower surface, 5′—6′ long, 2′—4′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib, primary veins running to the points of the lobes, and conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning in the autumn dull yellow-brown or occasionally orange-color or rarely scarlet before falling; petioles stout, pilose at first, becoming glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers: staminate in hairy aments 3′—4′ long; calyx light yellow-green, hirsute with pale hairs, and deeply divided into 5—9 lanceolate acute segments rather shorter than the stamens; pistillate in few-flowered spikes on elongated peduncles covered like the involucral scales with thick white or tawny tomentum; stigmas bright red. Fruit usually in pairs on slender dark brown glabrous puberulous or pubescent stalks 1½′—4′ in length; nut ovoid, with a broad base, rounded, acute and pubescent at apex, light chestnut-brown, ¾′—1¼′ long, ½′—¾′ thick, inclosed for about one third its length in the thick cup-shaped light brown cup pubescent on the inner surface, hoary-tomentose, and sometimes tuberculate or roughened toward the base on the outer surface by the thickened contorted tips of the ovate acute scales, thin, free, acute and chestnut-brown higher on the cup, and often forming a short fringe-like border on its margin, or sometimes entirely covered by thin scales with free acute tips.

A tree, usually 60°—70° or exceptionally 100° high, with a trunk 2°—3° or occasionally 8°—9° in diameter, rather small branches generally pendulous below and rising above into a narrow round-topped open head and often furnished with short pendulous laterals, and stout branchlets, green, lustrous, and slightly scurfy-pubescent when they first appear, light orange color or reddish brown and glabrous or puberulous during their first winter, becoming darker and often purplish and clothed with a glaucous bloom. Winter-buds broadly ovoid and obtuse, or subglobose to ovoid and acute, ⅛′ long, with light chestnut-brown scales usually pilose above the middle. Bark of young stems and small branches smooth, reddish or purplish brown, separating freely into large papery persistent scales curling back and displaying the bright green inner bark; becoming on old trunks 1′—2′ thick, and deeply and irregularly divided by continuous or interrupted fissures into broad flat ridges covered by small appressed gray-brown scales often slightly tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, light brown, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood; used in construction, the interior finish of houses, cabinet-making, carriage and boat-building, cooperage, and railway-ties, and for fencing and fuel.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps in moist fertile soil; southern Maine to northern Vermont and southwestern Quebec, through Ontario and the southern peninsula of Michigan to southeastern Minnesota, eastern and southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska and western Missouri, and to the District of Columbia, northern Kentucky and northeastern Oklahoma, and along the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia; widely scattered, usually in small groves but nowhere very abundant; most common and of its largest size in western New York and northern Ohio.

× Quercus Schuettii Trel., with characters intermediate between those of Quercus bicolor and Q. macrocarpa, and probably a hybrid of these species, occurs at Fort Howard, Brown County, Wisconsin, near Rockfield and Chateaugay, Quebec, and near Rochester and Golah, Munroe County, New York.

52. Quercus Prinus L. Basket Oak. Cow Oak.

Quercus Michauxii Nutt.

Leaves broadly obovate to oblong-obovate, acute or acuminate at apex with a short broad point, cuneate or rounded at the broad or narrow entire base, regularly crenately lobed with oblique rounded entire lobes sometimes furnished with glandular tips, or rarely entire with undulate margins, when they unfold bright yellow-green, lustrous and pubescent above, coated below with thick silvery white or ferrugineous tomentum, at maturity thick and firm or sometimes membranaceous, especially on young and vigorous branches, dark green, lustrous, glabrous or occasionally roughened by scattered fascicled hairs on the upper surface, more or less densely pubescent on the pale green or silvery white lower surface, 6′—8′ long, 3′—5′ wide; turning in the autumn dark rich crimson; petioles stout, ½′—1½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in slender hairy aments, 3′—4′ long; calyx light yellow-green, pilose with long pale hairs, and divided into 4—7 acute lobes; pistillate in few-flowered spikes on short peduncles coated like the involucral scales with dense pale rufous tomentum; stigmas dark red. Fruit solitary or in pairs, sessile or subsessile, or borne on short stout puberulous stalks rarely ½′ in length; nut ovoid to ellipsoidal, with a broad base, and acute, rounded, or occasionally truncate at apex surrounded by a narrow ring of rusty pubescence, or sometimes pilose nearly to the middle, bright brown, rather lustrous, 1′—1½′ long, ¾′—1¼′ thick, inclosed for about one third its length in the thick cup-shaped cup often broad and flat on the bottom, reddish brown and pubescent within, hoary-tomentose and covered on the outer surface by regularly imbricated ovate acute scales rounded and much thickened on the back, their short tips sometimes forming a rigid fringe-like border to the rim of the cup; seed sweet and edible.

A tree, often 100° high, with a trunk sometimes free of branches for 40°—50°, and 3°—7° in diameter, stout branches ascending at narrow angles and forming a round-topped rather compact head, and stout branchlets at first dark green and covered by pale caducous hairs, becoming bright red-brown or light orange-brown during their first winter and ultimately ashy gray. Winter-buds broadly ovoid or oval, acute, ¼′ long, with thin closely and regularly imbricated dark red puberulous scales with pale margins, those of the inner ranks coated on the outer surface with loose pale tomentum. Bark ½′—1′ thick, separating into thin closely appressed silvery white or ashy gray scales more or less deeply tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, very strong, tough, close-grained, durable, easy to split, light-brown, with thin darker colored sapwood; largely used in all kinds of construction, for agricultural implements, wheels, in cooperage, for fences and fuel, and in baskets.

Distribution. Borders of streams, swamps, and bottom-lands often covered with water; New Jersey (Morristown, Morris County and Pittsgrove, Salem County), near Wilmington, Delaware, southward through the coast and middle districts to Putnam (San Mateo) and Citrus Counties, Florida, through the Gulf states to the valley of the Trinity River, Texas, and through Arkansas and southeastern Missouri to central Tennessee and Kentucky, the valley of the lower Wabash River, Illinois, and southern Indiana eastward to Jefferson County (C. C. Deam); conspicuous from the silvery white bark, the massive trunk, and the broad crown of large bright-colored foliage.

53. Quercus montana L. Chestnut Oak. Rock Chestnut Oak.

Quercus Prinus Engelm., not L.

Leaves obovate or oblong to lanceolate, acute or acuminate or rounded at apex, gradually or abruptly cuneate or rounded or subcordate at the narrow entire base, irregularly and coarsely crenulate-toothed with rounded, acute, or sometimes nearly triangular oblique teeth, when they unfold orange-green or bronze-red, very lustrous, and glabrous above with the exception of the slightly pilose midrib, green and coated below with soft pale pubescence, at maturity thick and firm or subcoriaceous, yellow-green and rather lustrous on the upper surface, paler and covered by fine pubescence on the lower surface, 4½′—9′ long, 1½′—3′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib and conspicuous primary veins, often much broader near the bottom of the tree than on fertile upper branches; turning dull orange color or rusty brown in the autumn; petioles stout or slender, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers: staminate in elongated hirsute aments; calyx light yellow, pilose and deeply divided into 7—9 acute segments tipped with clusters of pale hairs; pistillate in short spikes on stout puberulous dark green peduncles, their involucral scales covered with pale hairs; stigmas dark red. Fruit on short stout stems singly or in pairs; nut ovoid or ellipsoidal, rounded and rather obtuse or pointed at apex, bright chestnut-brown, very lustrous, 1′—1½′ long, ⅝′—1′ thick, inclosed for about half its length or sometimes only at the base in a turbinate or cup-shaped thin cup light brown and pubescent on the inner surface, reddish brown and hoary-pubescent on the outer surface roughened or tuberculate, especially toward the base, by small scales thickened and knob-like with nearly triangular free light brown tips.

A tree, usually 60°—70° or occasionally 100° high, with a trunk 3°—4° or rarely 6°—7° in diameter, divided generally 15° or 20° above the ground into large limbs spreading into a broad open rather irregular head, and stout branchlets green tinged with purple or bronze color and glabrous or pilose when they first appear, light orange color or reddish brown during their first winter, becoming dark gray or brown; on dry exposed mountain slopes often not more than 20°—30° tall, with a trunk 8′—12′ in diameter. Winter-buds ovoid, acute or acuminate, ¼′—½′ long, with bright chestnut-brown scales pilose toward the apex and ciliate on the margins. Bark of young stems and small branches thin, smooth, purplish brown, often lustrous, becoming on old trunks and large limbs ¾′—1½′ thick, dark reddish brown or nearly black, and divided into broad rounded ridges covered with small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, rather tough, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil, largely used for fencing, railway-ties, and fuel. The bark, which is rich in tannin, is consumed in large quantities in tanning leather.

Distribution. Hillsides and the high rocky banks of streams in rich and deep or sometimes in sterile soil; coast of southern Maine, southern New Hampshire and eastern Massachusetts, southward to Delaware and the District of Columbia, and along the Appalachian Mountains and their foothills to northern Georgia (Wilkes County); ascending to altitudes of 4000°—4500°; in northern Alabama; westward to the shores of Lake Champlain, western New York; southeastern and southern Ohio, and southern Indiana westward to Orange County (C. C. Deam); and to central Kentucky and Tennessee, and northeastern Mississippi (Alcorn, Prentiss and Tishomingo Counties); rare and local in New England and Ontario; abundant on the banks of the lower Hudson River and on the Appalachian hills from southern New York to Alabama; most common and of its largest size on the lower slopes of the mountains of the Carolinas and Tennessee, here often forming a large part of the forest.

× Quercus Sargentii Rehd., believed to be a hybrid of Quercus montana and the European Q. Robur L., has been growing for nearly a hundred years at what is now Holm Lea, Brookline, Norfolk County, Massachusetts.

54. Quercus Muehlenbergii Engelm. Yellow Oak. Chestnut Oak.

Quercus acuminata Sarg.

Leaves usually crowded at the ends of the branches, oblong-lanceolate to broadly obovate, acute or acuminate with a long narrow or with a short broad point, abruptly or gradually narrowed and cuneate or slightly narrowed and rounded or cordate at base, equally serrate with acute and often incurved or broad and rounded teeth tipped with small glandular mucros, or rarely slightly undulate, when they unfold bright bronzy green and puberulous above, tinged with purple and coated below with pale tomentum, at maturity thick and firm, light yellow-green on the upper surface, pale often silvery white and covered with short fine pubescence on the lower surface, 4′—7′ long, 1′—5′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib and conspicuous primary veins running to the points of the teeth; turning in the autumn orange color and scarlet; petioles slender ¾′—1½′ in length. Flowers: staminate in pilose aments 3′—4′ long; calyx light yellow, hairy, deeply divided into 5 or 6 lanceolate ciliate segments; pistillate sessile or in short spikes coated like their involucral scales with thick white tomentum; stigmas bright red. Fruit sessile or raised on a short stout peduncle, solitary or often in pairs; nut broadly ovoid, narrowed and rounded at apex, ½′ to nearly 1′ long, light chestnut-brown, inclosed for about half its length in a thin cup-shaped light brown cup pubescent on the inner, hoary-tomentose on the outer surface, and covered by small obtuse scales more or less thickened and rounded on the back toward the base of the cup, the small free red-brown tips of the upper ranks forming a minute fringe-like border to its rim; seed sweet and sometimes edible.

A tree, 80°—100°, occasionally 160° high, with a tall straight trunk 3°—4° in diameter above the broad and often buttressed base, comparatively small branches forming a narrow shapely round-topped head, and slender branchlets, green more or less tinged with red or purple, pilose when they first appear, light orange color or reddish brown during their first winter, and ultimately gray or brown; east of the Alleghany Mountains and on dry hills often not more than 20°—30° tall. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ⅛′—¼′ long, with chestnut-brown scales white and scarious on the margins. Bark rarely ½′ thick, broken on the surface into thin loose silvery white scales sometimes slightly tinged with brown. Wood heavy, very hard, strong, close-grained, durable, with thin light-colored sapwood; largely used in cooperage, for wheels, fencing, and railway-ties.

Distribution. Gardner’s Island, Lake Champlain, Vermont, western Massachusetts and Connecticut, near Newberg, Orange County, New York, westward through New York, southern Ontario and southern Michigan to northern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and Oklahoma to the valley of the Washita River (Garvin County) and to the Devil’s Cañon near Hinton (Caddo County), and southward in the Atlantic states to the District of Columbia, eastern Virginia; sparingly on the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge in North and South Carolina at altitudes between 1000° and 2000°; in central Tennessee and Kentucky, central and northeastern Georgia, western Florida, and through the Gulf states to the valley of the Guadalupe River, Texas; on the Guadalupe Mountains, Texas, and on the Capitan Mountains, New Mexico (Lincoln County); rare and comparatively local in the Atlantic states, usually on limestone soil; very abundant in the Mississippi basin, growing on ridges, dry flinty hills, deep rich bottom-lands and the rocky banks of streams; probably of its largest size on the lower Wabash River and its tributaries in southern Indiana and Illinois; on the Edwards Plateau (Kemble, Kerr, Uvalde, Bandera and Real Counties), Texas, a form occurs with nuts sometimes 1¼′ long with deeper cups up to 1′ in diameter (var. Brayi Sarg.).