Part 30

=Castanea pumila=, (L.) Mill.

=Form=.—Height 20-30 feet, diameter 1-2 feet, in West Virginia usually much smaller; trunk short, supporting a rounded crown.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, 2-6 inches long, lanceolate or oblong, narrowed at both ends, coarsely serrate, thick, smooth and yellow-green on the upper surface, paler and covered with a whitish down beneath.

=Flowers=.—May-June; monoecious; staminate flowers in clusters along the catkin; the pistillate borne at the base of the upper catkins in rounded, prickly involucres.

=Fruit=.—Matures in early autumn; bur covered with stiff spines and enclosing usually only one ovoid brown nut which is very sweet and edible.

=Bark=.—On trunk lightly furrowed and with flat ridges broken into light brown, loose plates.

=Wood=.—Light, hard, strong, coarse-grained, brown, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood.

=Range=.—Pennsylvania and New Jersey south to Florida and Texas.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Not widely distributed but common in some sections. Observed in the following counties: Mercer, Wyoming, Summers, Fayette, Logan, and Boone. Reported also from Wayne, Monroe, Mingo, Braxton, Gilmer, Pendleton, Greenbrier, Grant and Nicholas counties.

=Habitat=.—Dry slopes and flats and stream borders.

=Notes=.—This species is usually a shrub in West Virginia, often bearing fruit when only a few feet high. Several trees observed south of the Kanawha River were well-formed, 20-25 feet tall, and with straight trunks 6-8 inches in diameter. The Chinquapin is chiefly prized on account of its nuts. It is susceptible to the attack of chestnut blight and may eventually be killed out by this disease.

WHITE OAK

=Quercus alba=, L.

=Form=.—Height 75-100 feet, diameter 3-6 feet; trunk long and free from limbs and with slight taper; crown broad and open with wide-spreading and often twisted branches.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, 5-8 inches long, obovate-oblong, rounded at the apex and with usually 7 rounded lobes with entire edges, bright green above, glaucous beneath.

=Flowers=.—May, when leaves are one-third grown; monoecious; the staminate in long pendulous catkins; the pistillate borne above on short stalks in the leaf axils.

=Fruit=.—Acorns maturing in autumn after flowering; cup with small brown tomentose scales, enclosing about ¼ of the nut; nut ovoid, rounded at apex, light brown, shining; kernel bitter-sweet.

=Bark=.—On old trunks rough with deep fissures, and ridges which are often broken into short flat light gray scales.

=Wood=.—Strong, heavy, close-grained, durable, light reddish brown with thin sapwood.

=Range=.—Maine and Minnesota to Florida and Texas.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Found in every county and in almost every locality except at high elevations.

=Habitat=.—Grows on many different types of soils and from moist bottom lands to the tops of dry ridges.

=Notes=.—The White Oak ranks as one of the most valuable timber trees. It is known to more persons than any of our other oaks, and is generally praised as a beautiful and useful tree.

POST OAK

=Quercus stellata=, Wang.

=Form=.—Height 50-75 feet, diameter 2-3 feet, trunk usually short; the crown rounded, with spreading branches.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, about 4-5 inches long, usually with five lobes, the middle pair largest but all short and broad; thick and leathery, nearly smooth above, covered beneath with dense grayish or yellowish stellate pubescence.

=Flowers=.—May; monoecious; the staminate on long drooping catkins; the pistillate short-stalked and woolly, with bright red stigmas.