Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/570

 556 OAK the falcate or scythe-shaped lobes of its leaves, which are grayish or yellowish-downy beneath ; it is found in dry localities from New Jersey to Florida and to Illinois ; when growing alone it is very handsome, sometimes 80 ft. high; its wood is porous and unfit for barrels to con- tain liquids, but is sometimes used for felloes ; its bark is valuable for tanning, and is said to color the leather less than that of any other oak. The remainder of this group have their much-lobed, usually ovate leaves smooth on both sides, and turning some shade of red in autumn. The Turkey or pine-barrens scrub oak (Q. Catesbmi) grows in North Carolina and southward, on land too poor to sustain any other vegetation : it has thicker leaves than any oth- ers of this group, and a thick cup with coarse scales ; it is small and of no value save for fuel. The scarlet oak (Q. coccinea) is one of the commonest species, and is found, usually in dry soil, over a wide range from north to south ; it is, except northward, large and handsome, with leaves deeply pinnatifid, and the lobes often toothed, bright green, shining, and in autumn turning to a beautiful scarlet ; the acorn is about three fourths of an inch long, more than half covered by the coarsely scaly cup ; the scar of Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea). the acorn within the cup as well as its flesh is white or yellowish. The black, quercitron, or yellow-barked oak, formerly regarded as a spe- cies, is now placed as var. tinctoria of the pre- ceding. Although extreme forms are readily distinguished by differences in the leaves and fruit, yet in many cases it is impossible to de- cide whether a specimen is a scarlet or a black oak without cutting into the bark, which in the latter is much thicker, and orange-colored within ; the kernel of the acorn is yellowish, and its seat within the cup is orange-colored ; in autumn the foliage turns a rich yellowish brown, russet, orange, or dull red. While the wood of the species is of little value even for fuel, that of the variety is second only to white oak, and much used by ship builders and wagon makers. The bark contains much tannin and an abundant coloring matter ; it is valuable for tanning and dyeing, for which use large quan- tities are yearly exported. (See QUERCITRON.) There are other forms of the scarlet oak, prob-r ably hybrids. The red oak (Q. rubra) has an equally wide range with the scarlet and black oaks, and extends further north than any other ; it has less deeply lobed leaves, which turn to a dark red before they fall, and the acorn cup is broader and shallower. Its wood is of little value for timber or fuel, but the tree itself is very ornamental. In the states on the Pacific coast each of the groups here mentioned is represented either by species peculiar to those regions, or by forms so like the eastern species that botanists regard them as varieties ; the oaks there are even more variable than those of the Atlantic coast, and as each botanist who has studied them has come to different con- clusions from his predecessors, the subject is somewhat confused, and only a few of the more striking species will be mentioned. Gar- ry's oak {Q. Garry ana) is found from Wash- ington territory southward to California, vary- ing in height from 30 to 80 ft. ; it belongs to the same group with the white oaks, and has the under side of the leaves covered with a dense dingy down ; it branches low down, and at a distance a grove of it looks like an apple orchard; this is one of the species of which the nuts are gathered for food by the Indians, and its wood is considered nearly equal to that of the white oak for ship building. Another of the white oak group is Q. lobata, given in the various reports as Q. Hindsii, though the former is the older name ; this is regarded as the finest species on the Pacific coast, and one of the most abundant ; it has a thick and rough bark, leaves shaped much like those of our white oak, and acorns often 2 in. long and pointed, but varying in this respect. It often reaches a diameter of 6 to 8 ft. and a height of 50 to 75 ft., with wide-spreading branches ; the wood is brittle and porous, and the nut edible. Douglas's oak (Q. Douglasii) is small- er, but very difficult to distinguish from some forms of the preceding. The chestnut oak of California is Q. densiflora, and an evergreen ; it is a small handsome tree of the foot hills south of San Francisco ; its foliage is very vari- able, being sometimes entire, but often toothed like that of the chestnut, its resemblance to that tree being carried out in the acorn cup, which is densely covered with long spreading scales and appears much like a chestnut burr. Another evergreen species is Q. clirysolepis, which upon the Sierra Nevada is a mere shrub, but on the foot hills is 40 ft. high, with usual- ly entire leaves, yellowish downy beneath ; the acorn is about an inch long, with a remarkably thick and velvety cup, on account of which Torrey called it Q. crassipocula, and from its yellowish pubescence it was named Q.fulvescens by Kellogg, both of which names are more