Handbook of the Trees of New England Part 16

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, round-ovate, reddish-brown. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-7 inches long, 2-4 inches wide, delicately reddish-tinted and p.u.b.escent upon both sides when young; at maturity glabrous, light dull or glossy green above, paler and somewhat glaucous beneath, turning to various reds in autumn; outline obovate to oval; lobes 5-9; ascending, varying greatly in different trees; when few, short and wide-based, with comparatively shallow sinuses; when more in number, ovate-oblong, with deeper sinuses, or somewhat linear-oblong, with sinuses reaching nearly to midrib; apex of lobe rounded; base of leaf tapering; leafstalks short; stipules linear, soon falling. The leaves of this species are often persistent till spring, especially in young trees.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Appearing when the leaves are half grown; sterile catkins 2-3 inches long, with slender, usually p.u.b.escent thread; calyx yellow, p.u.b.escent; lobes 5-9, pointed: pistillate flowers sessile or short-peduncled, reddish, ovate-scaled.

=Fruit.=--Maturing in the autumn of the first year, single, or more frequently in pairs, sessile or peduncled: cup hemispherical to deep saucer-shaped, rather thin; scales rough-k.n.o.bby at base: acorn varying from 1/2 inch to an inch in length, oblong-ovoid: meat sweet and edible, said to be when boiled a good subst.i.tute for chestnuts.

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE x.x.xVII.--Quercus alba.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3-4. Sterile flower, front view.

5. Fertile flower, side view.

6. Fruiting branch.

7-8. Variant leaves.

=Quercus stellata, w.a.n.g.=

_Q. obtusiloba, Michx. Q. minor, Sarg_.

POST OAK. BOX WHITE OAK.

=Habitat and Range.=

Doubtfully reported from southern Ontario.

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

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

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

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

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

=Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, connecting thread woolly; calyx 4-8 parted, lobes acute, densely p.u.b.escent, yellow; stamens 4-8, _anthers with scattered hairs_: pistillate flowers single or in cl.u.s.ters of 2, 3, or more, sessile or on a short stem; stigma red.

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

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE x.x.xVIII.--Quercus stellata.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Sterile flower, back view.

4. Sterile flower, front view.

5. Fertile flower.

6. Fruiting branch.

=Quercus macrocarpa, Michx.=

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

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

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

Maine,--known only in the valleys of the middle Pen.o.bscot (Orono) and the Kennebec (Winslow, Waterville); Vermont,--lowlands about Lake Champlain, especially in Addison county, not common; Ma.s.sachusetts,--valley of the Ware river (Worcester county), Stockbridge and towns south along the Housatonic river (Berks.h.i.+re county); Rhode Island,--no station reported; Connecticut,--probably introduced in central and eastern sections, possibly native near the northern border.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE x.x.xIX.--Quercus macrocarpa.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Sterile flower, back view.

4. Sterile flower, front view.

5. Fertile flowers.

6. Fruiting branch.

=Quercus bicolor, Willd.=

_Quercus platanoides, Sudw._

SWAMP WHITE OAK.

=Habitat and Range.=--In deep, rich soil; low, moist, fertile grounds, bordering swamps and along streams.

Quebec to Ontario, where it is known as the blue oak.

Maine,--York county; New Hamps.h.i.+re,--Merrimac valley as far as the mouth of the Souhegan, and probably throughout Rockingham county; Vermont,--low grounds about Lake Champlain; Ma.s.sachusetts,--frequent in the western and central sections, common eastward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--common.