Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) 2nd ed. (part 3 of 6)

Manual of the Trees of North America (Exclusive of Mexico) 2nd ed. (part 3 of 6)

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.).

Section 2. Flowers unisexual (usually perfect in Ulmus); calyx regular; stamens as many as its lobes and opposite them; ovary superior, 1-celled (rarely 2-celled in Ulmus); seed 1.

XI. ULMACEÆ.

Trees, with watery juice, scaly buds, terete branchlets prolonged by an upper lateral bud, and alternate simple serrate pinnately veined deciduous stalked 2-ranked leaves unequal and often oblique at base, conduplicate in the bud, their stipules usually fugaceous. Flowers perfect or monœciously polygamous, clustered, or the pistillate sometimes solitary; calyx 4—9-parted or lobed; stamens 4—6; filaments straight; anthers introrse, 2-celled, opening longitudinally; ovary usually 1-celled; ovule solitary, suspended from the apex of the cell, anatropous or amphitropous; styles 2. Fruit a samara, nut, or drupe; albumen little or none; embryo straight or curved; cotyledons usually flat or conduplicate. Five of the thirteen genera of the Elm family occur in North America. Of these four are represented by trees.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.

Fruit a dry samara, or nut-like. Flowers perfect; fruit a samara. 1. Ulmus. Flowers polygamo-monœcious; fruit nut-like, tuberculate. 2. Planera. Fruit drupaceous. Pistillate flowers usually solitary. 3. Celtis. Pistillate flowers in dichotomous cymes. 4. Trema.

1. ULMUS L. Elm.

Trees, or rarely shrubs, with deeply furrowed bark, branchlets often furnished with corky wings, and buds with numerous ovate rounded chestnut-brown scales closely imbricated in two ranks, increasing in size from without inward, the inner accrescent, replacing the stipules of the first leaves, deciduous, marking the base of the branchlet with persistent ring-like scars. Leaves simply or doubly serrate; stipules linear, lanceolate to obovate, entire, free or connate at base, scarious, inclosing the leaf in the bud, caducous. Flowers from axillary buds near the ends of the branches similar to but larger than the leaf-buds, the outer scales sterile, the inner bearing flowers and rarely leaves. Flowers perfect, jointed on slender bibracteolate pedicels from the axils of linear acute scarious bracts, in pedunculate or subsessile fascicles or cymes sometimes becoming racemose, appearing in early spring before the leaves in the axils of those of the previous year, or autumnal in the axils of leaves of the year; calyx campanulate, 5—9-lobed, membranaceous, marcescent; stamens 5 or 6 inserted under the ovary; filaments filiform or slightly flattened, erect in the bud, becoming exserted; anthers oblong, emarginate, and subcordate; ovary sessile or stipitate, compressed, crowned by a simple deeply 2-lobed style, the spreading lobes papillo-stigmatic on the inner face, usually 1-celled by abortion, rarely 2-celled; ovule amphitropous; micropyle extrorse, superior. Fruit an ovoid or oblong, often oblique, sessile or stipitate samara surrounded at base by the remnants of the calyx, the seminal cavity compressed, slightly thickened on the margin, chartaceous, produced into a thin reticulate-venulose membranaceous light brown broad or rarely narrow wing naked or ciliate on the margin, tipped with the remnants of the persistent style, or more or less deeply notched at apex, and often marked by the thickened line of the union of the two carpels. Seed ovoid, compressed, without albumen, marked on the ventral edge by the thin raphe; testa membranaceous, light or dark chestnut-brown, of two coats, rarely produced into a narrow wing; embryo erect; cotyledons flat or slightly convex, much longer than the superior radicle turned toward the oblong linear pale hilum.

Ulmus, with eighteen or twenty species, is widely distributed through the boreal and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with the exception of western North America, reaching in the New World the mountains of southern Mexico and in the Old World the Sikkim Himalaya, western China, and Japan. Of the exotic species, Ulmus procera Salisb., the so-called English Elm, and Ulmus glabra, Huds., the Scotch Elm, and several of its varieties, have been largely planted for shade and ornament in the north Atlantic states, where old and large specimens of the former can be seen, especially in the neighborhood of Boston.

Ulmus produces heavy, hard, tough, light-colored wood, often difficult to split. The tough inner bark of some of the species is made into ropes or woven into coarse cloth, and in northern China nourishing mucilaginous food is prepared from the inner bark.

Ulmus is the classical name of the Elm-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Flowers vernal, appearing before the leaves. Flowers on slender drooping pedicels; fruit ciliate on the margins. Wing of the fruit broad. Bud-scales and fruit glabrous; branchlets destitute of corky wings; leaves obovate-oblong to elliptic, usually smooth on the upper, soft-pubescent on the lower surface. 1. U. americana (A, C). Bud-scales puberulous; branches often furnished with corky wings; fruit hirsute; leaves obovate to oblong, smooth on the upper, soft-pubescent on the lower surface. 2. U. racemosa (A). Wing of the fruit narrow; bud-scales glabrous or slightly puberulous; branchlets usually furnished with broad corky wings; fruit hirsute, leaves ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, smooth on the upper, soft-pubescent on the lower surface. 3. U. alata (A, C). Flowers on short pedicels; fruit naked on the margins; bud-scales coated with rusty hairs; fruit pubescent; leaves ovate-oblong, scabrous on the upper, pubescent on the lower surface. 4. U. fulva (A, C). Flowers autumnal, appearing in the axils of leaves of the year; branchlets furnished with corky wings; fruit hirsute. Bud-scales puberulous; flowers on short pedicels; leaves ovate, scabrous on the upper, soft-pubescent on the lower surface. 5. U. crassifolia (C). Bud-scales glabrous; flowers on long pedicels; leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, acuminate, glabrous on the upper, pale and puberulous on the lower surface. 6. U. serotina (C).

1. Ulmus americana L. White Elm.

Leaves obovate-oblong to elliptic, abruptly narrowed at apex into a long point, full and rounded at base on one side and shorter and cuneate on the other, coarsely doubly serrate with slightly incurved teeth, when they unfold coated below with pale pubescence and pilose above with long scattered white hairs, at maturity 4′—6′ long, 1′—3′ wide, dark green and glabrous or scabrate above, pale and soft-pubescent or sometimes glabrous below, with a narrow pale midrib and numerous slender straight primary veins running to the points of the teeth and connected by fine cross veinlets; turning bright clear yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles stout, ¼′ in length; stipules linear-lanceolate, ½′—2′ long. Flowers on long slender drooping pedicels sometimes 1′ in length, in 3 or 4-flowered short-stalked fascicles; calyx irregularly divided into 7—9 rounded lobes ciliate on the margins, often somewhat oblique, puberulous on the outer surface, green tinged with red above the middle; anthers bright red; ovary light green, ciliate on the margins with long white hairs; styles light green. Fruit on long pedicels in crowded clusters, ripening as the leaves unfold, ovoid to obovoid-oblong, slightly stipitate, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, ½′ long, ciliate on the margins, the sharp points of the wings incurved and inclosing the deep notch.

A tree, sometimes 100°—120° high, with a tall trunk 6°—11° in diameter, frequently enlarged at the base by great buttresses, occasionally rising with a straight undivided shaft to the height of 60°—80° and separating into short spreading branches, more commonly divided 30°—40° from the ground into numerous upright limbs gradually spreading and forming an inversely conic round-topped head of long graceful branches, often 100° or rarely 150° in diameter, and slender branchlets frequently fringing the trunk and its principal divisions, light green and coated at first with soft pale pubescence, becoming in their first winter light reddish brown, glabrous or sometimes puberulous and marked by scattered pale lenticels, and by large elevated semiorbicular leaf-scars showing the ends of three large equidistant fibro-vascular bundles, later becoming dark reddish brown and finally ashy gray. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, slightly flattened, about ⅛′ long, with broadly ovate rounded light chestnut-brown glabrous scales, the inner bright green, ovate, acute, becoming on vigorous shoots often nearly 1′ in length. Bark 1′—1½′ thick, ashy gray, divided by deep fissures into broad ridges separating on the surface into thin appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, difficult to split, coarse-grained, light brown, with thick somewhat lighter colored sapwood; largely used for the hubs of wheels, saddle-trees, in flooring and cooperage, and in boat and shipbuilding.

Distribution. River-bottom lands, intervales, low rich hills, and the banks of streams; southern Newfoundland to the northern shores of Lake Superior and the headwaters of the Saskatchewan, southward to the neighborhood of Lake Istokpoga, De Soto County, Florida, westward in the United States to the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota, the Black Hills of South Dakota, western Nebraska, central Kansas and Oklahoma, and the valley of the upper Colorado River (Fort Chadbourne, Coke County), Texas; very common northward, less abundant and of smaller size southward; abundant on the banks of streams flowing through the midcontinental plateau.

Largely planted as an ornamental and shade tree in the northern states, and rarely in western and northern Europe.

2. Ulmus racemosa Thomas. Rock Elm. Cork Elm.

Ulmus Thomasii Sarg.

Leaves obovate to oblong-oval, rather abruptly narrowed at apex into a short broad point, equally or somewhat unequally rounded, cuneate or subcordate at base, and coarsely doubly serrate, when they unfold pilose on the upper surface and covered on the lower with soft white hairs, at maturity 2′—2½′ long, ¾′—1′ wide, thick and firm, smooth, dark green and lustrous above, paler and soft-pubescent below, especially on the stout midrib and the numerous straight veins running to the point of the teeth and connected by obscure cross veinlets; turning in the autumn bright clear yellow; petioles pubescent, about ¼′ in length; stipules ovate-lanceolate, conspicuously veined, light green, marked with dark red on the margins above the middle, ⅔′ long, clasping the stem by their abruptly enlarged cordate base conspicuously dentate with 1—3 prominent teeth on each side, falling when the leaves are half grown. Flowers on elongated slender drooping pedicels often ½′ long, in 2—4, usually in 3-flowered, puberulous cymes becoming more or less racemose by the lengthening of the axis of the inflorescence, and when fully grown sometimes 2′ in length; calyx green, divided nearly to the middle into 7 or 8 rounded dark red scarious lobes; anthers dark purple; ovary coated with long pale hairs most abundant on the margins; styles light green. Fruit ripening when the leaves are about half grown, ovoid or obovoid-oblong, ½′ long, with a shallow open notch at the apex, obscurely veined, pale pubescent, ciliate on the slightly thickened border of the broad wing, the margin of the seminal cavity scarcely thickened.

A tree, 80°—100° high, with a trunk occasionally 3° in diameter, and often free of branches for 60°, short stout spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender rigid branchlets, light brown when they first appear, and coated with soft pale pubescence often persistent until their second season, becoming light reddish brown, puberulous or glabrous and lustrous in their first winter, and marked by scattered oblong lenticels and large orbicular or semiorbicular leaf-scars displaying an irregular row of 4—6 fibro-vascular bundle-scars, ultimately dark brown or ashy gray, and usually furnished with 3 or 4 thick corky irregular wings often ½′ broad, and beginning to appear in their first or more often during their second year. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ¼′ long, with broadly ovate rounded chestnut-brown scales pilose on the outer surface, ciliate on the margins, the inner scales becoming ovate-oblong to lanceolate, and ½′ long, often dentate at the base, with 1 or 2 minute teeth on each side, bright green below the middle, marked with a red blotch above, and white and scarious at the apex. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, gray tinged with red, and deeply divided by wide irregular interrupted fissures into broad flat ridges broken on the surface into large irregularly shaped scales. Wood heavy, hard, very strong and tough, close-grained, light clear brown often tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; largely employed in the manufacture of many agricultural implements, for the framework of chairs, hubs of wheels, railway-ties, the sills of buildings, and other purposes demanding toughness, solidity and flexibility.

Distribution. Dry gravelly uplands, low heavy clay soils, rocky slopes and river cliffs; Province of Quebec westward through Ontario, the southern peninsula of Michigan and central Wisconsin to northeastern Nebraska, western Missouri and eastern Kansas, and southward to northern New Hampshire, southern Vermont, western New York, (valley of the Genesee River), northern New Jersey, southern Ohio (near Columbus, Franklin County), and central Indiana; rare in the east and toward the extreme western and southern limits of its range.

Occasionally planted as a shade and ornamental tree in the northern states.

3. Ulmus alata Michx. Wahoo. Winged Elm.

Leaves ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, often somewhat falcate, acute or acuminate, unequally cuneate or rounded or subcordate at base, and coarsely doubly serrate with incurved teeth, when they unfold pale green often tinged with red, coated on the lower surface with soft white pubescence and glabrous or nearly so on the upper surface, at maturity thick and firm or subcoriaceous, dark green and smooth above, pale and soft-pubescent below, especially on the stout yellow midrib and numerous straight prominent veins often forked near the margins of the leaf and connected by rather conspicuous reticulate veinlets; turning yellow in the autumn; their petioles stout, pubescent, ⅓′ in length; stipules linear-obovate, thin and scarious, tinged with red above the middle, often nearly 1′ long. Flowers on drooping pedicels, in short few-flowered fascicles; calyx glabrous and divided nearly to the middle into 5 broad ovate rounded lobes as long as the hoary-tomentose ovary raised on a short slender stipe. Fruit ripening before or with the unfolding of the leaves, oblong, ⅓′ in length, contracted at base into a long slender stalk, gradually narrowed and tipped at apex with long incurved awns, and covered with long white hairs most numerous on the thickened margin of the narrow wing; seed ovoid, pointed, ⅛′ long, pale, chestnut-brown, slightly thickened into a narrow wing-like margin.

A tree, occasionally 80°—100° but usually not more than 40°—50° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, short stout straight or erect branches forming a narrow oblong rather open round-topped head, and slender branchlets glabrous or puberulous and light green tinged with red when they first appear, becoming light reddish brown or ashy gray and glabrous, or on vigorous individuals frequently pilose in their first winter, marked by occasional small orange-colored lenticels and by small elevated horizontal semiorbicular leaf-scars, sometimes naked, more often furnished with usually 2 thin corky wings beginning to grow during their first or more often during their second season, abruptly arrested at the nodes, often ½′ wide, and persistent for many years. Winter-buds slender, acute, ⅛′ long, dark chestnut-brown, with glabrous or puberulous scales, those of the inner ranks becoming oblong or obovate, rounded and tipped with a minute mucro, thin and scarious, light red, especially above the middle, and ½′ long. Bark rarely exceeding ¼′ in thickness, light brown tinged with red, and divided by irregular shallow fissures into flat ridges covered by small closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, close-grained, difficult to split, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood; sometimes employed for the hubs of wheels and the handles of tools. Ropes used for fastening the covers of cotton bales are sometimes made from the inner bark.

Distribution. Usually on dry gravelly uplands, less commonly in alluvial soil on the borders of swamps and the banks of streams, and occasionally in inundated swamps; southeastern Virginia, southwestern Indiana, southern Illinois (Richland and Johnson Counties) and southern Missouri, and southward to central Florida (Lake County), and the valley of the Guadalupe River, Texas; ranging westward in Oklahoma to Garfield County (near Kingfisher, G. W. Stevens).

Often planted as a shade-tree in the streets of towns and villages of the southern states.

4. Ulmus fulva Michx. Slippery Elm. Red Elm.

Leaves ovate-oblong, abruptly contracted into a long slender point, rounded at base on one side and short-oblique on the other, and coarsely doubly serrate with incurved callous-tipped teeth, when they unfold thin, coated below with pale pubescence, pilose above with scattered white hairs, at maturity thick and firm, dark green and rugose with crowded sharp-pointed tubercles pointing toward the apex of the leaf above, soft, smooth, and coated below, especially on the thin midrib and in the axils of the slender straight veins with white hairs, 5′—7′ long, 2′—3′ wide; turning a dull yellow color in the autumn; petioles stout, pubescent, ⅓′ in length; stipules obovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, thin and scarious, pale-pubescent, and tipped with clusters of rusty brown hairs. Flowers on short pedicels, in crowded fascicles; calyx green, covered with pale hairs, divided into 5—9 short rounded thin equal lobes; stamens with slender light yellow slightly flattened filaments and dark red anthers; stigmas slightly exserted, reddish purple, papillose with soft white hairs. Fruit ripening when the leaves are about half grown, semiorbicular, rounded and bearing the remnants of the styles or slightly emarginate at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, ½′ broad, the seminal cavity coated with thick rusty brown tomentum, the broad thin wing obscurely reticulate-veined, naked on the thickened margin, and marked by the dark conspicuous horizontal line of union of the two carpels; seed ovoid, with a large oblique pale hilum, a light chestnut-brown coat produced into a thin border wider below than above the middle of the seed.

A tree, 60°—70° high, with a trunk occasionally 2° in diameter, spreading branches forming a broad open flat-topped head, and stout branchlets bright green, scabrate, and coated with soft pale pubescence when they first appear, becoming light brown by midsummer, often roughened by small pale lenticels, and in their first winter ashy gray, orange color or light red-brown, and marked by large elevated semiorbicular leaf-scars showing the ends of 3 conspicuous equidistant fibro-vascular bundles, ultimately dark gray or brown. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, ¼′ long, with about 12 scales, the outer broadly ovate, rounded, dark chestnut-brown, and covered by long scattered rusty hairs, the inner when fully grown ½′ long, ⅛′—¼′ wide, light green, strap-shaped, rounded and tipped at the apex with tufts of rusty hairs, puberulous on the outer surface, slightly ciliate on the margins, gradually growing narrower and passing into the stipules of the upper leaves. Bark frequently 1′ thick, dark brown tinged with red, divided by shallow fissures and covered by large thick appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, very close-grained, durable, easy to split, dark brown or red, with thin lighter colored sapwood; largely used for fence-posts, railway-ties, the sills of buildings, the hubs of wheels, and in agricultural implements. The thick fragrant inner bark is mucilaginous and demulcent, and is employed in the treatment of acute febrile and inflammatory affections.

Distribution. Banks of streams and low rocky hillsides in deep rich soil; comparatively common in the valley of the St. Lawrence River, Province of Quebec, and through Ontario to northern and eastern South Dakota, northeastern and eastern Nebraska, southeastern Kansas, and Oklahoma to the valley of the Canadian River (McClain County), and southward to western Florida, central Alabama and Mississippi, western Louisiana and the valley of the upper Guadalupe (Kerr County) and Leon Rivers (Comal County), Texas; in the South Atlantic states not common and mostly confined to the middle districts, ascending to altitudes of 2000° on the southern Appalachian foothills.

5. Ulmus crassifolia Nutt. Cedar Elm.

Leaves elliptic to ovate, acute or rounded at apex, unequally rounded or cuneate and often oblique at base, coarsely and unequally doubly serrate with callous-tipped teeth, when they unfold thin, light green tinged with red, pilose above and covered below with soft pale pubescence, at maturity thick and subcoriaceous, dark green, lustrous and roughened by crowded minute sharp-pointed tubercles on the upper surface and soft pubescent on the lower surface, 1′—2′ long, ½′—1′ wide, with a stout yellow midrib, and prominent straight veins connected by conspicuous more or less reticulate cross veinlets; usually turning bright yellow late in the autumn; petioles stout, tomentose, ¼′—½′ in length; stipules ½′ long, linear-lanceolate, red and scarious above, clasping the stem by their green and hairy bases, deciduous when the leaves are about half grown. Flowers usually opening in August and sometimes also in October, on slender pedicels ⅓′—½′ long and covered with white hairs, in 3—5-flowered pedunculate fascicles; calyx divided to below the middle into oblong pointed lobes hairy at base; ovary hirsute, crowned with two short slightly exserted stigmas. Fruit ripening in September and rarely also in November, oblong, gradually and often irregularly narrowed from the middle to the ends, short-stalked, deeply notched at apex, ⅓′ to nearly ½′ long, covered with soft white hairs, most abundant on the slightly thickened margin of the broad wing; seed oblique, pointed, and covered by a dark chestnut-brown coat.

A tree, often 80° high, with a tall straight trunk 2°—3° in diameter, sometimes free of branches for 30° or 40°, divided into numerous stout spreading limbs forming a broad inversely conic round-topped head of long pendulous branches, or while young or on dry uplands a compact round head of drooping branches, and slender branchlets, tinged with red and coated with soft pale pubescence when they first appear, becoming light reddish brown, puberulous and marked by scattered minute lenticels and by small elevated semiorbicular leaf-scars showing the ends of 3 small fibro-vascular bundles, and furnished with 2 corky wings covered with lustrous brown bark, about ¼′ broad and continuous except when abruptly interrupted by lateral branchlets, or often irregularly developed. Winter-buds broadly ovoid, acute, ⅛′ long, with closely imbricated chestnut-brown scales slightly puberulous on the outer surface, those of the inner ranks at maturity oblong, concave, rounded at apex, thin, bright red, sometimes ¾′ long. Bark sometimes nearly 1′ thick, light brown slightly tinged with red, and deeply divided by interrupted fissures into broad flat ridges broken on the surface into thick scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, brittle, light brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; in central Texas used in the manufacture of the hubs of wheels, for furniture, and largely for fencing.

Distribution. Valley of the Sunflower River, Mississippi (Morehead, Sunflower County), through southern Arkansas, and Texas to Nuevo Leon, ranging in western Texas from the coast to the valley of the Pecos River; in Arkansas usually on river cliffs and low hillsides, and in Texas near streams in deep alluvial soil and on dry limestone hills; the common Elm-tree of Texas and of its largest size on the bottom-lands of the Guadalupe and Trinity Rivers.

Occasionally planted as a shade-tree in the streets of the cities and towns of Texas.

6. Ulmus serotina Sarg. Red Elm.

Leaves oblong to oblong-obovate, acuminate, very oblique at base, coarsely and doubly crenulate-serrate, when they unfold coated below with shining white hairs and puberulous above, at maturity thin and firm in texture, yellow-green, glabrous and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and puberulous on the midrib and principal veins below, 2′—4′ long, 1′—1¾′ wide, with a prominent yellow midrib, about 20 pairs of primary veins extending obliquely to the points of the teeth and often forked near the margins of the leaf, and numerous reticular veinlets; turning clear orange-yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, about ¼′ in length; stipules abruptly narrowed from broad clasping bases, linear-lanceolate, usually about ¼′ long, persistent until the leaves are nearly fully grown. Flowers opening in September on slender conspicuously jointed pedicels often ⅛′ long, in many-flowered glabrous racemes from 1′—1½′ in length; calyx 6-parted to the base, with oblong-obovate red-brown divisions rounded at apex; ovary sessile, narrowed below, villose. Fruit ripening early in November, stipitate, oblong-elliptic, deeply divided at apex, fringed on the margins with long silvery white hairs, about ½′ long.

A tree, 50°—60° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, comparatively small spreading or pendulous branches often forming a broad handsome head, and slender pendulous branchlets glabrous or occasionally puberulous when they first appear, brown, lustrous, and marked by occasional oblong white lenticels during their first year, becoming darker the following season and ultimately dark gray-brown, and often furnished with 2 or 3 thick corky wings developed during their second or third years. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, ¼′ long, their outer scales oblong-obovate, dark chestnut-brown, glabrous, the inner often scarious on the margins, pale yellow-green, lustrous and sometimes ¾′ long when fully grown. Bark ¼′—⅜′ thick, light brown slightly tinged with red, and divided by shallow fissures into broad flat ridges broken on the surface into large thin closely appressed scales. Wood hard, close-grained, very strong and tough, light red-brown, with pale yellow sapwood.

Distribution. Limestone hills and river banks; rare and local; eastern (near Pikeville, Pike County) and southern Kentucky (Bowling Green, Warren County); banks of the Cumberland River, near Clarksville and Nashville, Tennessee; northeastern Georgia (cliffs of the Coosa River, near Rome, Floyd County); northern Alabama (Madison, Jefferson and Tuscaloosa Counties); valley of the Arkansas River (near Van Buren, Crawford County, G. M. Brown) and northwestern Arkansas (Sulphur Springs, Benton County, and Boston Mountains near Jasper, Newton County, E. J. Palmer); eastern Oklahoma (near Muskogee, Muskogee County, B. H. Slavin); southwestern (Grand Tower, Jackson County, H. A. Gleason) and southern Illinois (Richland County, R. Ridgway).

Occasionally planted as a shade-tree in the streets of cities in northern Georgia and northern Alabama; hardy in Eastern Massachusetts.

2. PLANERA Gmel.

A tree, with scaly puberulous branchlets roughened by scattered pale lenticels, and at the end of their first season by small nearly orbicular leaf-scars marked by a row of fibro-vascular bundle-scars, minute subglobose winter-buds covered by numerous thin closely imbricated chestnut-brown scales, the outer more or less scarious on the margins, the inner accrescent, becoming at maturity ovate-oblong, scarious, bright red, ⅓′—½′ long, marking in falling the base of the branchlet with pale ring-like scars. Leaves alternate, 2-ranked, ovate-oblong, acute or rounded at the narrowed apex, unequally cuneate or rounded at base, coarsely crenately serrate with unequal gland-tipped teeth, with numerous straight conspicuous veins forked near the margin and connected by cross reticulate veinlets more conspicuous below than above, when they unfold puberulous on the lower and pilose on the upper surface, at maturity thick or subcoriaceous and scabrate; petiolate with slender terete puberulous petioles; stipules lateral, free, ovate, scarious, bright red. Flowers polygamo-monœcious, the staminate fascicled in the axils of the outer scales of leaf-bearing buds, short-pedicellate, the pistillate or perfect on elongated puberulous pedicels in the axils of the leaves of the year in 1—3-flowered fascicles; pedicels without bracts; calyx campanulate, divided nearly to the base into 4 or 5 lobes rounded at apex, greenish yellow often tinged with red; stamens inserted under the ovary in the pistillate flower, sometimes few or 0; filaments filiform, erect, exserted; anthers broadly ovate, emarginate, cordate; ovary ovoid, stipitate, glandular-tuberculate, narrowed into a short style divided into 2 elongated reflexed stigmas papillo-stigmatic on the inner face, 0 in the staminate flower; ovule anatropous; micropyle extrorse, superior. Fruit an oblong oblique drupe, narrowed below into a short stipe, inclosed at the base by the withered calyx, crowned by the remnants of the style, its pericarp crustaceous, prominently ribbed on the anterior and posterior faces, irregularly tuberculate with elongated projections, and light chestnut-brown; seed ovoid, oblique, pointed at apex, rounded below, without albumen; testa thin, lustrous, dark brown or nearly black, of two coats; raphe inconspicuous; embryo erect; cotyledons thick, unequal, bright orange color, the apex of the larger hooded and slightly infolding the smaller, much longer than the minute radicle turned toward the linear pale hilum.

The genus is represented by a single species.

The generic name is in memory of Johann Jacob Planer, a German botanist and physician of the eighteenth century.

1. Planera aquatica Gmel. Water Elm.

Leaves 2′—2½′ long, ¾′—1′ wide, on petioles varying from ⅛′—¼′ in length, dark dull green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, with a yellow midrib and veins. Flowers appearing with the leaves. Fruit ripening in April, ⅓′ long.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a short trunk rarely exceeding 20′ in diameter, rather slender spreading branches forming a low broad head, and branchlets brown tinged with red when they first appear, dark red in their first winter, and ultimately reddish brown or ashy gray. Bark about ¼′ thick, light brown or gray, separating into large scales disclosing in falling the red-brown inner bark. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, light brown, with thick nearly white sapwood of 20—30 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Swamps covered with water during several months of the year, or low river banks; valley of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, southward to northern Florida (Bradford County) and westward usually not far from the coast through the Gulf states to the valleys of the Navasota (Brazos County) and of the Colorado (Matagorda County) Rivers, Texas, and northward through western Louisiana, eastern Oklahoma, and Arkansas to southeastern Missouri, northeastern Mississippi (near Iuka, Tishomingo County, T. G. Harbison), northern Kentucky (Henderson County), and the valley of the lower Wabash River, Illinois; comparatively rare and confined to the coast plain in the Atlantic states; abundant and of its largest size in western Louisiana and southern Arkansas.

3. CELTIS L.

Trees or shrubs, with thin, smooth often more or less muricate bark, unarmed or spinose branchlets, and scaly buds. Leaves serrate or entire, 3-nerved in one species, membranaceous or subcoriaceous, deciduous; stipules lateral, free, usually scarious, inclosing their leaf in the bud, caducous. Flowers polygamo-monœcious or rarely monœcious, appearing soon after the unfolding of the leaves, minute, pedicellate, on branches of the year, the staminate cymose or fascicled at their base, the pistillate solitary or in few-flowered fascicles from the axils of upper leaves; calyx divided nearly to the base into 4 or 5 lobes, greenish yellow, deciduous; stamens inserted on the margin of the discoid torus; filaments subulate, incurved in the bud, those of the sterile flower straightening themselves abruptly and becoming erect and exserted, shorter and remaining incurved in the perfect flower; anthers ovoid, attached on the back just above the emarginate base; ovary ovoid, sessile, green and lustrous, crowned with a short sessile style divided into diverging elongated reflexed acuminate entire lobes papillo-stigmatic on the inner face and mature before the anthers of the sterile flower, deciduous; minute and rudimentary in the staminate flower; ovule anatropous. Fruit an ovoid or globose drupe tipped with the remnants of the style, with thin flesh covered by a thick firm skin, and a thick-walled bony nutlet, reticulate-pitted in the American species. Seed filling the seminal cavity; albumen scanty, gelatinous, nearly inclosed between the folds of the cotyledons, or 0; testa membranaceous, of 2 confluent coats; chalaza colored, close to the minute hilum; embryo curved; cotyledons broad, foliaceous, conduplicate or rarely flat, variously folded, corrugate, incumbent, or inclosing the short superior ascending radicle.

Celtis is widely distributed through the temperate and tropical regions of the world, fifty or sixty species being distinguished.

Trees of the American species are often disfigured by gall-making insects which distort the buds and cause the production of dark broom-like clusters of short slender branchlets at the end of the branches.

Celtis was the classical name of a species of Lotus.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Fruit on pedicels much longer than the petioles. Leaves not covered below with conspicuous reticulate veinlets, green on both surfaces, smooth or rough above; fruit dark purple. 1. C. occidentalis. Leaves covered below with a network of prominent veinlets, usually rough above. Leaves pale on the lower surface. Leaves broadly ovate, obliquely rounded at base, coarsely serrate, glabrous or slightly pilose below along the midrib and veins; fruit light orange-brown, the pedicels often 3 or 4 times longer than the petioles. 2. C. Douglasii. Leaves oblong-ovate, mostly cordate or occasionally rounded at base, entire or slightly serrate toward the apex, covered below with pilose pubescence; fruit dark reddish brown, the pedicels usually not more than twice as long as the petioles. 3. C. Lindheimeri. Leaves green on the lower surface, broadly ovate, obliquely rounded at base, entire, pubescent along the midrib and veins below, rarely smooth on the upper surface; fruit dark orange-red, the pedicels usually not more than twice as long as the petioles. 4. C. reticulata. Fruit on pedicels shorter or only slightly longer than the petioles. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, long-acuminate, unsymmetrically cuneate at base, often falcate, entire or more or less serrate, smooth or rarely roughened on the upper surface; fruit orange color or yellow, the pedicels shorter or somewhat longer than the petioles. 5. C. laevigata. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, obliquely rounded at base, coarsely serrate or nearly entire, smooth or in var. georgiana roughened on the upper surface; fruit dark orange red, the pedicels usually shorter than the petioles. 6. C. pumila.

1. Celtis occidentalis L. Hackberry. Sugarberry.

Leaves ovate, short-acuminate or acute at apex, obliquely rounded at base, sharply serrate often only above the middle, thin, slightly pubescent below on the slender midrib and veins early in the season, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous, 2½′—3½′ long, 1½′—2′ wide; turning yellow late in the autumn; petioles slender, glabrous, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers on drooping pedicels; calyx divided usually into 5 linear acute thin and scarious lobes rounded on the back, more or less laciniately cut, and often furnished with a tuft of pale hairs at apex; torus hoary-tomentose. Fruit on stems ½′—¾′ long, ripening in September and October and often remaining on the branches during the winter, subglobose, ovoid or obovoid, dark purple, ⅓′ in diameter, with a thick tough skin, dark orange-colored flesh and a thick-walled oblong pointed light brown slightly rugose nutlet; seed pale brown.

A tree, rarely more than 40°—50° high with a trunk usually not more than 2° in diameter, spreading often pendulous branches forming a round-topped head, and slender ridged light brown glabrous branchlets marked by oblong pale lenticels, and by horizontal semioval or oblong leaf-scars showing the ends of three fibro-vascular bundles, becoming darker and in their second or third year often dark red-brown. Winter-buds ovoid, pointed, flattened, about ¼′ long, with three pairs of chestnut-brown ovate acute pubescent caducous scales closely imbricated in two ranks, increasing in size from without inward. Bark 1′—1½′ thick, smooth, dark brown, and more or less thickly covered and roughened by irregular, wart-like excrescences or by long ridges also found on the large branches. Wood heavy, rather soft, not strong, coarse-grained, clear light yellow, with thick lighter-colored sapwood; used for fencing and in the manufacture of cheap furniture.

Distribution. Rocky hills and ridges; New England (rare) to Virginia and westward to Iowa, eastern North Dakota, southwestern Missouri and northwestern Kansas.

Often planted in some of its forms as a shade and ornamental tree in the towns of the Mississippi valley and occasionally in the eastern states and in Europe.

Well distinguished by its large dark fruit, Celtis occidentalis is so variable in the shape of its leaves that two principal varieties are described as follows:

Celtis occidentalis var. canina Sarg. Hackberry.

Celtis canina Raf.

Leaves oblong-ovate, gradually narrowed into a long acuminate point, obliquely rounded or unsymmetrically cuneate at base, finely serrate, glabrous or rarely pilose along the midrib and veins below, 2½′—6′ long and ¾′—2½′ wide; petioles slender, glabrous or rarely pubescent, ½′—¾′ long.

A tree, often 80°—100° high; more common than the other forms of Celtis occidentalis.

Distribution. Rich wooded slopes and bottoms, or eastward on rocky ridges; Province of Quebec to eastern Nebraska, and southward to the coast of Massachusetts, western New York, southern Ohio, southern Indiana and Illinois, southwestern Missouri, southwestern Oklahoma (Snyder, Kiowa County), and in northwestern Georgia.

Celtis occidentalis var. crassifolia A. Gray. Hackberry.

Celtis crassifolia Lam.

Leaves thicker, long-acuminate, obliquely rounded at base, usually more coarsely serrate, rarely nearly entire, rough on the upper surface, pilose below along the prominent midrib and veins, 3½′—5′ long, 2′—2½′ wide, much smaller in the Rocky Mountain region; petioles villose-pubescent, rarely glabrous, ¼′—½′ in length, much shorter than the pubescent pedicels of the fruit.

A tree, 100°—120° high; with pubescent or glabrous branchlets; rarely shrubby. The most widely distributed form of Celtis occidentalis.

Distribution. Wooded slopes and rich bottoms; Virginia and along the Appalachian Mountains to North Carolina and westward to southern Minnesota, Missouri, central Kansas, eastern and northwestern Oklahoma, central Nebraska, North and South Dakota, cañons of the Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming, and northwestern Idaho, and southward to Dallas County, Alabama, and eastern Texas.

Often cultivated in towns of the Mississippi Valley and in western Europe, and occasionally in the eastern states.

2. Celtis Douglasii Plan. Hackberry.

Celtis rugulosa Rydb.

Leaves broadly ovate to oblong-ovate, acuminate, obliquely rounded or unsymmetrically subcordate at base, coarsely serrate, rough on the upper surface, pale and covered below with a network of reticulate veinlets inconspicuous early in the season, later becoming prominent, glabrous or sparingly pilose along the under side of the stout midrib and primary veins, 2′—2½′ long, 1′—2′ wide; petioles stout, slightly pubescent, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers on slender pubescent pedicels; calyx divided into five linear acute scarious lobes laciniately cut at apex; torus hoary-tomentose. Fruit on slender drooping slightly pubescent or glabrous pedicels, ⅓′—½′ in length, subglobose to ellipsoid, light orange-brown, lustrous, ⅓′ in diameter.

A small tree or shrub rarely more than 20′ high, with slender slightly pubescent or glabrous red-brown branchlets marked by small pale lenticels, becoming ashy gray in their second or third year. Bark rough, red-brown or gray.

Distribution. Dry hillsides and rocky river banks; eastern Oregon from the valley of the Deschutes and Columbia Rivers to the cañon of Snake River, Whitman County, Washington, and to Big Willow Creek, Cañon County, western Idaho; on the western foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, in the cañon of Grand River, and in Diamond Valley, Utah; southern California, near Independence, Inyo County, Hackberry Cañon, Kern County, and Things Valley at base of Laguna Mountain, near Campo, southern San Diego County; on Cedros Island, and in northern Lower California; rim of the Grand Cañon, Arizona, and on the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Occasionally planted in the towns of western Washington, and when cultivated said to grow in good soil into a larger and more shapely tree with thinner leaves.

3. Celtis Lindheimeri K. Koch. Palo Blanco.

Celtis Helleri Small.

Leaves oblong-ovate, acuminate or acute, cordate or obliquely cordate or rounded at base, entire, or crenately serrate on vigorous shoots, rough above, pale and clothed below with white hairs, becoming by midsummer thick and covered below with a conspicuous network of reticulate veinlets, 1½′—3′ long, ¾′—2′ wide; petioles densely villose-pubescent, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers opening toward the end of March on pubescent pedicels; calyx divided into five oblong scarious lobes narrowed and rounded at apex; torus tomentose. Fruit on slender tomentose stems ¼′—⅔′ long, ripening in September and persistent on the branches until spring, subglobose to ellipsoid, dark reddish brown, lustrous, ¼′ in diameter.

A tree, occasionally 30° high, with a trunk rarely more than 12′—18′ in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a broad open irregular head, and slender pubescent branchlets roughened by numerous small lenticels, becoming darker and glabrous in their second season. Bark of the trunk and large branches dark and covered with high thick wart-like excrescences and ridges. Wood not strong nor durable, of little value even for fuel.

Distribution. Rich bottom-lands and on low adjacent hills of streams flowing southward from the Edward’s Plateau (Goliad, San Antonio, New Braunfels, San Marcos) and near Austin, Travis County, Texas.

4. Celtis reticulata Torr. Hackberry.

Leaves broadly ovate, acute or acuminate, obliquely rounded at base, entire, thick, dark green and rough or rarely smooth on the upper surface, yellow-green and conspicuously reticulate-venulose and sparingly pilose along the prominent midrib and veins on the lower surface, 1¼′—3′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide; petioles stout, ⅛′—¼′ in length, more or less densely pubescent. Flowers not seen. Fruit on pubescent pedicels ⅓′—½′ in length, ripening in September, subglobose to ellipsoid, orange-red or yellow, lustrous, ¼′ in diameter.

A tree, rarely 30° high with stout ascending branches forming an open irregular head, and slender red-brown branchlets tomentose or pubescent early in their first season and pubescent or glabrous in their second year; or often a shrub. Bark thick and rough.

Distribution. Dry limestone hillsides, rocky ridges and cañon slopes, western Texas, from the valley of the upper Rio Frio, Uvalde County, to Oklahoma (Ozark region, near Page, Le Flore County to the southwestern borders of the state); in mountain ravines through southern New Mexico, and in southern central and northeastern Arizona.

A variety with more pubescent serrate leaves, those on vigorous shoots mostly cordate at base and covered above with short white hairs, is distinguished as var. vestita Sarg. A small tree with slender pubescent branchlets and a trunk 12′—15′ in diameter. In low ground, along the North Fork of the Canadian River, near Canton, Blaine County, Oklahoma.

5. Celtis laevigata K. Koch. Sugarberry. Hackberry.

Celtis mississippiensis Spach.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, long-pointed and acuminate at apex, unsymmetrically rounded or cuneate or obliquely cuneate at base, often falcate, entire or furnished with a few teeth near the apex or serrate (var. Smallii Sarg.), thin, smooth, glabrous or rarely rough above, light green on both surfaces, 2½′—5′ long and ¾′—1½′ wide, with a narrow yellow midrib, slender veins arcuate and united near the margins, and inconspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, glabrous, ¼′—½′ in length. Flowers on slender glabrous pedicels; calyx divided into five ovate-lanceolate glabrous or puberulous scarious lobes furnished at apex with tufts of long white hairs. Fruit on glabrous pedicels shorter or slightly longer than the petioles, ripening in September, short-oblong to ellipsoid or obovoid, orange-red or yellow, ¼′ in diameter; nutlet slightly rugose.

A tree, 60°—80° high, with a trunk 2°—3° in diameter, spreading or pendulous branches forming a broad head, and slender branchlets light green, glabrous or pubescent when they first appear, and during their first winter bright reddish brown, rather lustrous and marked by oblong pale lenticels and narrow elevated horizontal leaf-scars showing the ends of three fibro-vascular bundles; often much smaller. Winter-buds ovoid, pointed, 1/16′—⅛′ long, with chestnut-brown puberulous scales. Bark ½′—⅔′ thick, pale gray and covered with prominent excrescences. Wood soft, not strong, close-grained, light yellow, with thick lighter-colored sapwood; commercially confounded with the wood of Celtis occidentalis and its varieties, and used for the same purposes.

Distribution. Coast of Virginia to the Everglades Keys of southern Florida, through the Gulf states to the valley of the lower Rio Grande in Nuevo Leon, and through eastern Texas, Arkansas and Missouri to eastern Oklahoma to the valley of the Washita River (Zarvin County) and to Kiowa County, eastern Kansas, central Tennessee and Kentucky, and to southern Illinois and Indiana; in Bermuda.

Often planted as a shade and street tree in the valley of the Mississippi River and in Texas.

An arborescent form from the rocky banks of the Nueces River, western Texas, with shorter and thicker leaves is distinguished as var. brachyphylla Sarg.; and a small shrubby form with oblong-ovate cordate leaves and dark purplish fruit covered with a glaucous bloom, growing in deep sand in Callihan County, Texas, has been described as var. anomala Sarg. An Arizona form is

Celtis laevigata var. brevipes Sarg.

Celtis brevipes S. Wats.

Leaves ovate, acuminate, unsymmetrically rounded or cuneate at base, entire or rarely furnished with occasional teeth, glabrous, dark green and smooth on the upper surface, yellow-green on the lower surface, with small clusters of pale hairs in the axils of the slender veins, and inconspicuous reticulate veinlets, 1½′—2′ long, ¾′—1′ wide; petioles slender, puberulous, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Fruit on glabrous pedicels shorter or slightly longer than the petioles, short-oblong, canary yellow, about ¼′ long.

A small tree with slender glabrous red-brown branchlets.

Distribution. Central and southern Arizona.

More distinct is the common Celtis of western Texas which has been described as

Celtis laevigata var. texana Sarg.

Leaves ovate to lanceolate, acuminate, unsymmetrically rounded or cordate at base, entire or sparingly and irregularly serrate, often subcoriaceous, dark green, smooth and granulate or rarely rough above, green below, with a slender midrib and primary veins glabrous or sparingly villose-pubescent and furnished with small tufts of axillary hairs, and only slightly raised reticulate veinlets, 1½′—3′ long and ¾′—1½′ wide; petioles slender, pale pubescent, ⅕′—¼′ in length. Fruit on glabrous or puberulous pedicels slightly longer than the petioles, subglobose but rather longer than broad, dark orange-red, about ¼′ long.

An arborescent shrub or small tree rarely more than 25° high, with slender reddish glabrous or gray-brown pubescent branchlets; often growing in clusters. Bark rough, pale or grayish and not often covered with wart-like excrescences.

Distribution. Rocky bluffs near Dallas to New Braunfels, Texas, and westward to western Oklahoma, and southern New Mexico; in southwestern Missouri; in Tamaulipas and Coahuila, Mexico. The common Celtis of the Texas Panhandle.

A shrubby form from Nolan County, Texas, with red-brown branchlets densely pubescent in their first season, becoming puberulous during their second year, and smaller leaves with more prominent reticulate veinlets, on densely pubescent petioles, is distinguished as forma microphylla Sarg.

6. Celtis pumila Pursh.

This shrub of the eastern states is sometimes a small tree in its southern variety,

Celtis pumila var. georgiana Sarg.

Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, obliquely rounded at base, entire or sharply serrate, especially on vigorous leading shoots, thin, dark green and rough on the upper surface, pale and more or less pubescent or nearly glabrous along the midrib and veins below, 1½′—2½′ long and ¾′—1½′ wide; petioles slender, pubescent, ⅙′—¼′ in length. Flowers on pubescent pedicels; calyx divided into usually five lanceolate acuminate lobes; the disk pubescent. Fruit on pubescent pedicels as long or slightly longer than the petioles, subglobose, reddish purple, often covered with a glaucous bloom, ½′ in diameter; nutlet covered with conspicuous reticulate ridges.

A shrub or small tree occasionally 30° high, with slender dark red-brown pubescent branchlets, light red-brown and sometimes bright red-brown before the end of their first year.

Distribution. Piedmont region of North and South Carolina, central Georgia to western Florida; and Dallas County, Alabama; in southern Missouri, and southern Illinois.

4. TREMA Lour.

Unarmed trees and shrubs with watery juices and terete branchlets. Leaves alternate, often two-ranked, serrate, penniveined, three-nerved from the base, short-petiolate, persistent; stipules lateral, free, usually small, caducous. Flowers apetalous, small, monœcious, diœcious or rarely perfect, in axillary cymes; calyx five or rarely four-parted, the lobes induplicate, valvate or slightly imbricated in the bud, or in perfect flowers more or less concave and induplicate; stamens five or rarely four, opposite the calyx-lobes and inserted on their base, occasionally present in the pistillate flower; filaments short, erect; anthers oblong, attached on the back near the base, introrse, two-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary sessile, rudimentary or wanting in the staminate flower; style central, slightly or entirely divided into two linear fleshy stigmatic branches; ovule solitary, pendulous from the apex of the cell, anatropous; micropyle superior. Fruit drupaceous, short-oblong to subglobose, crowned by the persistent style; exocarp more or less fleshy; endocarp hard; seed filling the cavity of the nutlet; testa membranaceous, albumen fleshy, often scanty; embryo curved or slightly involute; cotyledons narrow; radicle incurved, ascending.

Trema, with about twenty species, is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the two hemispheres. Two species reach the coast region and the keys of southern Florida. Of these Trema mollis Lour. is a small tree, and Trema Lamarckiana Bl., which in Florida has been noticed only on Key Largo, where it grows as a small shrub, is widely distributed over the Bahamas and many of the West Indian islands.

1. Trema mollis Lour.

Trema floridana Britt.

Leaves 2-ranked, ovate, abruptly acuminate at apex, rounded, cordate and often oblique at base, finely serrate with incurved or rounded apiculate teeth, dark green and scabrate above, covered with pale tomentum below, 3′—4′ long, 1′—2½′ wide; petioles stout, tomentose, about ⅖′ in length; stipules narrow, acuminate, covered with long white hairs, about one third as long as the petioles. Flowers in early spring, subtended by minute scarious deciduous bracts on short slender pedicels in bisexual many-flowered pedunculate villose cymes about as long as the petioles; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes oblong, acute and incurved at apex, villose on the outer surface; staminate with glabrous filaments and slightly exserted yellow anthers; pistillate with a style divided to the base. Fruit short-oblong, pale yellowish brown, ⅙′—⅕′ in diameter.

A fast-growing short-lived tree, in Florida occasionally 25°—30° high, with a tall trunk 1½′—2½′ in diameter, small crowded branches ascending at narrow angles, and stout hoary-tomentose red-brown 2-ranked branchlets. Bark thin, chocolate-brown, roughened by numerous small wart-like excrescences, and separating into small appressed papery scales.

Distribution. Rich hummocks; near the shores of Bay Biscayne, in the Everglades, and on the southern keys, Florida; common; often springing up where the ground has been burned over, or otherwise cleared of its forests; on many of the West Indian islands and in Mexico.

XII. MORACEÆ.

Tree or shrubs, with milky juice, scaly or naked buds, and stalked alternate simple leaves with stipules. Flowers monœcious or diœcious, in ament-like spikes, or in heads on the outside of a receptacle or on the inside of a closed receptacle; calyx of the staminate flower 2—6-lobed or parted; stamens 1—4, inserted on the base of the calyx; calyx of the pistillate flower of 2—6 partly united sepals; ovary 1—2-celled; styles 1 or 2; ovule pendulous. Fruits drupaceous, inclosed in the thickened calyx of the flower and united into a compound fruit (syncarp). The Mulberry family is widely distributed with fifty-four genera confined largely to the warmer parts of the world. Three genera only, all arborescent, are indigenous in North America, although Broussonetia papyrifera Vent., the Paper Mulberry, a tree related to the Mulberry and a native of eastern Asia, and the Hop and the Hemp are more or less generally naturalized in the eastern and southern states.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA.

Flowers on the outside of the receptacle; buds scaly. Flowers in ament-like spikes; syncarp oblong and succulent. 1. Morus. Staminate flowers racemose, the pistillate capitate; syncarp dry and globose. 2. Maclura. Flowers on the inside of a closed receptacle; buds naked; syncarp subglobose to ovoid, succulent. 3. Ficus.

1. MORUS L. Mulberry.

Trees or shrubs, with slender terete unarmed branches prolonged by one of the upper axillary buds, scaly bark, fibrous roots, and winter-buds covered by ovate scales closely imbricated in 2 ranks, increasing in size from without inward, the inner accrescent, marking in falling the base of the branch with ring-like scars. Leaves conduplicate in the bud, alternate, serrate, entire or 3-lobed, 3—5-nerved at base, membranaceous or subcoriaceous, deciduous; stipules inclosing their leaf in the bud, lateral, lanceolate, acute, caducous. Flowers monœcious or diœcious, the staminate and pistillate on different branches of the same plant or on different plants, minute, vernal, in pedunculate clusters from the axils of caducous bud-scales or of the lower leaves of the year; staminate in elongated cylindric spikes; calyx deeply divided into 4 equal rounded lobes; stamens 4, inserted opposite the lobes of the calyx under the minute rudimentary ovary, filaments filiform, incurved in the bud, straightening elastically and becoming exserted, anthers attached on the back below the middle, introrse, 2-celled, the cells reniform, attached laterally to the orbicular connective, opening longitudinally; pistillate sessile, in short-oblong densely flowered spikes; calyx 4-parted, the lobes ovate or obovate, thickened, often unequal, the 2 outer broader than the others, persistent; ovary ovoid, flat, sessile, included in the calyx, crowned by a central style divided nearly to the base into 2 equal spreading filiform villose white stigmatic lobes; ovule suspended from the apex of the cell, campylotropous; micropyle superior. Drupes ovoid or obovoid, crowned with the remnants of the styles, inclosed in the succulent thickened and colored perianth of the flower and more or less united into a more or less juicy compound fruit; flesh subsucculent, thin; walls of the nutlet thin or thick, crustaceous. Seed oblong, pendulous; testa, thin, membranaceous; hilum minute, apical; embryo incurved in thick fleshy albumen; cotyledons oblong, equal; radicle ascending, incumbent.

Morus with eight or nine species is confined to eastern temperate North America, the elevated regions of Mexico, Central America and western South America, southern and western Asia, Indo-China, China, Japan, the Bonin Islands and the mountains of the Indian Archipelago. Two species occur in North America. The most valuable species, Morus alba L., a native of China and Formosa, and largely cultivated in many countries for its leaves, which are the best food of the silkworm, has been planted in large quantities in the eastern United States; and Morus nigra L., probably a native of Persia, has been introduced into the southern and Pacific states for its large dark-colored juicy fruit. Morus produces straight-grained durable light brown or orange-colored valuable wood, and sweet acidulous and refreshing fruits.

Morus is the classical name of the Mulberry-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Leaves coated below with pale pubescence; lobes of the stigma long; syncarp oblong, dark purple. 1. M. rubra (A, C). Leaves glabrous or pubescent below; lobes of the stigma short; syncarp subglobose or short-ovoid, nearly black. 2. M. microphylla (C, E, H).

1. Morus rubra L. Red Mulberry.

Leaves ovate, oblong-ovate or semiorbicular, abruptly contracted into a long broad point or acute at apex, more or less deeply cordate or occasionally truncate at base, coarsely and occasionally doubly serrate with incurved callous-tipped teeth, often, especially on vigorous young shoots, 3-lobed by broad deep oblique lateral rounded sinuses, when they unfold yellow-green, slightly pilose on the upper surface and hoary-tomentose on the lower surface, at maturity thin, dark bluish green, glabrous, smooth or scabrate above, pale and more or less pubescent below with short white hairs thickest on the orange-colored midrib, and on the primary veins arcuate and united near the margins and connected by reticulate veinlets, or sometimes hoary-tomentose below (var. tomentosa Bureau), 3′—5′ long, 2½′—4′ wide; turning bright yellow in the autumn; petioles stout, hoary-tomentose at first, becoming glabrous, ¾′—1¼′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acute, abruptly enlarged and thickened at base, sometimes tinged with red above the middle, coated with long white hairs, and often 1′ in length. Flowers appearing with the unfolding of the leaves; staminate in narrow spikes 2′—2½′ long, on stout light green peduncles covered with pale hairs; calyx divided nearly to the base into oblong concave lobes rounded at apex and hirsute on the outer surface; stamens with slightly flattened filaments narrowed from the base to the apex, and bright green anthers, their connectives orbicular, conspicuous, bright green; pistillate in oblong densely flowered spikes, 1′ long, on short hairy peduncles, a few male flowers being sometimes mixed with them; calyx divided nearly to the base into 4 thick concave lobes rounded at apex, rounded or slightly keeled on the back, the 2 outer lobes twice as wide as the others, as long as and closely investing the glabrous light green ovary. Fruit: syncarp at first bright red when fully grown, 1′—1¼′ long, becoming dark purple or nearly black and sweet and juicy when fully ripe; drupes about 1/32′ long, with a thin fleshy outer coat and a light brown nutlet; seed ovoid, acute, with a thin membranaceous light brown coat.

A tree, 60°—70° high, with a short trunk rarely exceeding 3°—4° in diameter, stout spreading smooth branches forming a dense broad round-topped shapely head, and slender slightly zigzag branchlets dark green often tinged with red, glabrous, more or less coated with pale pubescence, and covered with oblong straw-colored spots when they first appear, becoming in their first winter light red-brown to orange color and marked by pale lenticels and by large elevated horizontal nearly orbicular concave leaf-scars displaying a row of prominent fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and in their second and third years dark brown slightly tinged with red. Winter-buds ovoid, rounded or pointed at apex, ¼′ long, with 6 or 7 chestnut-brown scales, those of the outer rows broadly ovate, rounded, and slightly thickened on the back, puberulous, ciliate on the margins, and much shorter than those of the next rows, the inner scales scarious, coated with pale hairs, oblong-lanceolate, rounded or acute at apex, and ½′—⅔′ long at maturity. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, dark brown tinged with red and divided into irregular elongated plates separating on the surface into thick appressed scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, rather tough, coarse-grained, very durable, light orange color, with thick lighter colored sapwood; largely used for fencing, in cooperage, and in boat-building.

Distribution. Intervales in rich soil and on low hills; western Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Long Island to southern Ontario, central Michigan, southeastern Minnesota, eastern Iowa, southeastern South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, central Kansas and Oklahoma, and southward to the shores of Bay Biscayne and Cape Romano, Florida, and to the cañon of the Devil’s River, Valverde County, Texas; most abundant and of its largest size in the basin of the lower Ohio River and on the foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains; ascending to altitudes of 2000°.

Occasionally planted, especially in the southern states, for its fruit valued for fattening hogs and as food for poultry. A few natural varieties, distinguished for the large size and good quality of their fruit, or for their productiveness, are occasionally propagated by pomologists.

2. Morus microphylla Buckl. Mulberry. Mexican Mulberry.

Morus celtidifolia Sarg., not H. B. K.

Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, rounded or rarely truncate, or often on vigorous shoots cordate at the broad base, and 3-lobed with shallow lateral sinuses and broad coarsely serrate lobes, when they unfold coated below with pale tomentum, and puberulous above, at maturity thin and firm in texture, dark green and often roughened on the upper surface by minute pale tubercles, and paler, smooth or scabrate, and glabrous or coated with soft pubescence on the lower surface, and often hirsute with short stiff pale hairs on the broad orange-colored midrib, and on the primary veins connected by conspicuous reticulate veinlets, rarely more than 1½′ long and ¾′ wide; turning yellow in the autumn; petioles slender, hoary-tomentose, becoming pubescent, ⅓′ in length; stipules linear-lanceolate, acute, sometimes falcate, white and scarious, coated with soft pale tomentum, about ½′ long. Flowers usually diœcious, staminate short-pedicellate, in short many-flowered spikes, ½′—¾′ long; calyx dark green, covered on the outer surface with soft pale hairs, deeply divided into equal rounded lobes reddish toward the apex; stamens with bright yellow anthers, their connectives conspicuous, dark green; pistillate sessile in few-flowered spikes, rarely ⅓′ in length; calyx divided to the base into thick rounded lobes, the 2 outer lobes much broader than the others, dark green, covered with pale scattered hairs; ovary green and glabrous, with short stigmatic lobes. Fruit: syncarp ½′ long, red becoming dark purple or nearly black, sweet and palatable; drupe ⅙′ long, ovoid, rounded at the ends, with a thin fleshy outer covering and a thick-walled light brown nutlet; seed ovoid, pointed, pale yellow.

A tree, sometimes 15°—20° high, with a trunk occasionally 12′—14′ in diameter, and slender branchlets covered when they first appear with soft white hairs, soon becoming glabrous or nearly so, and in their first winter light orange-red and marked by small lenticels and small horizontal nearly orbicular elevated concave leaf-scars displaying a ring of fibro-vascular bundle-scars; often a shrub. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, sharp-pointed, and covered by thin lustrous chestnut-brown ovate rounded scales scarious on the margins, those of the inner rows ovate-oblong, rounded at apex, pale-pubescent on the outer surface, and nearly 1′ long when fully grown. Bark smooth, sometimes nearly ½′ thick but usually thinner, light gray slightly tinged with red, deeply furrowed and broken on the surface into slightly appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, dark orange color or sometimes dark brown, with thick light-colored sapwood.

Distribution. Dry limestone hills, or westward only in elevated mountain cañons in the neighborhood of streams; valley of the Colorado River, Texas, southward into Mexico and through the mountain regions of western Texas and southern New Mexico to the Santa Rita Mountains and the cañons of the Colorado Plateau, Arizona.

2. MACLURA Nutt.

Toxylon (Ioxylon) Rafn.

A tree, with thick milky slightly acrid juice, thick deeply furrowed dark orange-colored bark, stout tough terete pale branchlets, with thick orange-colored pith, lengthening by an upper axillary bud, marked by pale orange-colored lenticels and armed with stout straight axillary spines, short stout spur-like lateral branchlets from buds at the base of the spines, and thick fleshy roots covered by bright orange-colored bark exfoliating freely in long thin persistent papery scales. Leaves involute in the bud, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acuminate and apiculate at apex, rounded, cuneate or subcordate at base, entire, penniveined, the veins arcuate near the margins and connected by conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles elongated, slender, terete, pubescent; stipules lateral, nearly triangular, minute, hoary-tomentose, caducous. Flowers diœcious, light green, minute, appearing in early summer; calyx 4-lobed, the lobes imbricated in æstivation; the staminate long pedicellate, in short or ultimately elongated racemes borne on long slender drooping peduncles from the axils of crowded leaves on the spur-like branchlets of the previous year; calyx ovoid, gradually narrowed into the slender pubescent pedicel, coated on the outer surface with pale hairs, divided to the middle into equal acute boat-shaped lobes; stamens 4, inserted opposite the lobes of the calyx on the margins of the minute thin pulvinate disk; filaments flattened, light green, glabrous, infolded above the middle in the bud, with the anthers inverted and back to back, straightening abruptly in anthesis and becoming exserted; anthers oblong, attached on the back near the middle, introrse, 2-celled, the cells attached laterally to a minute oblong or semiorbicular connective, free and spreading above and below, opening by longitudinal lateral slits; pistillate sessile in dense globose many-flowered heads on short stout peduncles axillary on shoots of the year; calyx ovoid, divided to the base into oblong thick concave lobes, rounded, thickened, and covered with pale hairs at the apex, longer than the ovary and closely investing it, the 2 outer lobes much broader than the others, persistent and inclosing the fruit; ovary ovoid, compressed, sessile, green, and glabrous; style covered by elongated slender filiform white stigmatic hairs; ovule suspended from the apex of the cell, anatropous. Drupes oblong, compressed, rounded and often notched at apex, acute at base, with thin succulent flesh, and a thin crustaceous light brown nutlet, joined by the union of the thickened and much elongated perianths of the flowers into a globose compound fruit saturated with milky juice, mammillate on the surface by their thickened rounded summits, light yellow-green, usually of full size but seedless on isolated pistillate individuals. Seed oblong, compressed, rounded at base, oblique and marked at apex by the conspicuous oblong pale hilum, without albumen; seed-coat membranaceous, light chestnut-brown; embryo recurved; cotyledons oblong, nearly equal; radicle elongated, incumbent, ascending.

The genus is represented by a single species of eastern North America.

The generic name is in compliment to William Maclure, distinguished geologist.

1. Maclura pomifera Schn. Osage Orange. Bow Wood.

Toxylon (Ioxylon) pomiferum Rafn.

Leaves 3′—5′ long, 2′—3′ wide; turning bright clear yellow before falling in the autumn; petioles 1½′—2′ in length. Flowers: racemes of the staminate flowers 1′—1½′ long; heads of the pistillate flowers, ¾′—1′ in diameter. Fruit 4′—5′ in diameter, ripening in the autumn, and soon falling to the ground.

A tree, sometimes 50°—60° high, with a short trunk 2°—3° in diameter, and stout erect ultimately spreading branches forming a handsome open irregular round-topped head, and branchlets light green often tinged with red and coated with soft pale pubescence when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous, light brown slightly tinged with orange color during their first winter, and ultimately paler. Winter-buds depressed-globose, partly immersed in the bark, covered by few closely imbricated ovate rounded light chestnut-brown ciliate conspicuous scales. Bark ⅔′—1′ thick, and deeply and irregularly divided into broad rounded ridges separating on the surface into thin appressed scales. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, very strong, flexible, coarse-grained, very durable, bright orange color turning brown on exposure, with thin light yellow sapwood of 5—10 layers of annual growth; largely used for fence-posts, railway-ties, wheel-stock, and formerly by the Osage and other Indians west of the Mississippi River for bows and war-clubs. The bark of the roots contains moric and morintannic acid, and is used as a yellow dye. The bark of the trunk is sometimes used in tanning leather.

Distribution. Rich bottom-lands; southern Arkansas to southern Oklahoma and southward in Texas to about latitude 35° 36′; most abundant and of its largest size in the valley of the Red River in Oklahoma.

Largely planted in the prairie regions of the Mississippi basin as a hedge plant, and occasionally in the eastern states; hardy in New England; occasionally naturalized beyond the limits of its natural range.

3. FICUS L. Fig.

Trees, with milky juice, naked buds, stout branchlets, thick fleshy roots frequently produced from the branches and developing into supplementary stems. Leaves involute, entire and persistent in American species; stipules inclosing the leaf in a slender sharp-pointed bud-like cover, interpetiolar, embracing the leaf-bearing axis and inclosing the young leaves, deciduous. Flower-bearing receptacle subglobose to ovoid, sessile or stalked, solitary by abortion or in pairs in the axils of existing or fallen leaves, surrounded at base by 3 anterior bracts distinct or united into an involucral cup bearing on the interior at the apex numerous rows of minute triangular viscid bracts closing the orifice, those of the lower rows turned downward and infolding the upper flowers, those immediately above these horizontal and forming a more or less prominent umbilicus. Flowers sessile or pedicellate, the pedicels thickening and becoming succulent with the ripening of the fruit, unisexual, often separated by chaffy scales or hairs; calyx of the staminate flower usually divided into 2—6 sepals; stamen 1; filament short, erect; anther innate, ovoid, broad and subrotund, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally, 0 in the pistillate flower; sepals or lobes of the calyx of the pistillate flower usually narrower than those of the staminate flower; ovary sessile, erect or oblique, surmounted by the lateral elongated style crowned by a 2-lobed stigma; ovule suspended from the apex or lateral below the apex of the cell, anatropous. Fruit mostly immersed in the thickened succulent receptacle, obovoid or reniform; flesh thin, mucilaginous; nutlet with a flat crustaceous minutely tuberculate shell. Seed suspended; testa membranaceous; embryo incurved, in thin fleshy albumen, cotyledons equal or unequal, longer than the incumbent radicle.

Ficus, of which about six hundred species have been described, is largely distributed through the topics of both hemispheres, the largest number of species being found on the islands of the Indian Archipelago and the Pacific Ocean. A few species extend beyond the tropics into southern Florida, Mexico, Argentina, southern Japan and China, the countries bordering the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, and South Africa. Two species of the section Urostigma with monœcious flowers occur in tropical Florida. Ficus Carica L., probably a native of the Mediterranean basin, is cultivated in the southern states and in California for its large sweet succulent fruits, the figs of commerce.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Receptacles subglobose, sessile or short-stalked; leaves oblong, usually pointed at the ends. 1. F. aurea (D). Receptacles obovoid, long-stalked; leaves broadly ovate, cordate at base. 2. F. brevifolia (D).

1. Ficus aurea Nutt. Wild Fig.

Leaves oblong, usually narrowed at the ends, acute or acuminate, with a short broad point at apex, cuneate or rarely broad and rounded at base, 2′—5′ long, 1½′—3′ wide, thick and coriaceous, dark yellow-green and lustrous above, paler and less lustrous below, with a broad light yellow midrib slightly grooved on the upper side, and numerous obscure primary veins arcuate and united near the margins and connected by fine closely reticulated veinlets, continuing to unfold during a large part of the year; usually falling during their second season; petioles stout, slightly grooved, ½′—1′ in length; stipules ovate-lanceolate, thick, firm, tinged with red, about 1′ long. Flowers: receptacles developing in succession as the branch lengthens, subglobose, sessile or short-stalked, solitary or in pairs, the orifice lateral closed and marked by a small point formed by the union of the minute bracts, becoming ⅓′ in diameter and yellow when fully grown, ultimately turning bright red; flowers reddish purple, separated by minute reddish chaff-like scales more or less laciniate at apex, sessile or long-pedicellate; calyx of the staminate flower divided to below the middle into 2 or 3 broad lobes rather shorter than the stout flattened filaments; lobes of the anther oblong, attached laterally to the broad connective; calyx of the pistillate flower divided to the middle into 4 or 5 narrow lobes, closely investing the ovate sessile ovary. Fruit ovoid, immersed in the thickened reddish purple walls of the receptacle; seed ovoid, rounded at the ends, with a thin light brown coat and a large lateral oblong pale hilum.

A broad round-topped epiphytal tree, 50°—60° high, germinating and growing at first on the branches and trunks of other trees and sending down to the ground stout aerial roots which gradually growing together form a trunk often 3°—4° in diameter, the growth of additional roots from the branches extending the tree over a large area, and terete pithy light orange-colored branchlets marked by pale lenticels, conspicuous stipular scars, large slightly elevated horizontal oval leaf-scars displaying a marginal ring of large pale fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and smaller elevated concave circular scars left by the receptacles in falling. Bark smooth, ashy gray, light brown tinged with red, ½′ thick, and broken on the surface into minute appressed scales disclosing in falling the nearly black inner bark. Wood exceedingly light, soft, weak, coarse-grained, perishable in contact with the ground, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Hummocks on the shores and islands of southern Florida; from the Indian River on the east coast and Tampa Bay on the west coast, to the southern keys; common and now rapidly spreading over the eastern and southern borders of the Everglades; attaining its largest size in the neighborhood of Bay Biscayne; on the Bahama Islands.

2. Ficus brevifolia Nutt. Fig. Wild Fig.

Ficus populnea Sarg., not Willd.

Leaves broadly ovate or rarely obovate, contracted into a short broad point or occasionally rounded at apex, rounded, truncate or cordate at base, 2½′—5′ long, 1½′—5′ wide, thin and firm, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower, with a light yellow midrib, and slender remote primary veins arcuate and united near the margins and connected by finely reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, sometimes 1′ in length; stipules ovate-lanceolate, ½′ long, tinged with red. Flowers: receptacles obovoid, solitary or in pairs, yellow until fully grown, ultimately turning bright red and becoming ¼′—½′ long, on stout drooping stalks ¼′—1′ in length; flowers sessile or pedicellate, separated by minute chaff-like scales more or less laciniate at apex; calyx of the staminate flower divided nearly to the base into three or four broad acute lobes; calyx of the pistillate flower with narrow lobes shorter than the ovoid pointed ovary. Fruit ovoid; seed ovoid, with a membranaceous light brown coat and an oblong lateral pale hilum.

An epiphytal tree, rarely 40°—50° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, spreading branches occasionally developing aerial roots and forming an open irregular head, and terete branchlets light red and slightly puberulous when they first appear, becoming brown tinged with orange and later with red, and marked by minute pale lenticels, narrow stipular scars, large elevated horizontal oval or semiorbicular leaf-scars showing a marginal row of conspicuous fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and elevated concave receptacle scars. Wood light, soft, close-grained, light orange-brown or yellow, with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood.

Distribution. Usually on dry slightly elevated coral rocks; Florida from the shores of Bay Biscayne to the Everglades Keys, and on several of the southern keys to Key West; not common; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.

XIII. OLACACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with watery juices, their stems sometimes twining, and alternate usually entire persistent leaves, without stipules. Flowers perfect or polygamous, in axillary cymes or racemes, rarely solitary; calyx 4 to 6-lobed; petals 4—6, inserted on a hypogynous disk, free or united into a campanulate or tubular corolla; stamens 4—12, inserted on the tube of the corolla; filaments free, rarely united; anthers oblong, introrse, opening longitudinally; ovary superior or partly inferior, free or immersed in the disk, 1—4-celled; styles mostly united; stigmas entire or lobed; ovules 1—3 in each cell of the ovary. Fruit drupaceous, naked or nearly inclosed in the enlarged disk, 1-celled, 1-seeded; seed pendulous; embryo minute, erect, in copious fleshly albumen; radicle superior.

Olacaceæ with twenty-five genera and a large number of species is confined to the tropics, and is most abundant in those of the Old World.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.

Corolla-lobes short; stamens as many as its lobes; drupe almost inclosed in the enlarged disk of the flower; branches unarmed. 1. Schoepfia. Corolla-lobes elongated; stamens twice as many as its lobes; drupe nearly naked; branchlets armed. 2. Ximenia.

1. SCHOEPFIA Schreb.

Trees or shrubs with slender unarmed branchlets. Leaves entire, subcoriaceous, petiolate. Flowers small, perfect in axillary cymes, rarely solitary; calyx disciform, obscurely 4-toothed, or nearly entire, petals 4, 5 or rarely 6, united, their tips free, valvate; stamens opposite the petals, filaments free, anthers attached by the back; ovary partly immersed in the disk, 3-celled; style elongated, stigma 3-lobed; ovules 3 in each cell, pendulous from the free apex of the axile placentas. Fruit nearly inclosed in the enlarged disk of the flower, the stone crustaceous or chartaceous.

Schoepfia with twelve or fourteen species is distributed in the New World from southern Florida and Lower California to Brazil and Peru, and in the Old World from southern Japan and southern and western China to the East Indies and the eastern Himalayas.

The generic name is in compliment to Johann David Schoepf, German physician and botanist, and traveler in North America and the West Indies.

1. Schoepfia chrysophylloides Planch.

Schoepfia Schreberi Small, not Gmel.

Leaves elliptic to oblong-ovate, often slightly falcate, acuminate at apex, cuneate and often unsymmetric at base, light green and lustrous above, paler below, 1½′—3′ long, ¾′—1¼′ wide, and on vigorous shoots sometimes 4′ long and 1¾′ wide; petioles stout, wing-margined, ¼′—⅓′ in length. Flowers sessile, pink or red, in axillary 1—3- usually 2-flowered clusters on peduncles 1/24′—⅙′ in length; calyx cup-shaped, the rim slightly dilated, almost filled by the fleshy disk; corolla ovate-cylindric, ⅛′—⅙′ long, 4-lobed, the lobes ovate, acute, united, reflexed; stamens 4, adnate to the base of the lobes of the corolla; anthers sessile; ovary mostly immersed in the disk; style not more than 1/24′ long; Fruit ovoid or ovoid-oval scarlet, ⅖′—½′ in length; stone crustaceous; seed not seen.

A tree, sometimes 25°—30° high with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, small erect branches and slender pale gray unarmed branchlets. Bark thin, grayish brown, closely and regularly reticulated.

Distribution. In sandy or rocky soil; banks of the Caloosahatchee River, Lee County, near Miami and at Cocoanut Grove, Dade County, and on the southern keys, Florida; on the Bahama Islands, and in Cuba, Jamaica, and Guatamala.

2. XIMENIA L.

Trees and shrubs, with terete armed or unarmed branchlets. Leaves entire, subcoriaceous, often fascicled, short-petiolate. Flowers perfect, white, on slender pedicels, in short axillary cymes or rarely solitary; calyx small, 4-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, persistent; petals 4 or 5, hypogynous, narrow, bearded on their inner face, valvate in the bud, reflexed above the middle; stamens twice as many as the petals; filaments free, filiform; anthers linear, attached on the back near the base, 2-celled, the cells opening laterally, their connective apiculate at apex; ovary 4-celled below, only the apex 1-celled, externally 4-grooved, glandular at base, gradually narrowed into the slender style; stigma entire, subcapitate; ovules linear, solitary in each cell, pendulous from the apex of the axile placenta, anatropous; raphe dorsal; micropyle superior. Fruit ovoid or globose; exocarp thick and succulent, endocarp crustaceous or subligneous; seed filling the cavity of the endocarp, pendulous, surrounded by a thin spongy coat; testa membranaceous; cotyledons elliptic; embryo minute, erect; raphe terete.

Ximenia with four or five species is widely distributed on tropical shores of the two worlds.

Ximenia commemorates the name of Francisco Ximenes, a Dominican priest who published in Mexico in 1615 a work on the plants and animals of that country.

1. Ximenia americana L.

Leaves oblong or elliptic, rounded and often emarginate and apiculate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, glabrous, bright green and lustrous above, pale below, 1¼′—2½′ long, ⅗′—1¼′ wide, with slightly thickened revolute margins, a prominent midrib and obscure primary veins; petioles slender, narrow wing-margined at apex, ⅕′—⅖′ in length. Flowers bell-shaped, fragrant, about ¼′ long, on slender pedicels in the axils of minute acuminate caducous bractlets, in 3 or 4-flowered clusters on peduncles ⅕′—⅓′ long; calyx-lobes acute, petals elliptic and rounded or obtusely pointed at apex, yellowish white, leathery, conspicuously bearded on the inner surface from base nearly to apex. Fruit broad-ovoid to subglobose, bright yellow, with thin acid flesh, 1′—1¼′ long, on slender pedicels about ⅓′ in length, in usually 2 or 3-fruited drooping clusters; stone ovoid, apiculate at apex, covered with minute pits, light red; seed yellow, with bright orange-colored cotyledons.

A tree, occasionally 30° high, with a tall trunk 2½′—3½′ in diameter, spreading branches armed with stout straight spines usually ¾′—1′ in length, and slender branchlets slightly angled and light reddish brown when they first appear, becoming terete and light gray or red-brown and marked by numerous lenticels; more often a shrub with long vine-like stems. Bark close, dark red, astringent. Wood very heavy, tough, hard, close-grained, compact, brown tinged with red with lighter-colored sapwood. Hydrocyanic acid has been obtained from the fruit.

Distribution. Florida, near Eustis Lake, Lake County, to the southern keys, attaining its largest size on the west coast and on Long Key in the Everglades; common on the shores of the Antilles and southward to Brazil, and on those of west tropical Africa, the Indian peninsula, the islands of the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, Australia, and on those of many of the islands of the south Pacific Ocean.

Section 3. Flowers perfect or unisexual; calyx 5-lobed; ovary superior, 1-celled; ovule solitary, rising from the bottom of the cell; fruit inclosed in the thickened calyx; leaves persistent.

XIV. POLYGONACEÆ.

Trees, with alternate coriaceous stalked leaves, their stipules sheathing the stem. Flowers perfect; calyx 5-lobed; stamens 8; ovary 3-celled; ovule orthotropous. Fruit a nutlet, inclosed in the thickened calyx-tube; seed erect; embryo axillary in ruminate farinaceous albumen; radicle superior, ascending, turned toward the hilum. Of this, the Buckwheat family with thirty widely distributed genera, only Coccolobis is arborescent in North America.

1. COCCOLOBIS P. Br.

Trees or shrubs. Leaves coriaceous, entire, orbicular, ovate, obovate, or lanceolate, petiolate, their stipules inclosing the branch above the node with membranaceous truncate entire brown persistent sheaths. Flowers jointed on ebracteolate pedicels, in 1 or few-flowered fascicles subtended by a minute bract and surrounded by a narrow truncate membranaceous sheath, each pedicel and those above it being surrounded by a similar sheath, the fascicles gathered in elongated terminal and axillary racemes inclosed at the base of the sheath of the nearest leaf and sometimes also in a separate sheath; calyx cup-shaped, the lobes ovate, rounded, thin, white, reflexed after anthesis, and thickening and inclosing the nutlet; stamens with filiform or subulate filaments dilated and united at base into a short discoid cup adnate to the tube of the calyx; anthers ovoid, introrse, 2-celled, the cells parallel, opening longitudinally; ovary free, sessile, 3-angled, contracted into a short stout style, divided into three short or elongated stigmatic lobes. Fruit ovoid or globose, rounded or acute and crowned at apex by the persistent lobes of the calyx, narrowed at base; flesh thin and acidulous, more or less adnate to the thin crustaceous or bony wall of the nutlet often divided on the inner surface near the base into several more or less intrusive plates. Seed subglobose, acuminate at apex, 3—6-lobed; testa membranaceous, minutely pitted, dark red-brown, and lustrous.

Coccolobis is confined to the tropics of the New World, with about one hundred and twenty species distributed from southern Florida to Mexico, Central America, Brazil, and Peru. It possesses astringent properties sometimes utilized in medicine. Many of the species produce hard dark valuable wood.

Coccolobis, from κοκκος and λοβός, is in allusion to the character of the fruit.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Fruits crowded, in drooping racemes; leaves broadly ovate to suborbicular, cordate at base. 1. C. uvifera (D). Fruits not crowded, in erect or spreading racemes; leaves ovate to oblong-lanceolate. 2. C. laurifolia (D).

1. Coccolobis uvifera Jacq. Sea Grape.

Leaves broadly ovate to suborbicular rounded or sometimes short-pointed at apex, deeply cordate at base, with undulate margins, thick and coriaceous, minutely reticulate-venulose, dark green and lustrous above, paler and puberulous below, 4′—5′ long, 5′—6′ wide, with a stout often bright red midrib frequently covered below with pale hairs, and about 5 pairs of conspicuous primary veins red on the upper side, arcuate near the margins and connected by cross veinlets; gradually turning red or scarlet and falling during their second or third years; petioles short, stout, flattened, puberulous, abruptly enlarged at base, leaving in falling large pale elevated orbicular or semiorbicular scars; stipular sheath ⅛′ broad, slightly puberulous, persistent during 2 or 3 years. Flowers appearing almost continuously throughout the year on slender puberulous pedicels ⅛′ long, in 1—6-flowered subsessile fascicles, in terminal and axillary thick-stemmed many-flowered racemes 6′—14′ in length; calyx ⅛′ across when expanded, the lobes puberulous on the inner surface and rather longer than the red stamens; ovary oblong, with short stigmatic lobes. Fruit crowded, in long hanging racemes, ovoid to obovoid, ¾′ long, gradually narrowed into a stalk-like base, purple or greenish white, translucent, with thin juicy flesh, and a thin-walled light red nutlet.

A tree, in Florida rarely more than 15° high, with a short gnarled contorted trunk 3°—4° in diameter, stout branches forming a round compact head, and stout terete branchlets, with thick pith, light orange color, marked by oblong pale lenticels, gradually growing darker in their second and third years; frequently a shrub, with semiprostrate stems; in the West Indies often 50° tall. Bark about 1/16′ thick, smooth, light brown and marked by large irregular pale blotches. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, dark brown or violet color, with thick lighter colored sapwood; sometimes used in cabinet-making.

Distribution. Saline shores and beaches; Florida, from Mosquito Inlet to the southern keys on the east coast, and from Tampa Bay to Cape Sable on the west coast; common on the Bermuda and Bahama Islands, in the Antilles, and in South America from Colombia to Brazil.

2. Coccolobis laurifolia Jacq. Pigeon Plum.

Leaves ovate, ovate-lanceolate or obovate-oblong, rounded or acute at apex, rounded or cuneate at base, with slightly undulate revolute margins, thick and firm, bright green above, paler below, 3′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, with a conspicuous pale midrib and 3 or 4 pairs of remote primary veins connected by prominent reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, flattened, ½′ in length, abruptly enlarged at base; stipular sheath glabrous, ½′ wide. Flowers in early spring, on slender pedicels ¼′ long, in few or 1-flowered fascicles on racemes terminal on short axillary branches of the previous year, and 2′—3′ in length; calyx ⅛′ across, the cup-shaped lobes rather shorter than the stamens, with slender yellow filaments enlarged at base, and dark orange-colored anthers; ovary oblong, with elongated stigmatic lobes. Fruit in erect or spreading sparsely-fruited racemes, ripening during the winter and early spring, ovoid, narrowed at base, rounded at apex, dark red, ⅓′ long, with thin acidulous flesh and a hard thin-walled light brown nutlet.

A glabrous tree, 60°—70° high, with a tall straight trunk 1°—2° in diameter, spreading branches forming a dense round-topped head, slender terete slightly zigzag branchlets usually contorted and covered with light orange-colored bark, becoming darker and tinged with red in their second or third year. Wood heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, brittle, close-grained, rich dark brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood; occasionally used in cabinet-making.

Distribution. One of the largest and most abundant of the tropical trees of the seacoast of southern Florida from Cape Canaveral to the keys and on the west coast from Cape Romano to Cape Sable; common on the Bahama Islands, on many of the Antilles, and in Venezuela.

XV. NYCTAGINACEÆ.

Trees with alternate stalked persistent leaves without stipules. Flowers perfect or unisexual; calyx corolla-like, 5-lobed; stamens 5—8; ovule campylotropous. Fruit anthocarpus, crowned by the persistent teeth of the calyx. Seed erect; cotyledons unequal, folded round the soft scanty albumen; radicle short, inferior, turned toward the hilum. A family of about twenty genera widely distributed chiefly in the warmer and tropical parts of the New World, with a single arborescent representative in North America.

1. TORRUBIA Vell.

Glabrous or pubescent unarmed trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or rarely alternate, entire, short-stalked. Flowers perfect, or rarely unisexual; calyx tubular or funnel-shaped, elongated, 5-lobed, the lobes plaited in the bud, erect or spreading; stamens inserted on the base of the calyx under the ovary, minute or rudimentary in the unisexual pistillate flower; filaments folded in the bud, filiform, unequal, free; anthers oblong, introrse, 2-celled, the cells parallel, opening longitudinally; ovary oblong-ovoid, sessile, 1-celled, gradually narrowed into a columnar style; stigmas capitate, lacerate. Fruit fleshy, cylindric, costate, smooth; utricle elongated, with a thin membranaceous wall confluent with the thin transparent coat of the erect seed.

Torrubia, with about 15 species is confined to tropical America, one species extending into southern Florida. The genus was named in honor of Joseph Torrubia, a Spanish naturalist of the 18th century.

1. Torrubia longifolia Britt. Blolly.

Pisonia longifolia Sarg.

Leaves oblong-obovate, rounded or occasionally emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed at base, 1′—1½′ long, ½′ wide, thick and firm, with slightly thickened undulate margins, light green and glabrous, paler on the lower than on the upper surface, with a stout midrib and obscure veins; petioles stout, channeled, ½′ in length. Flowers perfect or unisexual, autumnal, greenish yellow, short-pedicellate, in terminal long-stalked few-flowered panicled cymes, with slender divergent branches, the ultimate divisions 2 or 3-flowered; bracts and bractlets minute, acute; calyx funnel-shaped, divided nearly to the middle into acute erect lobes about half as long as the stamens and as long as the style. Fruit ripening in the winter or early spring, prominently costate with ten rounded ribs, fleshy, smooth, bright red, ¾′ long; utricle terete, light brown.

A tree, occasionally 30°—50° high, with an erect or inclining trunk, 15′—20′ in diameter, stout spreading branches forming a compact round-topped head, and slender terete branchlets light orange color when they first appear, later often producing numerous short spur-like lateral branchlets, light reddish brown or ashy gray, and marked by large elevated semiorbicular or lunate leaf-scars; usually much smaller; often shrubby. Bark about 1/16′ thick, light red-brown, and broken into thin appressed scales. Wood heavy, rather soft, weak, coarse-grained, yellow tinged with brown, with thick darker colored sapwood.

Distribution. Sea-beaches and the shores of salt water lagoons; Cape Canaveral, Florida to the southern keys, attaining its largest size in Florida on Elliott’s Key and Old Rhodes Key; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba.

Subdivision 2. Petalatæ. Flowers with both calyx and corolla (without a corolla in Lauraceæ, in Liquidambar in Hamamelidaceæ, in Euphorbiaceæ, in some species of Acer, in Reynosia, Condalia, and Krugiodendron in Rhamnaceæ, in Fremontia in Sterculiaceæ, in Calyptranthes in Myrtaceæ, and in Conocarpus in Combretaceæ).

Section 1. Polypetalæ. Corolla of separate petals.

A. Ovary superior (partly inferior in Hamamelidaceæ; inferior in Malus, Sorbus, Cratægus and Amelanchier in Rosaceæ).

XVI. MAGNOLIACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, branchlets lengthening by large terminal or the flower-bearing branchlets by upper axillary buds, the other axillary buds obtuse, flattened, and rudimentary, bitter aromatic bark, and thick fleshy roots. Leaves alternate, conduplicate and inclosed in their stipules in the bud, feather-veined, petiolate. Flowers perfect, large, solitary, terminal, pedicellate, inclosed in the bud in a stipular caducous spathe; sepals and petals imbricated in the bud, inserted under the ovary, deciduous; stamens and pistils numerous, imbricated in many ranks, the stamens below the pistils on the surface of an elongated receptacle ripening into a compound fruit of 1—2-seeded follicles or samara; ovules 2, collateral, anatropous. Four of the ten genera of the Magnolia family are represented in North America; of these two are arborescent.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.

Anthers introrse; mature carpels, fleshy, opening on the back at maturity, persistent; seed-coat thick, pulpy, and bright scarlet; leaves entire, or auriculate at base. 1. Magnolia. Anthers extrorse; mature carpels dry, indehiscent, deciduous; seed-coat dry and coriaceous; leaves lobed or truncate. 2. Liriodendron.

1. MAGNOLIA L. Magnolia.

Trees, with ashy gray or brown smooth or scaly bark, branchlets conspicuously marked by large horizontal or longitudinal leaf-scars and by narrow stipular rings, and large terete acuminate or often obtusely-pointed more or less gibbous winter-buds usually broadest at the middle, their scales large membranaceous stipules adnate to the base of the petioles and deciduous with the unfolding of each successive leaf, the petiole of the outer stipule rudimentary, adnate on the straight side of the bud, and marked at its apex by the scar left by the falling of the last leaf of the previous season. Leaves entire, sometimes auriculate, persistent or deciduous, often minutely punctate, their numerous primary veins arcuate and more or less united within the margins. Flowers appearing in the American species after the leaves, their stipular spathes thin and membranaceous; sepals 3, spreading or reflexed; petals 6—12 in series of 3’s, concave, erect or spreading; stamens early deciduous, their filaments shorter than the 2-celled introrse anthers and terminating in apiculate fleshy connectives; ovary sessile, 1-celled; style short, recurved, stigmatic on the inner face; ovules horizontal. Fruit a scarlet or rusty brown cone formed of the coalescent 2-seeded drupaceous persistent follicles opening on the back; seeds suspended at maturity by long thin cords of unrolled spiral vessels; seed-coat thick, drupaceous, the outer portion becoming fleshy and at maturity pulpy, red or scarlet, the inner crustaceous; embryo minute at the base of the fleshy homogeneous albumen, its radicle next the hilum; cotyledons short and spreading.

Magnolia with about thirty species is confined to eastern North America, southern Mexico, and eastern and southern Asia, seven species growing naturally in the United States. All the parts are slightly bitter and aromatic, and the dried flower-buds are sometimes used in medicine. Several species from eastern Asia and their hybrids producing flowers before the appearance of the leaves are favorite garden plants in the United States.

The genus is named in honor of Pierre Magnol (1638—1715), professor of botany at Montpellier.

CONSPECTUS OF NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Styles deciduous from the follicles of the fruit; petals greenish or yellow; winter-buds silky tomentose. Petals greenish; branchlets glabrous. 1. M. acuminata (A, C). Petals canary yellow; branchlets pubescent. 2. M. cordata (C). Styles persistent on the follicles of the fruit. Petals white. Leaves coriaceous, persistent; fruit and branchlets tomentose. 3. M. grandiflora (C). Leaves thin, deciduous (semipersistent in 4). Leaves cuneate at base. Leaves scattered along the branches, pale and pubescent below; winter-buds glabrous or silky pubescent. 4. M. virginiana (A, C). Leaves crowded at the ends of the flowering branches, green and glabrous below; winter-buds glabrous. 5. M. tripetala (A, C). Leaves cordate at the narrow base; fruit tomentose; winter-buds hoary-tomentose. 6. M. macrophylla (C). Petals pale yellow or creamy white; leaves obovate-spathulate, auriculate, crowded at the ends of the flowering branches; winter-buds glabrous. Leaves acute; petals pale yellow; tips of the mature carpels elongated, straight or incurved. 7. M. Fraseri (A, C). Leaves bluntly pointed; petals creamy white; tips of the mature carpels short, incurved. 8. M. pyramidata (C).

1. Magnolia acuminata L. Cucumber-tree. Mountain Magnolia.

Leaves oblong-ovate, oblong-obovate or elliptic, abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded, cuneate or rarely slightly cordate at base, when they unfold densely villose below and slightly villose above, and at maturity thin, yellow-green and glabrous on the upper surface, paler and glabrous or villose-pubescent on the lower surface, 6′—10′ long, and 4′—6′ wide, with often undulate margins; turning dull yellow or brown in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, pubescent early in the season, becoming glabrous, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers on hairy soon glabrous pedicels ½′—¾′ long, bell-shaped, green or greenish yellow covered with a glaucous bloom; sepals membranaceous, acute, 1′—1½′ long, soon reflexed; petals 6, ovate or obovate, concave, pointed, erect, 2½′—3′ long, those of the outer row rarely more than 1′ wide and much wider than those of the inner row. Fruit ovoid or oblong, often curved, glabrous, dark red, 2½′—3′ long, rarely more than 1′ thick; seeds obovoid, acute, compressed, about ½′ long.

A pyramidal tree, 60°—90° high, with a trunk 3°—4° in diameter, comparatively small branches spreading below and erect toward the top of the tree, and slender branchlets coated at first with soft pale caducous hairs, soon bright red-brown, lustrous, and marked by numerous small pale lenticels, turning gray during their third season. Winter-buds: terminal, oblong-ovoid, acuminate, thickly covered with long lustrous white hairs, ½′—⅗′ long, and about three times as long as the obtuse compressed lateral buds nearly surrounded by the narrow elevated leaf-scars conspicuously marked by a double row of large fibro-vascular bundle-scars. Bark ⅓′—½′ thick, furrowed, dark brown, and covered by numerous thin scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, close-grained, durable, and light yellow-brown, with thin lighter colored often nearly white sapwood of usually 25—30 layers of annual growth; occasionally manufactured into lumber used for flooring and cabinet-making.

Distribution. Low mountain slopes and rocky banks of streams; southern Ontario, western New York, central to western Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia and to central Kentucky and Tennessee; banks of the Savannah River above Augusta, and in the neighborhood of Lumpkin, Stewart County, Georgia; northern Alabama, northeastern, northwestern and south-central Mississippi; Eagle Rock, Barry County, and on bluffs of the Mississippi River, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, and Baxter County, Arkansas; in eastern Oklahoma (Page, Le Flore County); in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, represented by var. ludoviciana Sarg. differing in its broadly obovate, oval or ovate leaves, and in its larger flowers, 3½′—4′ long, the outer petals 1½′ wide. Rare at the north; most abundant and of its largest size at the base of the high mountains of the Carolinas and Tennessee up to altitudes of 4000°.

Often planted as an ornamental tree in the eastern states and in northern and central Europe.

2. Magnolia cordata Michx.

Magnolia acuminata var. cordata Sarg.

Leaves oblong-obovate to elliptic, abruptly short-pointed or rounded at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate, broad-cuneate or rarely rounded at base, when they unfold villose-pubescent more densely on the lower than on the upper surface, at maturity dark green, lustrous and glabrous above, paler and covered below with short matted pale hairs, 4′ or 5′ long, 2½′—3½′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib and primary veins; remaining green until late in the autumn and turning brown and falling after severe frost; petioles slender, covered when they first appear with matted silky white hairs, becoming glabrous, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers on stout pedicels, ¼′—⅓′ long and covered with long silky white hairs, cup-shaped, bright canary yellow; sepals ovate, acute, soon reflexed; petals 6, erect and spreading, 1½′—1¾′ long, ½′—¾′ wide. Fruit oblong, often curved, glabrous, dark red, 1′—1½′ long, ½′—¾′ thick.

A shrub, 4°—8° high, flowering freely when not more than half that size; or in gardens a tree sometimes 20°—30° tall with a trunk 12′—15′ in diameter, spreading branches forming a round-topped head, and slender dark dull red-brown branchlets thickly covered during two years with short pubescence and marked by small pale lenticels. Winter-buds oblong-obovate, often falcate, bluntly pointed, thickly covered with matted pale hairs, the terminal ½′ long and ¼′ thick, the axillary ⅙′—¼′ in length and nearly surrounded by the narrow leaf-scars marked by an irregular row of minute fibro-vascular bundle-scars. Bark dark brown, and covered with small closely appressed scales.

Distribution. Dry Oak-woods, valley of the Savannah River, Georgia; Spears Plantation six miles south and Goshen Plantation sixteen miles south of Augusta, Richmond County, near Mayfield, Hancock County, and Bath, Richmond County. Often cultivated, and preserved in gardens for more than a century; not rediscovered as a wild plant until 1913 (L. A. Berckmans); hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

3. Magnolia grandiflora L. Magnolia.

Magnolia fœtida Sarg.

Leaves elliptic to oblong-obovate or ovate, acute and bluntly pointed or acuminate at apex, cuneate at base, coriaceous, bright green and shining above, more or less densely coated below with rusty tomentum, 5′—8′ long, 2′—3′ wide, with a prominent midrib and primary veins, deciduous in the spring at the end of their second year; petioles stout, rusty-tomentose, 1′—2′ in length. Flowers on stout hoary-tomentose pedicels ½′—1′ long, opening from April or May until July or August, fragrant, 7′—8′ across, the petaloid sepals and 6 or sometimes 9 or 12 petals abruptly narrowed at base, oval or ovate, those of the inner ranks often somewhat acuminate, concave, and coriaceous, 3′—4′ long and 1½′—2′ wide; base of the receptacle and lower part of the filaments bright purple. Fruit ovoid or oval, rusty brown, covered while young with thick lustrous white tomentum, at maturity rusty-tomentose, 3′—4′ long, 1½′—2½′ thick; seeds obovoid or triangular-obovoid, more or less flattened, ½′ long.

A tree, of pyramidal habit, 60°—100° or rarely 120°—135° high, with a tall straight trunk 2°—3° or occasionally 4°—4½° in diameter, rather small spreading branches, and branchlets hoary-tomentose at first, slightly tomentose in their second year, and much roughened by the elevated leaf-scars displaying a marginal row of conspicuous fibro-vascular bundle-scars. Winter-buds pale or rusty-tomentose, the terminal 1′—1½′ in length. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, gray or light brown, and covered with thin appressed scales rarely more than 1′ long. Wood hard, heavy, creamy white, soon turning brown with exposure, hardly distinguishable from the sapwood of 60—80 layers of annual growth; little used except for fuel.

Distribution. Rich moist soil on the borders of river swamps and Pine-barren ponds, or rarely on high rolling hills; coast of North Carolina southward to De Soto County, Florida, extending across the peninsula, and in the neighborhood of the coast through the other Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas, ranging inland to central Mississippi and to southern Arkansas, and northward on the bluffs of the lower Mississippi River to the mouth of the Yazoo River, Mississippi; best developed and most abundant on the bluff formation of the lower Mississippi River, and of its largest size in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.

Largely cultivated as an ornamental tree in all countries of temperate climate; in the eastern United States precariously hardy as far north as Trenton, New Jersey. Numerous varieties, differing in the form of the leaf and in the duration of the flowering period, have appeared in European nurseries; of these, the most distinct is the variety exoniensis Loud., with a rather fastigiate habit and broadly elliptic leaves densely clothed with rusty tomentum on the lower surface; this variety begins to flower when only a few feet high.

4. Magnolia virginiana L. Sweet Bay. Swamp Bay.

Magnolia glauca L.

Leaves oblong or elliptic and obtuse or oblong-lanceolate, covered when they unfold with long white silky deciduous hairs, at maturity bright green, lustrous and glabrous on the upper surface, finely pubescent and pale or nearly white on the lower surface, 4′—6′ long, 1½′—3′ wide, with a conspicuous midrib and primary veins; falling in the north late in November and in early winter, at the south remaining on the branches with little change of color until the appearance of the new leaves in the spring; petioles slender, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers on slender glabrous pedicels ½′—¾′ long, creamy white, fragrant, globular, 2′—3′ across, continuing to open during several weeks in spring and early summer; sepals membranaceous, obtuse, concave, shorter than the 9—12, obovate often short-pointed concave petals. Fruit ellipsoidal, dark red, glabrous, 2′ long and ½′ thick; seeds obovoid, oval, or suborbicular, much flattened, ¼′ in length.

A slender tree, 20°—30° high, with a trunk rarely more than 15′—20′ in diameter, with small mostly erect ultimately spreading branches and slender bright green branchlets hoary-pubescent when they first appear, soon glabrous, marked by narrow horizontal pale lenticels, gradually turning bright red-brown in their second summer; usually a low shrub. Winter-buds covered with fine silky pubescence, the terminal ½′—¾′ long.

Distribution. Deep swamps; Magnolia, Essex County, Massachusetts, Long Island, New York, and southward from New Jersey generally in the neighborhood of the coast to southeastern Virginia and occasionally in North and South Carolina and Georgia; in Pennsylvania as far west as the neighborhood of Chambersburg, Franklin County. In the southern states usually replaced by the var. australis Sarg., differing in the thick silky white pubescence on the pedicels and branchlets. Leaves persistent without change of color until spring, elliptic to ovate, oblong-obovate or rarely lanceolate, 1′—4′ wide; petioles puberulous, pubescent or tomentose.

A tree, 60°—90° high, with a tall straight trunk occasionally 3° in diameter, small short branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and branchlets usually becoming glabrous in their second year; in southern Florida often much smaller and on the Everglade Keys shrubby, and generally not more than 10° tall. Wood soft, light brown tinged with red, with thick creamy white sapwood of 90—100 layers of annual growth; used in the southern states in the manufacture of broom handles and other articles of wooden ware.

Distribution. Borders of Pine-barren ponds, in shallow swamps and on rich hummocks usually in the neighborhood of the coast; swamps of the lower Cape Fear River near Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, to southern Florida; common in the interior of the Florida peninsula, and westward to the valley of the Nueces River, Texas; ranging inland to Cuthbert, Randolph County, western Georgia, to Tuskegee and Selma, Alabama, Tishomingo County, northeastern Mississippi, and to Winn and Natchitoches Parishes, western Louisiana; less abundant west of the Mississippi River than eastward.

The northern form is often cultivated as a garden plant in the eastern states and in Europe.

× Magnolia major or Thompsoniana, a probable hybrid between Magnolia virginiana and Magnolia tripetala, raised in an English nursery a century ago, and still a favorite garden plant, is intermediate in character between these species.

5. Magnolia tripetala L. Umbrella-tree. Elkwood.

Leaves obovate-lanceolate, narrowed at the ends, acute or bluntly pointed at apex, when they unfold nearly glabrous above, covered below with thick silky caducous tomentum, at maturity membranaceous, glabrous, 18′—20′ long, 8′—10′ wide, with a thick prominent midrib and numerous slender primary veins; falling in the autumn with little change of color; petioles stout, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers on slender glabrous pedicles covered with a glaucous bloom and 2′—2½′ long, cup-shaped, white; sepals narrowly obovate, 5′—6′ long, 1½′ wide, thin, light green, becoming reflexed; petals 6 or 9, concave, coriaceous, ovate, short-pointed, erect, those of the outer row 4′—5′ long and sometimes 2′ wide, much longer and broader than those of the inner rows; filaments bright purple. Fruit ovoid, glabrous, 2½′—4′ long, rose color when fully ripe; seeds obovoid, ½′ long.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a straight or often inclining trunk rarely more than 18′ in diameter, stout irregularly developed contorted branches wide-spreading nearly at right angles with the stem or turning up toward the ends and growing parallel with it, and stout brittle branchlets green during their first season, becoming in their first winter bright reddish brown, very lustrous, and marked by occasional minute scattered pale lenticels, and by the large oval horizontal slightly raised leaf-scars with scattered fibro-vascular bundle-scars, brown during their second and gray during their third season; generally much smaller, sometimes surrounded by several stems springing from near the base of the trunk and growing into a large bush surmounted by the head of the central stem. Winter-buds: terminal, acute or bluntly pointed, purple, glabrous, covered with a glaucous bloom, usually about 1′ long; axillary globose, the color of the branch. Bark ½′ thick, light gray, smooth, and marked by many small bristle-like excrescences. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with creamy white sapwood of 35—40 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Deep rather moist rich soil along the banks of mountain streams or the margins of swamps, and widely distributed in the Appalachian Mountain region, but nowhere very common; valley of the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania (Lancaster and York Counties), to southern Alabama, middle Kentucky and Tennessee, and northeastern Mississippi; in central and southwestern Arkansas; and in southeastern Oklahoma (near Page, Le Flore County, G. W. Stevens), extending in Virginia and North Carolina nearly to the coast; of its largest size in the valleys along the western slopes of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee up to altitudes of 2000°.

Often cultivated as an ornamental tree in the northern states, and in northern and central Europe.

6. Magnolia macrophylla Michx. Large-leaved Cucumber-tree.

Leaves obovate or oblong, acute or often abruptly narrowed and acute or rounded at apex, narrowed and cordate at base, bright green and glabrous on the upper surface, silvery gray and pubescent, especially along the stout midrib and primary veins on the lower surface, 20′—30′ long, 9′—10′ wide; falling in the autumn with little change of color; petioles stout, 3′—4′ in length, at first tomentose, becoming pubescent. Flowers on stout hoary-tomentose pedicels 1′—1½′ long, soon becoming glabrous or puberulous, cup-shaped, fragrant, 10′—12′ across; sepals membranaceous, ovate or oblong, rounded at apex, much narrower than the 6 ovate concave thick creamy white petals with a rose colored blotch at base, 6′—7′ long and 3′—4′ wide, at maturity reflexed above the middle, those of the inner row narrower and often somewhat acuminate. Fruit ovoid to nearly globose, pubescent, 2½′—3′ long, bright rose color when fully ripe; seeds obovoid, compressed, ⅔′ long.

A tree, 30°—50° high, with a straight trunk 18′—20′ in diameter, stout wide-spreading branches forming a broad symmetrical round-topped head, and stout brittle branchlets hoary-tomentose when they first appear, light yellow-green, pubescent, and conspicuously marked during their first winter by the large irregularly shaped sometimes longitudinal slightly raised leaf-scars with many scattered fibro-vascular bundle-scars, turning reddish brown during their second and gray during their third season. Winter-buds: terminal, bluntly pointed, covered with a thick coat of snowy white tomentum, 1¾′—2′ long, ½′—¾′ thick; lateral, much flattened, brownish, pubescent, ⅛′—¼′ long. Bark generally less than ¼′ thick, smooth, light gray, divided on the surface into minute scales. Wood hard, close-grained, light, not strong, light brown, with thick light yellow sapwood of about 40 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Sheltered valleys in deep rich soil; nowhere common, and growing generally in isolated groups of a few individuals; Piedmont region of central North Carolina to middle and western Florida, southern Alabama, southern and northeastern Mississippi to the valley of the Green River, Kentucky; in eastern and western Louisiana; probably most abundant in south-central Mississippi.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in the eastern states, and in the temperate countries of Europe; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

7. Magnolia Fraseri Walt. Mountain Magnolia. Long-leaved Cucumber-tree.

Leaves obovate-spatulate, acute or bluntly pointed at apex, cordate and conspicuously auriculate at base, bright green and often marked on the upper surface when young with red along the principal veins, glabrous, 10′—12′ long, 6′—7′ wide, or on vigorous young plants sometimes of twice that size; falling in the autumn without change of color; petioles slender, 3′—4′ in length. Flowers on stout glabrous pedicels covered with a glaucous bloom and 1′—1½′ long, pale yellow, sweet scented, 8′—10′ across; sepals narrowly obovate, rounded at apex, 4′—5′ long, deciduous almost immediately after the opening of the bud, shorter than the 6 or 9 obovate acuminate membranaceous spreading petals contracted below the middle, those of the inner rows narrower and conspicuously narrowed below. Fruit oblong, glabrous, bright rose-red when fully ripe, 4′—5′ long, 1½′—2′ thick, the mature carpels ending in long subulate persistent tips; seeds obovoid, compressed, ⅝′ long.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a straight or inclining trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, often undivided for half its length or separating at the ground into a number of stout diverging stems, regular wide-spreading or more or less contorted and erect branches, and stout brittle branchlets soon becoming bright red-brown, lustrous, marked by numerous minute pale lenticels and in their first winter by the low horizontal leaf-scars with crowded compressed fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and grayish in their second year. Winter-buds: terminal, glabrous, purple, 1½′—2′ long, ½′ thick; axillary, minute and obtuse. Bark rarely more than ⅓′ thick, dark brown, smooth, covered by small excrescences, or on old trees broken into minute scales. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not strong, light brown, with thick creamy white sapwood of 30—40 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Valleys of the streams of the southern Appalachian Mountains from southwestern Virginia and northeastern Kentucky to northern Georgia; in northern Alabama and in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana (Laurel Hill, R. S. Cocks); in South Carolina eastward to the neighborhood of Aiken, Aiken County; probably most abundant and of largest size on the upper waters of the Savannah River in South Carolina up to altitudes of 4000°.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the eastern states, and in the temperate countries of Europe; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

8. Magnolia pyramidata Pursh.

Leaves obovate-spatulate, the apex usually abruptly narrowed into a short blunt point, auriculate at base, with more or less spreading lobes, thin, glabrous, light yellow-green on the upper, pale and glaucous on the lower surface, particularly while young, 5½′—8½′ long, from 3½′—4½′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib, numerous slender forked primary veins and conspicuously reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, 1¼′—2½′ in length. Flowers creamy white, 3½′—4′ across when fully expanded; sepals oblong-obovate, abruptly narrowed to the short-pointed apex, much shorter than the oblong-acuminate petals gradually narrowed from near the middle to the base. Fruit oblong, 2′—2½′ long, bright rose color, the mature carpels ending in short incurved persistent tips; seeds ovoid, compressed.

A slender tree, 20°—30° high, with ascending branches, slender branchlets bright red-brown and marked by small pale lenticels and by the small low oval leaf-scars with many crowded fibro-vascular bundle-scars, later becoming ashy gray.

Distribution. Low rich soil in the neighborhood of streams; near Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia; near Mariana, Jackson County, and Bristol, Liberty County, Florida; valleys of the Choctawhatchee River, Dale County, and of the Pea River, Coffee County, and near Selma, Dallas County, Alabama; rare and local.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental tree in western Europe.

2. LIRIODENDRON L.

Trees, with deeply furrowed brown bitter bark, and slender branchlets marked by elevated leaf-scars and narrow stipular rings, and compressed obtuse winter-buds, their scales membranaceous stipules joined at the edges, accrescent, strap-shaped, often slightly falcate, oblique at the unequal base, tardily deciduous after the unfolding of the leaf. Leaves recurved in the bud by the bending down of the petiole near the middle, bringing the apex of the blade to the base of the bud, sinuately 4-lobed, heart-shaped, truncate or slightly cuneate at base, truncate at apex by a broad shallow sinus, and minutely apiculate. Flowers appearing after the unfolding of the leaves, cup-shaped, conspicuous, inclosed in the bud in a 2-valved stipular membranaceous caducous spathe; sepals spreading or reflexed, ovate-lanceolate, concave, greenish white, early deciduous; petals erect, rounded at base, early deciduous; filaments filiform, half as long as the linear 2-celled extrorse anthers adnate to the outer face of the connective terminating in a short fleshy point; pistils imbricated on the elongated sessile receptacle into a spindle-shaped column; ovary inserted by a broad base; style narrowly acuminate, laterally flattened, appressed; stigmas short, recurved at the summit; ovules 2, suspended from near the middle of the ventral suture. Fruit a narrow light brown cone formed of the closely imbricated dry and woody indehiscent carpels consisting of a laterally compressed 4-ribbed pericarp, the lateral ribs confluent into the margins of the large wing-like lanceolate compressed style marked vertically by a thin sutural line, the carpels deciduous when ripe in the autumn from the slender elongated axis of the fruit persistent on the branch during the winter. Seeds suspended, 2 or single by abortion; testa thin, coriaceous, and marked by a narrow prominent raphe; embryo minute at the base of the fleshy albumen, its radicle next the hilum.

Liriodendron, widely distributed in North America and Europe during the cretaceous period, is now represented by two species, one in eastern North America, the other L. chinensis Sarg. in central China.

Liriodendron, from λίριον and δένδρον, is descriptive of the lily-like flower.

1. Liriodendron Tulipifera L. Yellow Poplar. Tulip-tree.

Leaves dark green and shining on the upper, paler on the lower surface, 5′—6′ long and broad; turning clear yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, angled, 5′—6′ in length. Flowers 1½′—2′ deep, on slender pedicels ¾′—1′ long; petals green conspicuously marked with orange at base. Fruit 2½′—3′ long, about ½′ thick, ripening late in September and in October, the mature carpels ½′—1½′ long and about ¼′ wide.

A tree, sometimes nearly 200° high, with a straight trunk 8°—10° in diameter, destitute of branches for 80°—100° from the ground, short, comparatively small branches forming a narrow pyramidal, or in old age a broader spreading head, and slender branchlets light yellow-green and often covered with a glaucous bloom during their first summer, reddish brown, lustrous, and marked during their first winter by many small pale lenticels and roughened by the elevated orbicular or semiorbicular leaf-scars marked by numerous small scattered fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and dark gray during their third year. Winter-buds dark red covered by a glaucous bloom, the terminal ½′ long, much longer than the lateral buds. Bark thin and scaly on young trees, becoming deeply furrowed, brown, and 1′—2′ thick. Wood light, soft, brittle, not strong, easily worked, light yellow or brown, with thin creamy white sapwood; largely manufactured into lumber used in construction, the interior finish of houses, boat-building, and for shingles, brooms, and wooden ware. The intensely acrid bitter inner bark, especially of the roots, is used domestically as a tonic and stimulant, and hydrochlorate of tulipiferine, an alkaloid separated from the bark, possesses the property of stimulating the heart.

Distribution. Deep rich rather moist soil on the intervales of streams or on mountain slopes; Worcester County, Massachusetts, to southwestern Vermont (Pownal, Bennington County), and westward to southern Ontario, southern Michigan and northeastern Missouri, and southward to Orange County (Rock Spring Run), Florida, southern Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas; most abundant and of its largest size in the valleys of the lower Ohio basin, and on the slopes of the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee up to altitudes of 5000°.

Often cultivated as an ornamental tree in the eastern states, and in western and central Europe.

XVII. ANONACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, slender terete branchlets marked by conspicuous leaf-scars, and fleshy roots. Leaves alternate, conduplicate in the bud, entire, feather-veined, petiolate, without stipules. Flowers perfect, solitary, axillary or opposite the leaves; sepals 3, valvate in the bud; petals 6, in 2 series, imbricated or valvate in the bud; stamens numerous, inserted on the subglobose or hemispheric receptacle, with distinct filaments shorter than their fleshy connectives terminating in a broad truncate glandular appendage; anthers introrse, 2-celled, opening longitudinally; pistils inserted on the summit of the receptacle; ovary 1-celled; ovules 1 or many, anatropous. Fruit baccate or compound. Seeds inclosed in an aril; seed-coat thin, crustaceous, smooth, brown, and lustrous; albumen ruminate, deeply penetrated by the folds of the inner layer of the seed-coat; embryo minute; radicle next the hilum. Two of the forty-eight or fifty genera of the Custard-apple family, confined almost exclusively to the tropics and more numerous in the Old World than in the New, occur in North America.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GENERA.

Petals imbricated in the bud; ovules numerous; fruit developed from one pistil. 1. Asimina. Petals valvate in the bud; ovule solitary; fruit developed from several confluent pistils. 2. Anona.

1. ASIMINA Adans.

Trees or shrubs, emitting a heavy disagreeable odor when bruised, with minute buds covered with cinereo-pubescent caducous scales, and branchlets marked by conspicuous leaf-scars. Leaves membranaceous, reticulate-venulose, deciduous. Flowers, solitary pedicellate, nodding; sepals ovate, smaller than the petals, green, deciduous; petals imbricated in the bud, hypogynous, sessile, ovate or obovate-oblong, reticulate-veined, accrescent, the three exterior alternate with the sepals, spreading, those of the interior row opposite the sepals, erect, and much smaller than those of the outer row; stamens linear-cuneate, densely packed on the receptacle; filaments shorter than the fleshy connective; anther-cells separated on the connective; pistils 3—15, sessile on the summit of the receptacle, projecting from the globular mass of stamens; ovary 1-celled; style oblong, slightly recurved toward the apex and stigmatic along the margin; ovules 4—20, horizontal, 2-ranked on the ventral suture, the raphe toward the suture. Fruit baccate, sessile or stipitate, oval or oblong, smooth. Seeds in 1 or 2 ranks, ovoid, apiculate, compressed, marked at the base by a large pale hilum.

Asimina is confined to eastern North America. Six species are distinguished; of these one is a small tree; the others are low shrubs of the south Atlantic and Gulf regions.

Asimina is from Asiminier, the old colonial name of the French in America for the Pawpaw.

1. Asimina triloba Dunal. Pawpaw.

Leaves obovate-lanceolate, sharp-pointed at apex, gradually and regularly narrowed to the base, when they unfold covered below with short rusty brown caducous tomentum and slightly pilose above, and at maturity light green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, 10′—12′ long, 4′—6′ wide, with a prominent midrib and primary veins. Flowers nearly 2′ across when fully grown, on stout club-shaped pedicels from axils of the leaves of the previous year, 1′—1½′ long and covered with long scattered rusty brown hairs; sepals ovate, acuminate, pale green, densely pubescent on the outer surface; petals green at first, covered with short appressed hairs, gradually turning brown and at maturity deep vinous red and conspicuously venulose, those of the outer row broadly ovate, rounded or pointed at apex, reflexed at maturity above the middle and 2 or 3 times longer than the sepals, those of the inner row pointed, erect, their base concave, glandular, nectariferous, marked by a broad band of a lighter color. Fruit attached obliquely to the enlarged torus, oblong, nearly cylindric, rounded or sometimes slightly pointed at the ends, more or less falcate, often irregular from the imperfect development of some of the seeds, 3′—5′ long, 1′—1½′ in diameter, greenish-yellow, becoming when fully ripe in September and October dark brown or almost black, with pale yellow or nearly white barely edible flesh on some plants and on others with orange-colored succulent flesh; seeds separating readily from the aril, 1′ long, ½′ broad, rounded at the ends.

A shrub or low tree, sometimes 35°—40° high, with a straight trunk rarely exceeding a foot in diameter, small spreading branches, and slender glabrous or rusty pubescent, light brown branchlets tinged with red and marked by longitudinal parallel or reticulate narrow shallow grooves. Winter-buds acuminate, flattened, ⅛′ long, and clothed with rusty brown hairs. Bark rarely more than ⅛′ thick, dark brown, marked by large ash-colored blotches, covered by small wart-like excrescences and divided by numerous shallow reticulate depressions. Wood light, soft and weak, coarse-grained, spongy, light yellow shaded with green, with thin darker colored sapwood of 12—20 layers of annual growth. The inner bark stripped from the branches in early spring is used by fishermen of western rivers for stringing fish. The sweet and luscious wholesome fruit is sold in large quantities in the cities and towns in those parts of the country where the tree grows naturally.

Distribution. Deep rich moist soil; western New Jersey and western New York (Greece, Monroe County) to the northern shores of Lake Ontario, westward to southern Michigan, southwestern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas and eastern Oklahoma, and southward to Western Florida (Taylor County), central Alabama, and through Mississippi and Louisiana to eastern Texas (near Marshall, Harrison County, and Dennison, Grayson County); comparatively rare in the region adjacent to the Atlantic seaboard; very common in the Mississippi valley, forming thick forest undergrowth on rich bottom-lands, or thickets many acres in extent.

Occasionally cultivated in the eastern states, and hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts; interesting as the most northern representative of the Custard-apple family and its only species extending far beyond the tropics.

2. ANONA L.

Trees or shrubs, with glandular often reticulated bark, terete branchlets marked by conspicuous leaf-scars, and often pubescent during their first season. Leaves coriaceous, often glandular-punctate, persistent or tardily deciduous. Flowers nodding on bracted pedicels; calyx small, 3-lobed, green, deciduous; petals 6 in 2 series, valvate in the bud, hypogynous, sessile, ovate, concave, 3-angled at apex, thick and fleshy, white or yellow, the exterior alternate with the lobes of the calyx, those of the inner row often much smaller than those of the outer row; stamens club-shaped, densely packed on the receptacle; filaments shorter than the fleshy connective; anther-cells confluent; pistils sessile on the receptacle, free or united; ovary 1-celled; style sessile or slightly stipitate, oblong, stigmatic on the inner face; ovule 1, erect; raphe ventral. Fruit compound, many-celled, fleshy, ovoid or globose, many-seeded. Seeds ovoid to ellipsoidal; cotyledons appressed.

Of the fifty species of Anona widely distributed in the tropics of the two worlds, a single species reaches the coast of southern Florida. Of exotic species, Anona muricata L., the Soursop and Anona reticulata L., of the West Indies, and Anona Cherimolia Mill., of western tropical America, are now occasionally cultivated as fruit-trees in Florida.

Anona is the name given by early authors to the Soursop.

1. Anona glabra L. Pond Apple.

Anona palustris Small, not L.

Leaves elliptic or oblong, acute, tapering or rounded at base, bright green on the upper, paler on the lower surface, coriaceous, 3′—5′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, with a prominent midrib; deciduous late in the winter; petioles, stout ½′ in length. Flowers nodding on short stout pedicels thickened at the ends, opening in April from an ovoid 3-angled bud; divisions of the calyx broad-ovate, acute; petals connivent, acute, concave, pale yellow or dirty white, those of the outer row marked on the inner surface near the base by a bright red spot, and broader and somewhat longer than those of the inner row. Fruit ripening in November, broadly ovate, truncate or depressed at base, rounded at apex, 3′—5′ long, 2′—3½′ broad, light green when fully grown, becoming yellow and often marked by numerous dark brown blotches when fully ripe, with a thick elongate fibrous torus and light green slightly aromatic insipid flesh of no comestible value; seeds ½′ long, slightly obovoid, turgid, rounded at the ends, their margins contracted into a narrow wing formed by the thickening of the outer coat.

A tree, 40°—50° high, with a short trunk often 18′ in diameter above the swell of the thickened tapering base sometimes enlarged into spreading buttresses, stout wide-spreading often contorted branches, slender branchlets brown or yellow during their first season, becoming in their second year brown and marked by small scattered wart-like excrescences. Bark ⅛′ thick, dark reddish brown, divided by broad shallow fissures, separating on the surface into numerous small scales. Wood light, soft, not strong, light brown streaked with yellow.

Distribution. Florida: Indian River on the east coast, and the shores of the Manatee River on the west coast to the southern Keys; in shallow fresh water ponds, on swampy hummocks, or on the borders of fresh water streams flowing from the everglades; of its largest size on the shores of Bay Biscayne near the Miami River, growing in the shade of larger trees; forming a pure forest of great extent on the swampy borders of Lake Okechobee; on the Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles.

XVIII. LAURACEÆ.

Aromatic trees and shrubs, with slender terete or angled branchlets, naked or scaly buds, and alternate punctate leaves without stipules. Flowers small, perfect or polygamo-diœcious, yellow or greenish; calyx 6-lobed, the lobes in 2 series, imbricated in the bud; corolla 0; stamens 9 or 12, inserted on the base or near the middle of the calyx in 3 or 4 series of 3’s, distinct; anthers 4-celled, superposed in pairs, opening from below upward by persistent lids; ovary 1-celled; stigma discoid or capitate; ovule solitary, suspended from the apex of the cell, anatropous. Fruit a 1-seeded berry; seed without albumen; testa thin and membranaceous, of 2 coats; embryo erect; cotyledons thick and fleshy; radicle superior, turned toward the hilum, included between thick and fleshy cotyledons. The Laurel family with about forty genera, confined mostly to the tropics, is represented in North America by seven genera; of these five are arborescent.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.

Leaves entire, persistent; stamens 12, those of the inner row reduced to staminodes. Calyx-lobes persistent under the fruit, in our species. 1. Persea. Calyx-lobes deciduous. Flower cymose in axillary or subterminal panicles. 2. Ocotea. Flowers in axillary many-flowered umbels inclosed before anthesis in an involucre of deciduous scales. 3. Umbellularia. Leaves entire or lobed, deciduous; stamens 9 in the American species; flowers in few-flowered drooping racemes. 4. Sassafras. Leaves entire, persistent; stamens 9, those of the outer row fertile and united in a column inclosing the pistil; flowers in terminal or axillary cymose panicles. 5. Misanteca.

1. PERSEA Mill.

Trees, with naked buds. Leaves revolute in the bud, alternate, scattered, penniveined, subcoriaceous, rigid, tomentose or rarely glabrous, persistent. Flowers perfect, vernal, in short axillary or axillary and terminal panicles on slender peduncles from axils of the leaves of the year, pedicellate, their pedicels bibracteolate near the middle, the lateral flowers of the ultimate divisions of the inflorescence in the axils of small deciduous lanceolate acute bracts; calyx campanulate, divided nearly to the base into 6 lobes, those of the outer series shorter than the others, deciduous, or enlarged and persistent under the fruit; stamens about as long as the inner lobes of the calyx; filaments flattened, longer than the anthers, hirsute, those of the third series furnished near the base with 2 nearly sessile orange-colored glands rounded on the back and slightly 2-lobed on the inner face; anthers ovoid, flattened, erect, those of the outer series introrse or subintrorse, those of the third series extrorse or laterally dehiscent, the upper cells rather larger than the lower; staminodes large, sagittate, stipitate, 2-lobed on the inner face, beaded at apex; ovary sessile, subglobose, glabrous, narrowed into a slender simple style gradually enlarged at apex into a discoid obscurely 2-lobed stigma. Fruit ripening in the autumn, oblong-obovoid to subglobose, more or less fleshy. Seed globose, pendulous, without albumen; testa thin and membranaceous, separable into 2 coats, the outer cartilaginous, grayish brown, the inner gray or nearly white, closely adherent to the thick dark red cotyledons.

About one hundred species of Persea are distinguished. They are distributed in the New World, from the coast region of the southeastern United States and Texas to Brazil and Chile, and occur in the Canary Islands and in tropical and subtropical Asia. Persea americana Mill., the Avocado or Alligator Pear, a native of the Antilles and cultivated for its edible fruit in all tropical countries, is now sparingly naturalized in southern Florida. Many species yield hard dark-colored handsome wood valued in cabinet-making.

Persea was the classical name of a tree of the Orient, transferred by Plumier to one of the tropical species of this genus.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Calyx persistent under the fruit (Tamala Raf. Persea, sec. Eupersea Benth. Notaphoebe sec. Eriodaphne Meisn.) Peduncles short; leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, obscurely veined, glabrous; branchlets puberulous. 1. P. Borbonia (C). Peduncles elongated; leaves elliptic to lanceolate, conspicuously veined, tomentose on the lower surface; branchlets tomentose. 2. P. palustris (C).

1. Persea Borbonia Spreng. Red Bay.

Leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, entire, often slightly contracted into a long point rounded at apex, gradually narrowed below, when they unfold thin, pilose, and tinged with red, and at maturity thick and coriaceous, bright green and lustrous above, pale and glaucous below, 3′—4′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide, with thickened revolute margins, a narrow orange-colored midrib, remote obscure primary veins arcuate near the margins, and thin closely reticulated veinlets; unfolding early in the spring, gradually turning yellow a year later, and falling during their second spring and summer; petioles stout, rigid, red-brown, ½′—⅔′ in length, flattened and somewhat grooved on the upper side, in falling leaving small circular leaf-scars displaying the end of a single fibro-vascular bundle. Flowers: peduncles glabrous, ½′—1′ in length; calyx pale yellow or creamy white, about ⅛′ long, with thin lobes ciliate on the margins, the outer broadly ovate, rounded and minutely apiculate, puberulous, about half as long as the oblong-lanceolate acute lobes of the inner series covered within by long pale hairs. Fruit ½′ long, dark blue or nearly black, very lustrous; flesh thin and dry, not readily separable from the ovoid slightly pointed seed.

A tree, 60°—70° high, with a trunk 2½°—3° in diameter, stout erect branches forming a dense shapely head, thick fleshy yellow roots, and branchlets many-angled, light brown, glabrous or coated with pale or rufous pubescence when they first appear, becoming in their second year terete and dark green; usually much smaller. Winter-buds coated with thick rufous tomentum, ¼′ long. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, dark red, deeply furrowed and irregularly divided into broad flat ridges separating on the surface into small thick appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, very strong, rather brittle, close-grained, bright red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth; occasionally used for cabinet-making, the interior finish of houses, and formerly in ship and boat-building.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps in rich moist soil, or occasionally in dry sandy loam in forests of the Long-leaved Pine; southern Delaware (Cypress swamp near Dogsboro, Sussex County, teste Nuttall); coast region from Virginia to the shores of Bay Biscayne and Cape Romano, Florida, along the Gulf coast to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas, and northward through Louisiana to southern Arkansas.

2. Persea palustris Sarg. Swamp Bay.

Persea pubescens Sarg.

Leaves elliptic or lanceolate, entire, often narrowed toward the apex into a long point, gradually narrowed at base, when they unfold dark red, thin and tomentose, at maturity pale green and lustrous above, pale and pubescent and rusty-tomentose on the midrib and primary veins below, 4′—6′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide, with thick conspicuous veins and slightly revolute margins; persistent until after the beginning of their second year and then turning yellow and falling gradually; petioles stout, rusty-tomentose, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers: peduncles tomentose, 2′—3′ in length; calyx pale yellow or creamy white, often nearly ¼′ long, with thick firm lobes coated on the outer surface with rusty tomentum, those of the outer series broadly ovate, abruptly pointed at apex, pubescent on the inner surface, about half as long as the ovate lanceolate lobes of the inner series slightly thickened at the apex and hairy within. Fruit nearly black, ¾′ long.

A slender tree, occasionally 30°—40° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding a foot in diameter, and stout branchlets terete or slightly angled while young, coated when they first appear with rusty tomentum reduced in their second season to fine pubescence persistent until the end of their second or third year. Bark rarely exceeding ¼′ in thickness, dull brown, irregularly divided by shallow fissures, the surface separating into thick appressed scales. Wood heavy, soft, strong, close-grained, orange color streaked with brown, with thick light brown or gray sapwood of 36—40 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Pine-barren swamps, often almost to the exclusion of other plants, usually in the neighborhood of the coast from southeastern Virginia (Dismal Swamp) to the valley of the Caloosahatchee River and the Everglades Keys, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi; extending inland to the neighborhood of Wilmington, North Carolina, Aiken, South Carolina, western Georgia (Meriwether County), the interior of the Florida peninsula and to Autauga, Chilton and Tuscaloosa Counties, Alabama (R. H. Harper).

2. OCOTEA Aubl.

Leaves scattered, alternate or rarely subopposite, penniveined, coriaceous, rigid, glabrous or more or less covered with pubescence. Flowers glabrous or tomentose on slender bibracteolate pedicels from the axils of lanceolate acute minute bracts, in cymose clusters in axillary or subterminal stalked panicles; calyx-tube campanulate, the 6 lobes of the limb nearly equal, deciduous; stamens of the inner series reduced to linear staminodes, with minute abortive anthers; filaments inserted on the tube of the calyx, those of the outer series opposite its exterior lobes, shorter or sometimes rather longer than the anthers, glabrous or hirsute, furnished in the third series near the base with two conspicuous globose stalked yellow glands; anthers oblong, flattened, 4-celled, introrse in the 2 outer series, extrorse, subextrorse, or very rarely introrse in the third series, in the pistillate flower rudimentary and sterile; ovary ovoid, glabrous, more or less immersed in the tube of the calyx, gradually narrowed into a short erect style dilated at apex into a capitate obscurely lobed stigma; in the staminate flower linear-lanceolate, effete or minute, sometimes 0; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit nearly inclosed while young in the thickened tube of the calyx, exserted at maturity, surrounded at base by the cup-like truncate or slightly lobed calyx-tube; pericarp thin and fleshy. Seed ovoid, pendulous; testa thin, membranaceous.

Ocotea with nearly two hundred species is confined principally to the tropical region of the New World from southern Florida to Brazil and Peru, with Old World representatives in the Canary Islands, South Africa, and the Mascarene Islands. One species grows naturally in Florida.

Ocotea produces hard, strong, durable, beautifully colored wood often employed in cabinet-making.

The name is derived from the native name of one of the species of Guiana.

1. Ocotea Catesbyana Sarg.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, entire, slightly contracted above into a long point rounded at apex, when they unfold thin, membranaceous, light green tinged with red, and sometimes puberulous on the lower surface, at maturity thick and coriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, 3′—6′ long, 1′—2′ wide, with thickened slightly revolute margins, a broad stout midrib, slender remote primary veins arcuate and united near the margins and connected by coarsely reticulate conspicuous veinlets; petioles broad, flat, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers perfect, appearing in early summer in elongated panicles, their peduncles slender, glabrous, light red, solitary or 2 or 3 together from the axils of the leaves of the year or from those of the previous year, and 3′—4′ long; calyx nearly ¼′ across when expanded, puberulous on the outer surface, hoary pubescent on the inner surface and on the margins of the lobes, about twice as long as the stamens; filaments of the 2 outer series slightly hirsute at the base and shorter than their introrse anthers; filaments of the third series as long or longer than their extrorse anthers. Fruit ripening in the autumn, ovoid or subglobose, ⅔′ long, lustrous, dark blue or nearly black, the thickened cup-like tube of the calyx truncate or obscurely lobed and bright red like the thickened pedicels; flesh thin and dry; seed with a thin brittle red-brown coat, the inner layer lustrous on the inner surface and marked by broad light-colored veins radiating from the small hilum; embryo ⅓′ long, light red-brown.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 18′ in diameter, slender spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and thin terete branchlets glabrous and dark reddish brown when they first appear, soon becoming lighter colored, and in their second year light brown or gray tinged with red and often marked by minute pale lenticels, and in their second or third year by small semiorbicular leaf-scars, displaying a single central fibro-vascular bundle-scar. Bark about ⅛′ thick, dark reddish brown, and roughened on the otherwise smooth surface by numerous small excrescences. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, rich dark brown, with thick bright yellow sapwood of 20—30 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Shores and islands of Florida south of Cape Canaveral on the east coast and of Cape Romano on the west coast; comparatively common except on some of the western keys, and most abundant and of its largest size in the rich wooded hummocks adjacent to Bay Biscayne; in the Bahamas.

3. UMBELLULARIA Nutt.

A pungent aromatic tree, with dark brown scaly bark, slender terete branchlets marked in their second and third years by small semicircular or nearly triangular elevated leaf-scars displaying a horizontal row of minute fibro-vascular bundle-scars, naked buds, and thick fleshy brown roots. Leaves alternate, involute in the bud, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or rounded at the narrow apex, cuneate or somewhat rounded at base, entire with thickened slightly revolute margins, petiolate, coated when they appear on the lower surface with pale soft pubescence and puberulous on the upper surface, at maturity thick and coriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, dull and paler below, with a slender light yellow midrib, and remote, obscure, arcuate veins more or less united near the margins, and connected by conspicuous reticulate veinlets. Flowers perfect in axillary stalked many-flowered umbels, inclosed in the bud by an involucre of 5 or 6 imbricated broadly ovate or obovate pointed concave yellow caducous scales, the latest umbels subsessile at the base of terminal leaf-buds; pedicels slender, puberulous, without bractlets, from the axils of obovate membranaceous puberulous deciduous bracts decreasing in size from the outer to the inner; calyx divided almost to the base into 6 nearly equal broadly obovate rounded pale yellow lobes spreading and reflexed after anthesis; stamens inserted on the short slightly thickened tube of the calyx; filaments flat, glabrous, pale yellow, rather shorter than the anthers, those of the third series furnished near the base with 2 conspicuous stipitate orange-colored orbicular flattened glands; anthers oblong, flattened, light yellow, those of the first and second series introrse, those of the third series extrorse; stamens of the fourth series reduced to minute ovate acute yellow staminodes; ovary sessile, ovoid, often more or less gibbous, glabrous, abruptly contracted into a stout columnar style rather shorter than the lobes of the calyx and crowned by a simple capitate discoid stigma. Fruit ovoid, surrounded at base by the enlarged and thickened truncate or lobed tube of the calyx, yellow-green sometimes more or less tinged with purple; pericarp thin and fleshy. Seed ovoid, light brown; testa separable into 2 coats, the outer thick, hard, and woody, the inner thin and papery, closely investing the embryo, chestnut-brown and lustrous on the inner surface.

Umbellularia consists of a single species.

The generic name, a diminutive of umbella, relates to the character of the inflorescence.

1. Umbellularia californica Nutt. California Laurel. Spice-tree.

Leaves 2′—5′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, unfolding in winter or early in the spring and continuing to appear as the branches lengthen until late in the autumn; beginning to fade during the summer, turning to a beautiful yellow or orange color and falling one by one during their second season, or often remaining on the branches until the sixth year; petioles 1/10′—⅕′ in length. Flowers appearing in January before the unfolding of the young leaves, the umbels on peduncles sometimes 1′ in length. Fruit about 1′ long, in clusters of 2 or 3, on elongated thickened pedicels, persistent on the branch after the fruit ripens and falls late in the autumn; seeds germinating soon after they reach the ground, the fruit remaining below the surface of the soil and attached to the young plant until midsummer.

A tree, usually 20°—75°, occasionally 100°—175° high, with a trunk 3°—6° in diameter, sometimes tall and straight but usually divided near the ground into several large diverging stems, stout spreading or rarely pendulous (var. pendula Redh.) branches forming a broad round-topped head, and branchlets light green and coated with soft pale pubescence when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous and yellow-green, and in their second and third years light brown tinged with red; at high altitudes, and in southern California much smaller; often reduced to a large or small shrub, or on bluffs facing the ocean to broad mats of prostrate stems. Bark ¾′—1′ thick, dark brown tinged with red, separating on the surface into thin appressed scales. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light rich brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 30—40 layers of annual growth; the most valuable wood produced in the forests of Pacific North America for the interior finish of houses and for furniture. The leaves yield by distillation a pungent volatile oil, and from the fruit a fat containing umbellulic acid has been obtained.

Distribution. Valley of Coos River, Oregon, southward through the California coast ranges and along the high western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the southern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains up to altitudes of 2500°; usually near the banks of water-courses and sometimes on low hills; common where it can obtain an abundant supply of water; most abundant and of its largest size in the rich valleys of southwestern Oregon, forming with the Broad-leaved Maple a considerable part of the forest growth.

4. SASSAFRAS Nees. Sassafras.

Pseudosassafras H. Lec.

Aromatic trees, with thick deeply furrowed dark red-brown bark, scaly buds, slender light green lustrous brittle branchlets containing a thick white mucilaginous pith and marked by small semiorbicular elevated leaf-scars displaying a single horizontal row of minute fibro-vascular bundle-scars, and stout spongy stoloniferous roots covered by thick yellow bark. Flower-bearing buds terminal, ovoid, acute, with 9 or 10 imbricated scales increasing in size from without inward, the 3 outer scales ovate, rounded, often apiculate at apex, keeled and thickened on the back, pale yellow-green below, dull yellow-brown above the middle, loosely imbricated, slightly or not at all accrescent, deciduous at the opening of the bud, much smaller than the thin accrescent light yellow-green scales of the next rows turning dull red before falling, and obovate, rounded at apex, cuneate below, concave, coated on the outer surface with soft silky pubescence, glabrous or lustrous on the inner surface, reflexed, ¾′ long, nearly ½′ broad, tardily deciduous, the 2 inner scales foliaceous, lanceolate, acute, light green, coated on the outer surface with delicate pale hairs, glabrous on the inner surface, infolding the leaves; sterile and axillary buds much smaller. Leaves involute in the bud, ovate or obovate, entire or often 1—3-lobed at apex, the lobes broadly ovate, acute, divided by deep broad sinuses, gradually narrowed at base into elongated slender petioles, feather-veined, with alternate veins arcuate and united or running to the points of the lobes, the lowest parallel with the margins, conspicuously reticulate-venulose, mucilaginous, deciduous. Flowers opening in early spring with the first unfolding of the leaves, the males and females usually on different individuals, in lax drooping few-flowered racemes in the axils of large obovate bud-scales, their pedicels slender, rarely forked and 2-flowered, without bracts, pilose, from the axils of linear acute scarious hairy deciduous bracts, or that of the terminal flower often without a bract; calyx pale yellow-green, divided nearly to the base into narrow obovate concave lobes spreading or reflexed after anthesis, glabrous or pubescent on the inner surface, those of the inner row a little larger than the others; stamens in the American species 9, in the Asiatic 12 with those of the inner series reduced to staminodes, inserted on the somewhat thickened margin of the shallow concave calyx-tube, those of the outer series opposite its outer lobes; filaments flattened, elongated, light yellow, those of the inner series furnished at base with 2 conspicuous orange-colored stipitate glands rounded on the back, obscurely lobed on the inner face, in the Asiatic species alternating with 3 staminodes; anthers introrse, oblong, flattened, truncate or emarginate at apex, 4-celled, 2-celled in the Formosan species, orange-colored, in the female flower reduced to flattened ovate pointed or slightly 2-lobed dark orange-colored stipitate staminodes, 6 in 2 rows in the American species and 12 similar to the stamens and staminodes of the staminate flower in the Asiatic species; or occasionally fertile and similar to or a little smaller than those of the staminate flower; ovary ovoid, light green, glabrous, nearly sessile in the short tube of the calyx, narrowed into an elongated simple style gradually enlarged above into a capitate oblique obscurely lobed stigma; in the staminate flower 0 in the American species, present, usually abortive, rarely fertile in the Asiatic species. Fruit an oblong dark blue or black lustrous berry surrounded at base by the enlarged and thickened obscurely 6-lobed or truncate scarlet or orange-red limb of the calyx, raised on a much elongated scarlet stalk thickened above the middle; pericarp thin and fleshy. Seed oblong, pointed, light brown; testa thin, membranaceous, barely separable into 2 coats, the inner coat much thinner than the outer, dark chestnut-brown, and lustrous.

Sassafras is confined to temperate eastern North America, central China and to Formosa where Sassafras tzumu Hemsl. and S. randaiense Rehd. occur.

Sassafras was first used as a popular name for this tree by the French in Florida.

1. Sassafras officinale Nees & Ebermaier.

Sassafras Sassafras Karst.

Leaves 4′—6′ long, 2′—4′ wide, densely pubescent when they first appear, pubescent or puberulous below at maturity especially on the midrib and veins; turning in the autumn delicate shades of yellow or orange more or less tinged with red; petioles ¾′—1½′ in length. Flowers ⅓′ long when fully expanded glabrous on the inner surface of the perianth, in racemes about 2′ in length, stamens 9. Fruit ripening in September and October, blue, ⅓′ long, on stalks 1½′—2′ in length, separating when ripe from the thick scarlet calyx-lobes persistent with the stalks of the fruit on the branches until the beginning of winter.

A tree, occasionally 80°—90° high, with a trunk nearly 6° in diameter, short stout more or less contorted branches spreading almost at right angles and forming a narrow usually flat-topped head, and slender branchlets light yellow-green and coated when they first appear with pale pubescence, becoming glabrous, bright green and lustrous, gradually turning reddish brown at the end of two or three years; frequently not more than 40°—50° tall; at the north and in Florida generally smaller and often shrubby. Winter-buds ¼′—⅜′ long. Bark of young stems and branches thin, reddish brown divided by shallow fissures, becoming on old trunks sometimes 1½′ thick, dark red-brown, and deeply and irregularly divided into broad flat ridges separating on the surface into thick appressed scales. Wood soft, weak, brittle, coarse-grained, very durable in the soil, aromatic, dull orange-brown, with thin light yellow sapwood of 7 or 8 layers of annual growth; largely used for fence-posts and rails, in the construction of light boats, ox-yokes, and in cooperage. The roots and especially their bark are a mild aromatic stimulant, and oil of sassafras, used to perfume soap and other articles, is distilled from them. Gumbo filet, a powder prepared from the leaves by the Choctaw Indians of Louisiana, gives flavor and consistency to gumbo soup. Passing into the var. albidum Blake, with glabrous or nearly glabrous young leaves, glabrous often glaucous young branchlets, and lighter colored less valuable wood; uplands of western New England to the mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

Distribution. Usually in rich sandy well-drained soil, southern Maine and eastern Massachusetts, through southern Vermont to southern Ontario, central Michigan, and southeastern Iowa to eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, and southward to central Florida (Orange County) and the valley of the Brazos River, Texas; ascending on the southern Appalachian Mountains to altitudes of 4000°; in the south Atlantic and Gulf states often taking possession of abandoned fields.

Occasionally cultivated in the eastern states as an ornamental tree.

5. MISANTECA Cham. & Schl.

Trees with terete branchlets. Leaves coriaceous, persistent. Flowers perfect, minute, on slender pedicels, in terminal or axillary cymose panicles; peduncles and pedicels from the axils of acuminate caducous bracts and bractlets; perianth fleshy, ovoid or obovoid, 6-toothed; stamens 9, inserted near the middle of the perianth, those of the outer rank united into a fleshy column, furnished at base with three pairs of glands, inclosing the pistil and slightly longer than the perianth, those of the inner ranks, sterile, short or obsolete; anthers extrorse, 2-celled, the cells united; ovary gradually narrowed into a thick style as long as the staminal tube; stigma capitate. Fruit baccate, olive-shaped, surrounded at base by the enlarged ligneous capsular perianth of the flower much thickened on the margin; pericarp thin and fleshy; endocarp thin, crustaceous; seed filling the cavity of the fruit; testa thin, crustaceous; hilum minute, apical; cotyledons plano-convex, fleshy; radicle superior, minute.

Of the three species of the genus now known one occurs in southern Florida and Cuba, and the others in tropical Mexico.

The name of the genus is derived from the name of the tree, Palo Misanteca at Misantha, near the coast of the state of Vera Cruz where the type species was discovered.

1. Misanteca triandra Mez.

Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, ovate or broad-elliptic, entire, abruptly long-pointed and acuminate at apex, gradually narrowed and acuminate at base, deeply tinged with red and villose on the under side of the midrib when they unfold, soon glabrous, and at maturity dark green and lustrous above, pale below, 3′—4′ long and 1½′—2′ wide, with slightly undulate margins, a prominent midrib, slender primary veins, and reticulate veinlets conspicuous on the lower surface; petioles stout, narrow wing-margined at apex, pubescent when they first appear, soon glabrous, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers glabrous or puberulous, purplish, about 1/12′ long, in 3—5-flowered cymes on slender peduncles, in pubescent panicles shorter than the leaves; tube of the perianth funnel-form, the lobes equal, triangular, acute; column of stamens pilose; ovary glabrous. Fruit in few-fruited clusters on much elongated and thickened peduncles, ellipsoidal or slightly ovoid, acute, dark blue, ⅘′ long and ⅗′ thick; cupule light red, thickened and verrucose, acute at base, the margin reflexed, thin and entire on the inner edge, thick and crenulate on the outer edge; seed ellipsoidal, pointed at apex, rounded at base, light brown, slightly ridged when dry.

A tree in Florida 40°—50° high, with a tall trunk 15′—20′ in diameter, small spreading and pendent branches forming a broad round-topped head, and slender red branchlets pubescent when they first appear, soon becoming glabrous, and marked by numerous large pale lenticels.

Rich hummocks between Miami and Homestead, Dade County, Florida; in Cuba and Jamaica.

XIX. CAPPARIDACEÆ.

Annual or perennial herbs, trees, or shrubs, with acrid often pungent juices, alternate or rarely opposite leaves, regular or irregular usually perfect flowers in terminal cymes or racemes or solitary, numerous ovules inserted in two rows on each of the two placentas, capsular or baccate 1-celled fruit, and seeds without albumen. A family of thirty-four genera, mostly confined to the warmer parts of the world and widely distributed in the two hemispheres. Of the seven genera which occur in North America only one has an arborescent representative.

1. CAPPARIS L.

Trees, with naked buds. Leaves conduplicate in the bud, entire, feather-veined, coriaceous, persistent, without stipules. Flowers regular, in terminal cymes; sepals 4, valvate in the bud, glandular on the inner surface; petals 4, inserted on the base of the short receptacle; stamens numerous, inserted on the receptacle, their filaments free, elongated, much longer than the introrse 2-celled anthers opening longitudinally; ovary long-stalked, 2-celled, with 2 parietal placentas; stigmas sessile, orbicular; ovules campylotropous. Fruit baccate, siliquiform (in the North American species) separating into 3 or 4 valves. Seeds reniform, numerous, surrounded by pulp; seed-coat coriaceous; embryo convolute; cotyledons foliaceous, fleshy.

Capparis, with more than one hundred species, mostly tropical, is found in the two hemispheres, the largest number of species occurring in Central and South America. Two of the West Indian species reach the shores of southern Florida, the most northern station of the genus in America; of these one is arborescent.

Capparis, from κάππαρις, the classical name of Capparis spinosa L., is derived from the Persian kabor, capers, the dried flower-buds of that species.

1. Capparis jamaicensis Jacq.

Leaves oblong-lanceolate, rounded and emarginate at apex, slightly revolute, coriaceous, light yellow-green, smooth and lustrous on the upper surface, covered on the lower by minute ferrugineous scales, 2′—3′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a prominent midrib and inconspicuous primary veins; petioles stout covered at first with ferrugineous scales often becoming nearly glabrous, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers 1¼′ in diameter, opening in Florida in April and May from obtuse or acute, 4-angled buds; sepals ovate, acute, lepidote on the outer surface, furnished on the inner with a small ovate gland, recurved when the flower is fully expanded, and about half the size of the round white petals turning purple in fading; stamens 20—30, with purple filaments villose toward the base, 1½′—2′ long; anthers yellow; ovary raised on a slender stipe about 1½′ in length. Fruit 9′—12′ long, terete, sometimes slightly torulose, pubescent-lepidote, the long stalk appearing jointed by the enlargement of the pedicel and torus below the insertion of the stipe; seed light brown, 1¼′ long.

A small slender shrubby tree, 18°—20° high, with a trunk sometimes 5′—6′ in diameter, and thin angled branchlets dark gray, smooth or slightly rugose, and covered with minute ferrugineous scales. Bark rarely more than ⅛′ thick, slightly fissured, the dark red-brown surface broken into small irregularly shaped divisions. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, yellow faintly tinged with red, with lighter colored sapwood of about 15 layers of annual growth.

Distribution. Coast of Florida; Cape Canaveral and Cape Sable to the southern keys; generally distributed, but nowhere abundant; common on several of the Antilles.

XX. HAMAMELIDACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, slender terete branchlets, naked or scaly buds, and fibrous roots. Leaves alternate, petiolate, stipulate, deciduous. Flowers perfect or unisexual; calyx 4-parted or 0; petals 4 or 0; stamens 4—8; anthers attached at the base, introrse, 2-celled; ovary inserted in the bottom of the receptacle, 2-celled; ovules 1 or many, anatropous, suspended from an axile placenta; micropyle superior; raphe ventral. Fruit a woody capsule opening at the summit. Seed usually 1; embryo surrounded by fleshy albumen; cotyledons oblong, flat, longer than the terete radicle turned toward the hilum. The Witch Hazel family with twenty genera is confined to eastern North America, southwestern, southern, and eastern Asia, the Malay Archipelago, Madagascar, and South Africa. Of the three North American genera two are arborescent.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.

Flowers usually unisexual, capitate, without petals, limb of the calyx short or nearly obsolete; capsules consolidated by their base into a globose head; seed with a terminal wing; leaves palmately lobed. 1. Liquidambar. Flowers usually perfect, with calyx and corolla; capsules not consolidated into a head; seed without a wing. 2. Hamamelis.

1. LIQUIDAMBAR L.

Trees, with balsamic juices, scaly bark, terete often winged branchlets, scaly buds, and fibrous roots. Leaves plicate in the bud, alternate, palmately lobed, glandular-serrate, long-petiolate; stipules lanceolate, acute, caducous. Flowers monœcious or rarely perfect in capitate heads surrounded by an involucre of 4 deciduous bracts, the staminate in terminal racemes, the pistillate in solitary long-stalked heads from the axils of upper leaves; staminate flowers without a calyx and corolla; stamens indefinite, interspersed with minute scales; filaments filiform, shorter than the oblong obcordate anthers opening longitudinally; pistillate flowers surrounded by long-awned scales, the whole confluent into a globular head; calyx obconic, its limb short or nearly obsolete; stamens usually 4, inserted on the summit of the calyx; anthers minute, usually rudimentary or abortive, rarely fertile; ovary partly inferior, of 2 united carpels terminating in elongated subulate recurved persistent styles stigmatic on the inner face; ovules numerous. Capsules armed with the hardened incurved elongated styles free above, septicidally dehiscent, consolidated by their base into a globose head; pericarp thick and woody; endocarp thin, corneous, lustrous on the inner surface. Seeds usually solitary or 2 by the abortion of many ovules, compressed, angulate; seed-coat opaque, crustaceous, produced into a short membranaceous obovate terminal wing rounded at the oblique apex.

Liquidambar with about four species is confined to the eastern United States, southern and central Mexico, Central America, southwestern Asia, middle and southeastern China, and Formosa. Liquid storax, an opaque grayish brown resin, is derived from Liquidambar orientalis Mill., a native of Asia Minor.

Liquidambar from liquidus and ambar in allusion to the fragrant juices.

1. Liquidambar Styraciflua L. Sweet Gum. Bilsted.

Leaves generally round in outline, truncate or slightly heart-shaped at base, deeply 5—7-lobed, with acutely pointed divisions finely serrate with rounded appressed teeth, when they unfold pilose on the lower surface, soon becoming glabrous with the exception of large tufts of pale rufous hairs in the axils of the principal veins, at maturity thin, bright green, smooth and lustrous, 6′—7′ across, with broad primary veins and finely reticulate veinlets; exhaling when bruised a pleasant resinous fragrance; in the autumn turning deep crimson; petioles slender, covered at first near the base with rufous caducous hairs, and 5′—6′ in length; stipules entire, glabrous, ⅓′—½′ long. Flowers: staminate in terminal racemes 2′—3′ long covered with rufous hairs, in heads stalked toward the base of the raceme and nearly sessile above, ¼′ in diameter, and surrounded by ovate acute deciduous hairy bracts much larger than the lanceolate acute bracts of the female inflorescence ½′ across and conspicuous from the broad stigmatic surfaces of the recurved and contorted styles. Fruit 1′—1½′ in diameter, persistent during the winter, the carpels opening in the autumn; seed ½′ long and rather longer than its wing, with a light brown coat conspicuously marked by oblong resin-ducts.

A tree, 80°—140° high, with a straight trunk 4°—5° in diameter, slender branches forming while the tree is young a pyramidal head, and in old age a comparatively small oblong crown, and slender branchlets containing a large pith, slightly many-angled, covered when they first appear with caducous rufous hairs, light orange color to reddish brown in their first winter, marked by occasional minute dark lenticels and by large arcuate leaf-scars showing the ends of 3 conspicuous fibro-vascular bundles, developing in their second season corky wings appearing on the upper side of lateral branches in 3 or 4 parallel ranks and irregularly on all sides of vertical branches, and increasing in width and thickness for many years, sometimes becoming 2′—3′ broad and 1′ thick. Winter-buds acute, ¼′ long, and covered by ovate acute minutely apiculate orange-brown scales rounded on the back, those of the inner rows accrescent, tipped with red, and about 1′ long at maturity. Wood heavy, hard, straight, close-grained, not strong, bright brown tinged with red, with thin almost white sapwood of 60—70 layers of annual growth; used for the outside and inside finish of houses, in cabinet-making, for street pavement, wooden dishes, and fruit boxes.

Distribution. Fairfield County, Connecticut, and in the neighborhood of the coast to southeastern Pennsylvania, southward to Cape Canaveral and the shores of Tampa Bay, Florida, and westward through southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to southeastern Missouri, and through Arkansas to eastern Oklahoma and the valley of the Trinity River, Texas; reappearing on the mountains of central and southern Mexico and on the highlands of Guatemala; in the maritime region of the south Atlantic and Gulf states and in the basin of the lower Mississippi River one of the common trees of the forest, covering rich river bottom-lands usually inundated every year; in the northern and middle states on the borders of swamps and low wet swales; at the north rarely more than 60°—70° tall, with a trunk usually not more than 2° in diameter.

Unsurpassed in the brilliancy of the autumnal colors of the leaves; and often planted as an ornamental tree in the eastern states.

2. HAMAMELIS L. Witch Hazel.

Trees or shrubs, with scaly bark, terete zigzag branchlets, naked buds, and fibrous roots. Leaves involute in the bud, more or less unsymmetrical at base, crenately toothed or lobed, the primary veins conspicuous; stipules acute, infolding the bud, deciduous. Flowers perfect, autumnal or hiemal, in 3 or rarely 4-flowered terminal clusters, from buds appearing in summer, on short recurved peduncles from the axils of leaves of the year, furnished near the middle with 2 acute deciduous bractlets, covered like their acute bracts and bractlets with dark ferrugineous pubescence, each flower surrounded by 2 or 3 ovate acute bracts, the outer slightly united at base into a 3-lobed involucre; calyx 4-parted pale pubescent on the outer surface, orange-brown, yellow or red on the inner surface, persistent on the base of the ovary, the lobes reflexed; petals bright yellow, inserted on the margin of the cup-shaped receptacle, alternate with the sepals, strap-shaped, falling with the stamens when the ovules are fertilized; stamens 8, inserted in 2 rows on the margin of the receptacle, the 4 opposite the lobes of the calyx fertile, the others reduced to minute strap-shaped scales; filaments free, shorter than the calyx, prolonged into a thickened pointed connective; anthers ellipsoid, opening laterally from without by persistent valves; ovary of 2 carpels, free at apex, inserted in the bottom of the receptacle, partly superior, remaining during the winter without enlarging and surrounded and protected by the calyx; styles subulate, spreading, stigmatic at apex, persistent; ovule solitary. Fruit ripening in the autumn, usually 2 from each flower-cluster, capsular, 2-beaked at apex, surrounded for one-third or one-half its length by the enlarged persistent calyx bearing at the base the blackened remnants of the floral bracts, the thick and woody outer layer splitting from above loculicidally before the opening of the thin crustaceous inner layer. Seed oblong, acute, suspended; testa crustaceous, chestnut brown, shining; forcibly discharged when ripe by the contraction of the edges of the valves of the bony endocarp; embryo surrounded by thick fleshy albumen; cotyledons foliaceous; hilum oblong, depressed.

Hamamelis is confined to eastern North America and eastern Asia, with three American and two or three Asiatic species; of the American species two are sometimes small trees, and the third H. vernalis Sarg. is a shrub of southern Missouri, western Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma.

The name is from άµα, at the same time with, and µηλίς, an Apple-tree, and was applied by the ancients to the Medlar or some similar tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Leaves smooth, conspicuously unsymmetrical at base; flowers autumnal. 1. H. virginiana (A, C). Leaves roughened by persistent tubercles, slightly unsymmetrical at base; flowers hiemal. 2. H. macrophylla (C).

1. Hamamelis virginiana L.

Leaves obovate, acuminate, long-pointed or sometimes rounded at apex, very unequal at base, the lower side rounded or subcordate, the upper usually cuneate and smaller, irregularly and coarsely crenately lobed above the middle, entire or dentate below, when they unfold coated, especially on the lower surface of the midrib and veins and on the petioles and stipules with stellate ferrugineous pubescence, at maturity membranaceous, dull dark green and glabrous or pilose above, lighter colored and lustrous below, and pubescent or puberulous on the stout midrib and 6 or 7 pairs of primary veins, 4′—6′ long, 2′—2½′ wide; turning delicate yellow in the autumn; petioles slender, pubescent early in the season, becoming glabrous ⅓′—1′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acute, coriaceous, ⅓′—½′ long. Flowers opening from the middle of September to the middle of November; calyx orange-brown on the inner surface; petals bright yellow; ½′—⅔′ long. Fruit ripening when the flowers of the season are expanding, ½′ long, pubescent, dull orange-brown and surrounded for half its length by the large persistent calyx; seed ¼′ long.

A tree, occasionally 20°—25° high, with a short trunk 12′—14′ in diameter, spreading branches forming a broad open head, and slender flexible branchlets coated at first with scurfy rusty stellate hairs, gradually disappearing during the summer, and in their first winter glabrous or slightly puberulous, light orange-brown and marked by small white dots, becoming in their second year dark or reddish brown; usually a stout shrub sending up from the ground numerous rigid diverging stems 5°—20° tall. Winter-buds acute, slightly falcate, light orange-brown, covered with short fine pubescence, ¼′—½′ long. Bark ⅛′ thick, light brown, generally smooth but broken into minute thin appressed scales disclosing in falling the dark reddish purple inner bark. Wood heavy, hard, very close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick nearly white sapwood of 30—40 layers of annual growth. The bark and leaves are slightly astringent and although not known to possess essential properties are largely used in the form of fluid extracts and decoctions and in homœopathic practice, Pond’s Extract being made by distilling the bark in diluted alcohol.

Distribution. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the valley of the St. Lawrence River to southern Ontario, southern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa, and southward to central Georgia and southern Arkansas, growing usually on the borders of the forest in low rich soil or on the rocky banks of streams; of its largest size and probably only arborescent on the slopes of the high Alleghany Mountains in North and South Carolina and Tennessee.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the northern states, and in western and northern Europe.

2. Hamamelis macrophylla Pursh.

Leaves short-obovate or occasionally broad-elliptic, rounded, acute or rarely acuminate at apex, cuneate, rounded or cordate at the narrow slightly unsymmetrical base, crenate-lobulate above the middle with small rounded lobes, covered with short stellate hairs more abundant on the upper than on the lower surface, and at maturity dark green above, paler below, and roughened by the persistent tubercle-like bases of the stellate hairs, 3′—5′ long, 2′—3′ wide, with a slender midrib and five or six pairs of primary veins; petioles slender, pubescent, ½′—¾′ in length; stipules lanceolate, acuminate, scarious, hoary-pubescent, ⅕′—⅙′ long. Flowers opening in December, January and February; calyx yellow on the inner surface; petals light yellow, ½′ long and less than 1/24′ wide. Fruit ripening in the autumn, about ½′ in length; seed dark chestnut-brown or nearly black.

A tree, often 30°—45° high, producing stoloniferous shoots round the tall trunk often 1° in diameter, erect and spreading branches, and branchlets rusty or hoary-tomentose during their first year, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous and grayish brown in their second season; often a shrub. Winter-buds rusty-tomentose, about ⅓′ in length.

Distribution. Rich soil, by streams or along the borders of the forest; valley of the lower Savannah River, near Savannah, Chatham County, and along the Wittlocoochee River, Lowndes County, Georgia, to central and western Florida; through Alabama; in southern and central Mississippi, and through Louisiana to eastern Texas (Beaumont, Jefferson County, and Fletcher, Harding County), and southern Arkansas; generally distributed and most abundant in Louisiana; probably of its largest size on the bluffs of the Alabama River in Dallas County, Alabama.

XXI. PLATANACEÆ.

Trees, with watery juice, thick deeply furrowed scaly bark exfoliating from the branches and young trunks in large thin plates, terete zigzag pithy branchlets prolonged by an upper axillary bud, and fibrous roots. Winter-buds axillary, conic, large, smooth, and lustrous, nearly surrounded at base by the narrow leaf-scars displaying a row of conspicuous dark fibro-vascular bundle-scars, covered by 3 deciduous scales, the 2 inner accrescent, strap-shaped, rounded at apex at maturity, marking in falling the base of the branchlet with narrow ring-like scars, the outer scale surrounding the bud and splitting longitudinally with its expansion, the second light green, covered by a gummy fragrant secretion and usually inclosing a bud in its axil, the third coated with long rufous hairs. Leaves longitudinally plicate in vernation, alternate, broadly ovate, cordate, truncate, or cuneate and decurrent on the petiole at base, more or less acutely 3—7-lobed, and occasionally furnished with a more or less enlarged basal lobe, the lobes entire, dentate with minute remote callous teeth, or coarsely sinuate-toothed, penniveined, the veins arcuate and united near the margins and connected by inconspicuous reticulate veinlets, clothed while young like the petioles, stipules, and young branchlets with caducous stellate sharp-pointed branching hairs, pale on the lower and rufous on the upper surface, long-petiolate; turning brown and withering in the autumn before falling; petioles abruptly enlarged at base and inclosing the buds; stipules membranaceous, laterally united below into a short tube surrounding the branchlet above the insertion of their leaf, acute, more or less free above, dentate or entire, thin and scarious on flowering shoots, broad and leaf-like on vigorous sterile branchlets, caducous, marking the branchlet in falling with narrow ring-like scars. Flowers minute, appearing with the unfolding of the leaves in dense unisexual pedunculate solitary or spicate heads, the staminate and pistillate heads on separate peduncles or rarely united on the same peduncle; staminate heads dark red on axillary peduncles; pistillate heads light green tinged with red, on long terminal peduncles, the lateral heads in the spicate clusters sessile and embracing at maturity the peduncle, usually persistent on the branches during the winter; calyx of the staminate flower divided into 3—6 minute scale-like sepals slightly united at base, about half as long as the 3—6 cuneiform sulcate scarious pointed petals; stamens as many as the divisions of the calyx, opposite them, with short nearly obsolete filaments, and elongated clavate 2-celled anthers, their cells opening longitudinally and crowned by a capitate pilose truncate connective; calyx of the pistillate flower divided into 3—6, usually 4, rounded sepals much shorter than the acute petals; stamens scale-like, elongated-obovoid, pilose at apex; ovaries as many as the divisions of the calyx, superior, oblong, sessile, surrounded at base by long ridged jointed pale hairs persistent round the fruit, gradually narrowed into long simple bright red styles papillose-stigmatic to below the middle along the ventral suture; ovules 1 or rarely 2, suspended laterally, orthotropous. Head of fruit composed of elongated obovoid akenes rounded and obtuse or acute at apex, surmounted by the persistent styles, 1-seeded, light yellow-brown; pericarp thin, coriaceous. Seed elongated-oblong, suspended; testa thin and firm, light chestnut-brown; embryo erect in thin fleshy albumen; cotyledons oblong, about as long as the elongated cylindric erect radicle turned toward the minute apical hilum. Wood hard and heavy not strong, light brown tinged with red, with numerous broad conspicuous medullary rays and bands of smaller ducts marking the layers of annual growth. A family of a single genus.

1. PLATANUS L. Plane-tree.

Characters of the family.

A genus of four or five species of eastern and western North America, Mexico, Central America, and of southwestern Asia, all resembling each other except in the form of the lobes of the leaves and the amount of pubescence on their lower surface, in the pointed or obtuse apex of the akene, and in the number of heads of pistillate flowers on their peduncle.

Of the exotic species, the Old World Platanus acerifolia Willd., of doubtful origin, and often considered a hybrid between P. orientalis L. and the Plane-tree of the eastern United States, is now a common street tree in the cities of all the countries of temperate Europe, and is largely used as a street and shade tree in the eastern states and in California.

Platanus is the classical name of the Plane-tree.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.

Heads of fruit usually solitary; leaves broadly ovate, slightly 3—5-lobed, the lobes broad, mostly serrulate, or entire, truncate or rarely cuneate at base. 1. P. occidentalis (A, C). Heads of fruit racemose. Leaves 3—5-lobed to below the middle, the lobes entire, remotely and obscurely dentate, or rarely sinuate-toothed, truncate or slightly cordate or cuneate at base. 2. P. racemosa (G). Leaves deeply 5—7-lobed, the lobes elongated, slender, entire, or rarely remotely dentate, deeply cordate or rarely cuneate or truncate at base. 3. P. Wrightii (H).

1. Platanus occidentalis L. Sycamore. Buttonwood.

Leaves broadly ovate, more or less 3—5-lobed by broad shallow sinuses rounded at the bottom, the lobes broad, acuminate, sinuate-toothed with long straight or curved remote acuminate teeth, or entire with undulate margins, truncate or slightly cordate, or long-cuneate and decurrent on the petiole at base (var. attenuata Sarg.), thin and firm, bright green on the upper surface, paler on the lower, glabrous at maturity with the exception of a slight pubescence on the under side of the thin midrib and stout yellow veins, 4′—7′ long and broad, or twice as large on vigorous shoots and then frequently furnished with dentate basal lobes; petioles stout, terete or slightly angled, becoming puberulous 3′—5′ in length; stipules 1′—1½′ long, entire or sinuate-toothed. Flowers: peduncles coated with pale tomentum, bearing 1 and sometimes 2 heads of flowers. Fruit: heads 1′ in diameter, on slender glabrous stems 3′—6′ in length; akene about ⅔′ long and truncate or obtusely rounded at apex.

A tree, occasionally 140°—170° high, with a trunk sometimes 10°—11° in diameter above its abruptly enlarged base, often divided near the ground into several large secondary trunks, or rising 70°—80°, with a straight column-like shaft free of branches and with little diminution of diameter, massive spreading limbs forming a broad open irregular head sometimes 100° in diameter, their extremities usually erect or more or less pendulous, and slender branchlets coated at first like the leaves, petioles, and stipules with thick pale deciduous tomentum, during their first summer dark green and glabrous, marked by minute oblong pale lenticels, becoming dark orange-brown and rather lustrous during their first winter and light gray in their second year. Winter-buds ¼′—⅜′ long. Bark of young trunks and large branches rarely more than ½′ thick, dark reddish brown, broken into small oblong thick appressed plate-like scales, smooth, light gray, and separating higher on the tree into large thin scales, in falling exposing large irregular surfaces of the pale yellow, whitish, or greenish inner bark, becoming at the base of large trunks 2′—3′ thick, dark brown, and divided by deep furrows into broad rounded ridges covered by small thin appressed scales. Wood the favorite material for tobacco boxes, ox-yokes, and butcher’s blocks, and now largely used for furniture and the interior finish of houses.

Distribution. Borders of streams and lakes on rich bottom-lands; southeastern Maine to northern Vermont and through southern Ontario and Michigan to central and southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas, and eastern Oklahoma to the valley of the Arkansas River (Clay County), and southward to western Florida (Gladsden County) central Alabama and Mississippi, and the valley of the Rio Grande (Zavalla County) western Texas; common but most abundant and of its largest size on the bottom lands of streams in the basin of the lower Ohio and Mississippi rivers; less abundant and of smaller size in the coast region of the Carolinas and in western Texas; ascending the Appalachian Mountains up to altitudes of 2500°. The most massive if not the tallest deciduous-leaved tree of eastern North America.

Sometimes planted as a street tree, especially in the cities of eastern Texas; passing into

1. Platanus occidentalis var. glabrata Sarg.

Platanus glabrata Fern.

Leaves usually broader than long, truncate, broad-cuneate or rarely cordate at base, 3-lobed by sinuses acute or rounded in the bottom, the lobes long-acuminate, entire, the lateral lobes often furnished near the base with one or rarely with two small acuminate incurved secondary lobes occasionally found also on the terminal lobe, tomentose below and pubescent above when the flowers open the end of March in Texas, later becoming glabrous except on the under side of the midrib and veins, usually about 2¾′—5½′ long and 3′—3½′ wide; petioles pubescent, becoming glabrous. Peduncles bearing one or rarely two heads. Flowers and Fruit like those of the species.

Distribution. Western Texas, common; valley of the Colorado River, near Austin, Travis County, to that of the Devil’s River, Valverde County; in Coahuila and Nuovo Leon; rarely northward with widely scattered individuals; the prevailing form on the Edwards Plateau and in the counties adjacent to the Rio Grande.

2. Platanus racemosa Nutt. Sycamore.

Leaves 3—5-lobed to below the middle by broad sinuses acute or rounded in the bottom, the lobes acute or acuminate, entire, dentate with remote callous tipped teeth, or occasionally coarsely sinuate-toothed, usually cordate or sometimes truncate, or cuneate and decurrent on the petiole at base, thick and firm, light green above, paler and more or less thickly coated below with pale pubescence most abundant along the midrib and primary veins, 6′—10′ long and broad; petioles stout, pubescent, 1′—3′ in length; stipules 1′—1½′ long, entire or dentate, often persistent until spring. Flowers: peduncles hoary-pubescent, bearing usually 4 or 5 heads of staminate flowers and 2—7 heads of pistillate flowers, a head of the staminate flowers occasionally appearing on the pistillate peduncle above the heads of fertile flowers. Fruit: heads ¾′ in diameter, on slender zigzag glabrous or pubescent stems 6′—9′ in length; akene acute or rounded at apex, ⅓′ long, tomentose while young, becoming glabrous.

A tree, 40°—90° high, with a trunk sometimes 9° in diameter above the broad tapering base, erect and free of branches for half its height, more often divided near the ground into secondary stems erect, inclining, or prostrate for 20°—30° at their base, thick heavy more or less contorted spreading branches forming an open irregular round-topped head, and branchlets coated at first with thick pale deciduous tomentum, light reddish brown, and marked by numerous small lenticels in their first winter, becoming gradually darker in their second and third years; usually smaller, with a trunk 2°—4° in diameter. Winter-buds nearly ½′ long. Bark at the base of old trunks 3′—4′ thick, dark brown, deeply furrowed, with broad rounded ridges separating on the surface into thin scales; thinner, smooth, and pale, or almost white higher on the trunk and on the branches.

Distribution. Banks of the streams of western California; valley of the upper Sacramento River (Tehama County) southward through the interior valleys, along the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada and on the southern coast ranges; and on Mount San Pedro Màrtir in Lower California; exceedingly common in all the valleys of the California coast ranges from Monterey to the southern borders of the state, and ascending the southern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains to altitudes of 3000°—4000°.

3. Platanus Wrightii S. Wats. Sycamore.

Leaves divided by narrow sinuses to below the middle and sometimes nearly to the center into 3—7 but usually into 3—5 elongated acute lobes entire, or dentate with callous-tipped teeth, or occasionally furnished with 1 or 2 lateral lobes, sometimes deeply cordate by the downward projection of the lower lobes, or often truncate or cuneate at base, thin and firm in texture, light green and glabrous above, covered below with pale pubescence, 6′—8′ long and broad, with a slender midrib, and primary veins connected by conspicuous reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, glabrous or puberulous, 1½′—3′ in length. Flowers: peduncles hoary-tomentose, bearing 1—4 heads of flowers. Fruit: heads on slender glabrous stems 6′—8′ long, about ¾′ in diameter; akenes glabrous, ¼′ long, truncate at apex.

A tree, often 60°—80° high, with a straight trunk 4°—5° in diameter, gradually tapering and free of branches for 20°—30°, or with a trunk divided at the ground into 2 or 3 large stems usually more or less reclining and often nearly prostrate for 15°—20°, thick contorted branches, the lowest growing almost at right angles to the trunk and 50°—60° long, the upper usually erect at first, finally spreading into a broad open handsome head, and slender branchlets coated when they first appear with thick pale tomentum, becoming glabrous or slightly puberulous during their first winter, marked by minute scattered lenticels, and light brown tinged with red or ashy gray, and gradually darker in their second or third year. Winter-buds hardly more than ⅛′ long. Bark at the base of the trunk dark, 3′—4′ thick, deeply and irregularly divided into broad ridges, and covered on the surface with small appressed scales, thinner and separating into large scales 10°—15° above the ground, and gradually passing into the smooth much thinner creamy white bark faintly tinged with green of the upper branches.

Distribution. Banks of streams in the mountain cañons of southwestern New Mexico and southern Arizona; in northern Arizona in Oak Creek Cañon near Flagstaff (P. Lowell); and in Sonora; the largest and one of the most abundant of the deciduous-leaved trees on all the mountain ranges of southern Arizona, extending from the mouth of cañons up to altitudes of 5000°—6000° above the sea.

XXII. ROSACEÆ.

Trees, shrubs and herbs, with watery juices, terete branchlets, scaly buds, and alternate leaves (opposite in Lyonothamnus), with stipules. Flowers perfect; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5 (0 in Cercocarpus), imbricated in the bud, inserted with the numerous distinct stamens on the edge of a disk lining the calyx-tube; anthers introrse (extrorse in Vauquelinia), 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary superior in Lyonothamnus and Heteromeles, often partly superior in Amelanchier; ovules 2 in each cell (1 in Cowania and Cercocarpus, 4 in Lyonothamnus), anatropous. Seeds without albumen (albuminous in Lyonothamnus and Cowania). A family of about ninety genera chiefly confined to the temperate parts of the world and producing many of the most valuable fruits, including the apple, pear, quince, strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry. The six tribes into which the genera of the family are grouped, have arborescent representatives in North America.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.

Tribe 1. Spiræoideæ. Fruit a woody capsule. Flowers in terminal cymose corymbs; calyx-lobes persistent; ovary 5-celled; ovules ascending; mature carpels adherent below and opening down the back; albumen 0; leaves simple. 1. Vauquelinia. Flowers in terminal corymbs; calyx-lobes deciduous; ovary 2-celled; ovules 4 in each cell, pendulous; mature carpels opening on the ventral and partly on the dorsal suture; albumen thin; leaves opposite, simple or pinnately divided. 2. Lyonothamnus. Tribe 2. Pomoideæ. Fruit a pome composed of the thickened and succulent calyx-tube inclosing the papery or bony carpels; stipules free from the petioles. Mature carpels papery. Carpels as many as the styles. Flowers in few-flowered terminal racemes on short spur-like lateral branchlets; ovary 3—5-celled; styles more or less united below; leaves simple; winter-buds small. 3. Malus. Flowers in broad compound terminal cymes; ovary 2—4, usually 3-celled; styles distinct; fruit subglobose; leaves unequally pinnate; winter-buds large. 4. Sorbus. Flowers in large terminal corymbose panicles; ovary nearly superior, 2-celled; styles distinct; fruit obovoid. 5. Heteromeles. Carpels becoming at maturity twice as many as the styles; flowers in erect or nodding racemes; ovary inferior or partly superior; styles 2—5, more or less united below; fruit subglobose or pyriform; leaves simple, deciduous. 6. Amelanchier. Mature carpels bony; flowers in terminal cymose corymbs; ovary 1—5-celled; styles distinct; fruit globose to pyriform; leaves simple, deciduous. 7. Cratægus. Tribe 3. Dryadæ. Calyx-tube turbinate, campanulate or hemispheric; petals 5; ovary composed of 1 or several carpels; fruit an akene tipped with the elongated plumose style. Flowers terminal on short branchlets, solitary; calyx-tube turbinate; carpels 5—12; leaves alternate, toothed or pinnatifid. 8. Cowania. Tribe 4. Cercocarpæ. Calyx-tube salver-shaped; petals 0; ovary composed of a single carpel; fruit an akene, tipped with the elongated plumose style. Leaves alternate, simple, entire or serrate. 9. Cercocarpus. Tribe 5. Prunoideæ. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe; ovary 1-celled; style terminal; ovules pendulous. Flowers in fascicled umbels, or racemes; leaves simple, deciduous or persistent. 10. Prunus. Tribe 6. Chrysobalanoideæ. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe; ovary 1-celled; style lateral, ovules ascending. Flowers in axillary or terminal cymose panicles; leaves simple, persistent. 11. Chrysobalanus.

1. VAUQUELINIA Corr.

Trees or shrubs, with slender terete branchlets and scaly bark. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, lanceolate, serrate, long-petiolate, reticulate-veined, coriaceous, persistent; stipules minute, acute, deciduous. Flowers on slender bibracteolate pedicels, in compound terminal leafy cymose corymbs; calyx short-turbinate, coriaceous, 5-lobed, the lobes ovate, obtuse or acute, erect, persistent; petals 5, orbicular or oblong, white, becoming reflexed, persistent; stamens 15—25, inserted in 3 or 4 series, equal or semiequal, those of the outer row opposite the petals; filaments subulate, exserted, persistent; anthers versatile, extrorse; carpels 5, opposite the sepals, inserted on the thickened base of the calyx-tube and united below into a 5-celled ovoid tomentose ovary crowned with 5 short spreading styles dilated into capitate stigmas; ovules subbasilar, ascending, prolonged at the apex into thin membranaceous wings; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit a woody ovoid 5-celled tomentose capsule inclosed at the base by the remnants of the flower, the mature carpels adherent below and at maturity splitting down the back. Seeds 2 in each cell, ascending, compressed; testa membranaceous, expanded into a long terminal membranaceous wing; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons flat; radicle straight, erect.

Vauquelinia is confined to the New World and is distributed from New Mexico, Arizona and Lower California to southern Mexico. Three species are distinguished; of these one inhabits the mountain ranges of southern Arizona and New Mexico.

The generic name is in honor of the French chemist Louis Nicholas Vauquelin (1763—1829).

1. Vauquelinia californica Sarg.

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