SCARLET OAK
Quercus coccinea, Muench.
Form.—Height, 60-80 feet; diameter 2-3 feet; trunk tapering, usually straight; crown open, and narrow when crowded.
Leaves.—Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, usually with 7 lobes which are deeply toothed and bristle-tipped at the apex, and separated by oblique sinuses; thin and firm, bright green above, paler beneath, lustrous on both sides; brilliant scarlet in the fall.
Flowers.—May, with the leaves; monoecious; staminate flowers on long catkins; the pistillate on short stalks in the leaf axils.
Fruit.—Acorns mature in second autumn after flowering; cup deep, covering about ½ of the nut, with closely appressed, sharp-pointed scales, somewhat glossy or slightly pubescent, forming a fringe around the edge which is closely appressed to the large ovoid, reddish-brown and sometimes striate nut.
Bark.—On trunks resembling that of Red Oak, but with shallower fissures and narrower ridges; inner bark reddish.
Wood.—Heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, reddish-brown.