Habitat.—Dry soil.
Notes.—This tree, which is rare in West Virginia, must be listed in the class of unimportant trees. Its wood is comparatively inferior and it is less desirable for ornamental purposes than many other species.
SCRUB OAK
Quercus ilicifolia, Wang.
Form.—Height 4-20 feet, diameter 2-6 inches; trunk short, branches stiff, contorted forming a flat-topped irregular head.
Leaves.—Alternate, simple, 2-5 inches long, usually 5-lobed, with shallow sinuses and sharp, bristle-tipped divisions of the lobes; leathery, dark green and lustrous above, coated beneath with a dense white pubescence.
Flowers.—May, with the leaves; monoecious; staminate flowers on long catkins, the pistillate on short tomentose stalks, and with red stigmas.
Fruit.—Acorns mature in second autumn after the flowers; cup deep, reddish-brown and soft downy within, with light brown scales, the outer row forming a narrow fringe around the edge; nut ovoid, about half enclosed in the cup; kernel yellow.