QUERCUS PRINUS Linnæus. Chestnut Oak. (× 1/2.)
Acorns and loose leaves from different trees.
Remarks.—Wood similar and uses generally the same as white oak. The tree usually grows in such poor situations that it never acquires a large diameter, and it is only when a tree is found in a cove or in richer and deeper soil that it grows to a large size. The amount of this species is very limited and it is therefore of no especial economic importance as a source of timber supply. The bark is rich in tannin. The crests of chestnut oak ridges are often cut bare of this species. The trunks are made into crossties, and the larger branches are peeled for their bark. The nuts germinate on top of the ground as soon as they fall, or even before they fall. Usually a large percentage germinate. The tree grows rapidly where soil conditions are at all favorable. It is believed that this species should be used to reforest the chestnut oak ridges of the State, and possibly it would be one of the best to employ on the slopes of other poor ridges.
6. Quercus stellàta Wangenheim. Post Oak. [Plate 45.] Medium to large trees; bark resembles that of the white oak except on old trees the fissures are deeper when compared with a white oak of equal size, and the ridges are usually broken into shorter lengths; twigs stout, yellowish-brown at first, remaining this color more or less to the end of the season, at first densely covered with hairs which remain throughout the season, and usually one year old branchlets are more or less tomentose; leaves on hairy petioles 0.3-3 cm. long, generally about 1 cm. long; leaves obovate in outline, commonly 1-2 dm. long and about 2/3 as wide, and generally lobed into five principal lobes which are disposed as follows: the two basal are formed by two deep sinuses just below the middle of the leaf which cut off a large roughly triangular portion, one angle of which forms the base, the top two angles prolonged on each side into a rounded lobe which may be long or short; the terminal lobe is produced by two deep sinuses which constrict the blade at about 1/4-1/3 its length from the apex; the two basal and two terminal sinuses form the two lateral lobes which in size are equal to about one half of the leaf area; the lateral lobes are generally ascending with the terminal portion usually indented with a shallow sinus which produces two short lobes; the terminal lobe of the leaf commonly has two or three shallow secondary lobes; all the lobes of the leaf are rounded; base of leaf narrowed or rounded; leaves very thick at maturity, when they first appear both surfaces are densely covered with a yellowish pubescence, at maturity the upper surface is a dark glossy green, and smooth or nearly so, except some leaves retain fascicles of hairs, and the midrib and principal veins may be more or less rough pubescent, the under surface at maturity is a gray-green, and remains more or less densely covered with fascicles of hairs; acorns single or in clusters, sessile or nearly so; nuts small, ovoid 10-15 mm. long and 6-10 mm. wide, inclosed for about 1/2 their length in the cup; scales ovate, gray or reddish brown, tomentose on the back, blunt except those near the top of the cup which are sometimes acute; kernel sweet.
QUERCUS STELLATA Wangenheim. Post Oak. (× 1/2.)
Acorns from different trees.