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.
