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).