BUR OAK
One-third natural size.
The leaves resemble somewhat those of the common white oak, but have a pair of deep indentations on their border near the base, and wavy notches on the broad middle and upper portions of the leaf. They range from 6 to 12 inches long and 3 to 6 inches wide. The fruit, or acorn, is a nut set deeply in a fringed cup. It is sometimes 1 inch or more in diameter but varies widely in respect to size and the degree to which the nut is enclosed in the mossy fringed cup.
The wood is heavy, hard, strong, tough and durable. It is used for much the same purposes as the other white oaks, lumber, piling, veneer logs, crossties and fuel.
The swamp white oak, Quercus bicolor Willd., occurs scattered in swamps, through the State. The leaves are obovate, coarsely toothed and wedge-shaped below. They are thick, dark green and shining above, pale and downy beneath. The acorns are borne in a deep rough scaly cup, on stems 2-4 inches long. The wood is like that of the white oak. The bark is gray-brown, separating into large, papery scales which curl back.
YELLOW CHESTNUT OAK Quercus muhlenbergii Engelm.
THIS oak, also called the chinquapin oak, which is an excellent timber tree, occurs throughout the State. It grows on practically all classes of soil and in all moisture conditions except in swamps, and is a very tenacious tree on shallow, dry soil. The bark is light gray, and breaks up into short narrow flakes on the main trunk and old limbs. It reaches a height of 70 to 90 feet. The straight shapely trunk bears a round-topped head composed of small branches, which makes it an attractive shade tree.