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Oaks — Part 5

Chestnut Oak, Tan-bark Oak (Quercus Prinus, Linn.)--A forest tree with broad, irregular head on a short trunk, 50 to 100 feet high. Bark dark brown, deeply furrowed, rich in tannic acid; twigs smooth. Wood dark, reddish brown, close grained, with conspicuous medullary rays, tough, heavy, hard, strong, durable in contact with soil. Buds pointed, long, smooth, greyish red. Leaves alternate, 5 to 9 inches long, obovate, with coarse teeth rounded at the tops, thick, yellowish green above, paler, usually pubescent beneath; autumn colour yellow and brown. Flowers in May, solitary or paired; staminate yellow; pistillate on short spurs; stigmas short, dark red. Acorns usually solitary, peduncled, annual, 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, shining, brown; cup thin, downy lined, covered with small tubercular scales. Kernel sweet, edible. Preferred habitat, rocky upland soil, like the sides of ravines and stream borders. Distribution, southern Maine to western New York; south to Maryland, Kentucky and Tennessee; along mountains into Georgia and Alabama. Uses: A handsome tree for parks; grows well in dry ground; lumber used for railroad ties, fencing and fuel; bark, in tanning leather.

The chestnut oak is the type of a group of white oaks whose leaves are like those of a chestnut tree. This group has sweeter nuts than any other oaks. All but this species have pale bark. Quercus Prinus has bark so dark in colour and so deeply furrowed that it has often been mistaken for one of the black oak group, although its wavy leaf margins and annual fruit deny the insinuation most emphatically.

It is a vigorous tree, and grows very rapidly in dry soil. Its acorns in their fuzzy cups often sprout before they fall to the ground! The tree is handsome, and worthy a place in any plantation. It finally makes the best of fuel.

The name, "rock chestnut oak," refers to the hardness of its wood. "Tan-bark oak" calls attention to the tannin which makes this tree the prey of "peelers" throughout its range. Only the black oak yields as good bark to the tanner.

The Yellow Oak (Quercus acuminata, Sarg.) has smaller and narrower leaves than Quercus Prinus, and the margins are coarsely and sharply toothed. They closely resemble chestnut leaves in form, but are lined with pale pubescence. The tree reaches 160 feet in height in the lower Ohio Valley and extends from Vermont to Minnesota, and south to Alabama and Texas. It prefers dry soil, and is a worthy shade and ornamental tree. The silvery grey bark and handsome leaves, shining yellow-green above and white beneath, trembling on slender petioles, make it a beautiful object in any landscape. The yellow-green of the foliage mass gives the tree its common name.

The Chincapin Oak (Quercus prinoides, Willd.) is a shrub, which spreads by underground stems. Its opening leaves are silvery below and orange-red above. In autumn they turn bright red again. The little sweet acorn probably suggested the common name. From its leaves and habit this oak is called the scrub chestnut oak. It occurs from Maine to Minnesota, and south to Alabama and Texas. In the West it seems to intergrade with the preceding species. Horticulturally it is a desirable species for covering dry, sterile areas.

Swamp White Oak (Quercus platanoides, Sudw.)--A shaggy picturesque tree, 70 to 100 feet high, with pendulous branches, and crooked twigs forming a narrow, round head, bushy with dead twigs that hang on. Bark pale greyish brown, peeling in thin flakes from branches and trunk. Wood pale brown, coarse grained, heavy, tough, strong. Buds short, blunt, brown, hairy, clustered at tips of twigs. Leaves alternate, obovate, 5 to 7 inches long, wedge shaped at base, wavy toothed or lobed regularly, dull, dark green above, white-downy beneath. Flowers staminate, hairy, yellow catkins; pistillate few on long peduncles, hairy with red stigmas. Acorns annual, paired, on long stems; nut oval, 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, brown, hairy at tip, in rough cup with thickened scales, sometimes fringed at border; kernel sweet, edible. Preferred habitat, moist or swampy soil. Distribution, southern Maine to southern Iowa; south to Maryland, Kentucky and Arkansas; along mountains into Georgia. Commonest about the Great Lakes. Uses: Picturesque tree in landscape, but rarely planted. Lumber not distinguished commercially from other white oak. Used in construction of houses, boats, agricultural implements and vehicles; also, for fencing, railroad ties and fuel.

The swamp white oak loves the waterside, and many a noble specimen has been swept away by spring floods or by the gradual undermining of the bank on which it grew. Such was the fate of the famous Wadsworth oak, a landmark in the Genesee Valley in New York State, even when the Indians were the only people there to admire it. A young tree of this species is generally pyramidal and quite symmetrical in form, its stout branches short and horizontal, the lower ones tending to droop. The strength of character, however, the ruggedness that make so strong appeal to us in this tree, comes when it has put by the comeliness of youth and the stern battle of life has left its scars on the veteran.