[Gutenberg 53433] • West Virginia Trees

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. Excerpt: ...monoecious; staminate flowers in catkins 2-3 inches long; pistillate short-stalked and with red styles. Fruit.--Acorns maturing in autumn of second year after the flowers; cup thin, shallow, about Y2 inch across, enclosing about J4 of the nut; kernel yellowish, bitter. Bark.--Not as rough as that of most of the oaks, but with shallow fissures and broad flat ridges. Wood.--Heavy, hard, strong, light-brown. Range.--Massachusetts and Michigan to Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Distribution in West Virginia.--Not a common tree. Plentiful near Princeton, Mercer County, and less common in Hardy and Morgan counties; doubtless growing locally in most of the counties south of the Great Kanawha River. Habitat.--Prefers low ground along streams and borders of swamps. Notes.--Pin Oak leaves resemble those of Scarlet Oak, but the appearance of the whole tree is quite different from it. The drooping lower branches and the location of the tree most readily distinguish it, and a comparison of its small acorns with the large acorns of the Scarlet Oak will serve to separate the two species. It is unexcelled as a tree for parks where it grows with a straight trunk and beautiful rounded crown. SCARLET OAK Quercus coccinea, Muench. Form.--Height, 60-80 feet; diameter 2-3 feet; trunk tapering, usually straight; crown open, and narrow when crowded. Leaves.--Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, usually with 7 lobes which are deeply toothed and bristle-tipped at the apex, and separated by oblique sinuses; thin and firm, bright green above, paler beneath, lustrous on both sides; brilliant scarlet in the fall. Flowers.--May, with the leaves; monoecious; staminate flowers on long catkins; the pistillate on short stalks in the leaf axils. Fruit.--Acorns mature in...