ted; anthers yellow, glabrous:
pistillate flowers red; stigmas long, spreading, reflexed.

=Fruit.=--Maturing in the autumn of the second year, single or in twos
or threes, sessile or on rather short footstalks: cup top-shaped or
cup-shaped, about half the length of the acorn, occasionally nearly
enclosing it, smooth, more or less polished, thin-edged; scales closely
appressed, firm, elongated, triangular, sides sometimes rounded,
homogeneous in the same plant: acorn 1/2-3/4 inch long, variable in
shape, oftenest oval to oblong: kernel white within; less bitter than
kernel of the black oak.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in any
light, well-drained soil, but prefers a fertile loam. Occasionally
offered by nurserymen, but as it is disposed to make unsymmetrical young
trees it is not grown in quantity, and it is not desirable for streets.
Its rapid growth, hardiness, beauty of summer foliage, and its brilliant
colors in autumn make it desirable in ornamental plantations. Propagated
from the seed.

[Illustration: PLATE XLIV.--Quercus coccinea.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Sterile flowers, side view.
4. Fertile flower, side view.
5. Fruiting branch.

=Quercus velutina, Lam.=

_Quercus tinctoria, Bartram. Quercus coccinea_, var. _tinctoria, Gray._

BLACK OAK. YELLOW OAK.

=Habitat and Range.=--Poor soils; dry or gravelly uplands; rocky ridges.

Southern and western Ontario.

Maine,--York county; New Hampshire,--valley of the lower Merrimac and
eastward, absent on the highlands, reappearing within three or four
miles of the Connecticut, ceasing at North Charlestown;
Vermont,--western and southeastern sections; Massachusetts,--abundant
eastward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--frequent.

South to the Gulf states; west to Minnesota, Kansas, Indian
territory, and Texas.

=Habit.=--One of our largest oaks, 50-75 feet high and 2-4 feet in
diameter, exceptionally much larger, attaining its maximum in the Ohio
and Mississippi basins; resembling _Q. coccinea_ in the general
disposition of its mostly stouter branches; head wide-spreading,
rounded; trunk short; foliage deep shining green, turning yellowish or
reddish brown in autumn.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk dark gray or blackish, often lighter near the
seashore, thick, usually rough near the ground even in young trees, in
old trees deeply furrowed, separating into narrow, thick, and firmly
adherent