QUERCUS RUBRA L. Sp. Pl. 996. 1753.
The existence of the red oak in Georgia was unknown to bot anists before 1893. In that year I discovered a few trees just south of the North Carolina boundary, on the summit of the Thomas Bald, at an altitude of 5200 feet. The trees were stunted and irregular, as is characteristic at high altitudes. Last year, however, I found a remarkable development of the species in the northwestern corner of Georgia, in Catoosa county. The species
abounds in the limestone " bottoms ;" trees three feet or more in diameter are not uncommon, their trunks, naked often for seventy five feet from the ground, are so straight that it is impossible to tell which way they will fall when cut off at the base. The thick bark is more or less mottled, whence the local name " Leopard Oak."