The post oak looks like a tree with its trunk buried in the ground. Its head is broader at the top, no matter how it is crowded in the woods, and the multitude of stubby branches are "full of elbows," i. e., the angles between limb and branch are all wide open, giving the tree a distinct character.
The foliage is another means of knowing the post oak. At a distance it looks almost black in summer. Come nearer. The leaf lining is coated with greyish pubescence. The texture of a leaf makes you cringe as you crumple it in your hands. It is thick and leathery, and roughened above by wonderfully branched hairs, that are star-like under a magnifier. Three broad, squarish lobes form the top, and the blade tapers from these to the stubby petiole. Sometimes there are five lobes altogether; sometimes only the three at the top. Each twig holds out a cluster of these leaves, like a fan. In the autumn they turn yellow or brown, but the twigs will not let them go. A characteristic post oak is densely leafy all winter, and until the opening shoots push the stubborn old leaf stalks out of the way. This habit gives the post oak much of its picturesqueness in winter, for the foliage does not entirely conceal its ruggedness and crookedness of limb.
The acorns are trim and dainty. The annual crop rarely fails. They are very sweet, and in the old days were devoured by wild turkeys. Then people knew it as the turkey oak.
The names of this species, iron oak and post oak, indicate the reputation of its wood for durability in contact with the soil and with water. Post-oak staves from Baltimore were preferred in the West Indian trade in sugar, rum and other barrelled com modities. " Knees" of post oak are always in demand, and, where trees attained sufficient size, the timbers are used in the framework and sides of ships.
Chestnut Oak, Tan-bark Oak (Quercus Primus, Linn.)— A forest tree with broad, irregular head on a short trunk, 5o to too 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 zo; pubescent beneath; autumn colour yellow and brown. Flowers
in May, solitary or paired; staminate yellow; pistjllate on short spurs; stigmas short, dark red. Acorns usually solitary, peduncled, annual, t to iI 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 Primes 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 Primes, and the margins are coarsely and sharply toothed. They closely resemble chestnut leaves in form, but are lined with pale pubescence. The tree reaches i6o 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.