CHESTNUT OAK; TANBARK OAK; ROCK OAK (Quercus Prinus, Linn.). 50 to 100 feet. Tree with broad, irregular head of large limbs spreading from a short trunk. Bark nearly black, furrowed into wide, rounded, scaly ridges; branches smooth, with lustrous, purplish bark. Wood dark, reddish brown, close-grained, tough, heavy, durable in con tact with soil, used for fencing, railroad ties, and bark for tan ning leather. Leaves 5 to 9 inches long, obovate, not lobed, but coarsely toothed, thick, yellow-green above, pale, usually pubescent beneath; resembling foliage of chestnut. Flowers
in May; staminate in long, hairy catkins; pistillate on short spikes, few-flowered, with red stigmas. Acorns solitary, stalked, rarely in pairs, 1 to 11 inches long, almost 1 inch broad, blunt-tipped, chestnut-brown, shining, half buried in thin cup, reddish brown, hoary, pubescent, with thick, pointed or knobbed scales. Kernel sweet, edible. Dist.: Southern Maine to western New York; south into Maryland, Kentucky, and Tennessee; along mountains to Georgia and Alabama. Superb, annual-fruited tree of the white oak group.