POST OAX; IRON OAK (Quercus minor, Sarg.). Shrub to 60 feet. Dense, round-topped head of stout, stiff branches with fuzzy twigs. Bark cleft into thick, scaly, wide ridges. Wood brown, heavy, hard, durable in soil, used for posts, ties, and general building. Leaves 4 to 5 inches long, clustered. stiff, harsh, shining, dark green above, brown, woolly beneath, the 5 to 7 irregular lobes squarish, and sinuses also. Persis tent all winter, in protected situations. Flowers staminate,
catkins yellow, hairy, 3 to 4 inches long; pistillate few in clus ter, greenish, with red tips of stigmas. Acorns annual, abun dant, to 1 inch long, ovoid, brown, less than half covered by the shallow cup of loose, blunt scales. Kernel sweet. Dist.: Massachusetts to northern Florida; west to Missouri and Texas; common in the Southwest. Good for planting rough ground.