Bur Oak Over-cup Oak Mossy-cup Oak


=Habitat and Range.=--Deep, rich soil; river valleys.



Nova Scotia to Manitoba, not attaining in this region the size of

the white oak, nor covering as large areas.



Maine,--known only in the valleys of the middle Penobscot (Orono)

and the Kennebec (Winslow, Waterville); Vermont,--lowlands

about Lake Champlain, especially in Addison county, not common;

Massachusetts,--valley of the W
re river (Worcester county), Stockbridge

and towns south along the Housatonic river (Berkshire county); Rhode

Island,--no station reported; Connecticut,--probably introduced in

central and eastern sections, possibly native near the northern border.



South to Pennsylvania and Tennessee; west to Montana, Nebraska,

Kansas, Indian territory, and Texas.



=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 40-60 feet high, with a trunk diameter of

1-3 feet; attaining great size in the Ohio and Mississippi river basins;

trunk erect, branches often changing direction, ascending, save the

lowest, which are often nearly horizontal; branchlets numerous, on the

lowest branches often declined or drooping; head wide-spreading, rounded

near the center, very rough in aspect; distinguished in summer by the

luxuriance of the dark-green foliage and in autumn by the size of its

acorns.



=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and branches ash-gray, but darker than that of

the white oak, separating on old trees into rather firm, longitudinal

ridges; bark of branches sometimes developed into conspicuous corky,

wing-like layers; season's shoots yellowish-brown, minutely hairy, with

numerous small, roundish, raised dots.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds brown, 1/16 to 1/8 inch long, conical,

scattered along the shoots and clustered at the enlarged tips. Leaves

simple, alternate, 6-9 inches long, 3-4 inches broad, smooth and dark

green above, lighter and downy beneath; outline obovate to oblong,

varying from irregularly and deeply sinuate-lobed, especially near the

center, to nearly entire, base wedge-shaped; stalk short; stipules

linear, pubescent.



=Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile catkins 3-5 inches long; calyx mostly

5-parted, yellowish-green; divisions linear-oblong, more or less

persistent; stamens 10; anthers yellow, glabrous: pistillate flowers

sessile or short-stemmed; scales reddish; stigma red.



=Fruit.=--Maturing the first season; extremely variable; sessile or

short-stemmed: cup top-shaped to hemispherical, 3/4-2 inches in

diameter, with thick, close, pointed scales, the upper row often

terminating in a profuse or sparing hairy or leafy fringe: acorn ovoid,

often very large, sometimes sunk deeply and occasionally entirely in the

cup.



=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in New England; in general appearance

resembling the swamp white oak, but better adapted to upland; grows

rather slowly in any good, well-drained soil; difficult to transplant;

seldom disfigured by insects or disease; occasionally grown in

nurseries. Propagated from seed. A narrower-leafed form with small

acorns (var. olivaeformis) is occasionally offered.






1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Sterile flower, back view.

4. Sterile flower, front view.

5. Fertile flowers.

6. Fruiting branch.





=Quercus bicolor, Willd.=



Quercus platanoides, Sudw.



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