South to Delaware and along the mountains to northern Georgia; west
to Minnesota, Iowa, east Kansas, and Arkansas.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 40-60 feet high, with a trunk diameter of
2-3 feet; attaining southward of the Great Lakes and in the Ohio basin
much greater dimensions; roughest of all the oaks, except the bur oak,
in general aspect; trunk erect, continuous, in young trees often beset
at point of branching with down-growing, scraggly branchlets, surmounted
by a rather regular pyramidal head, the lower branches horizontal or
declining, often descending to the ground, with a short, stiff,
abundant, and bushy spray; smaller twigs ridgy, widening beneath buds;
foliage a dark shining green; heads of large trees less regular, rather
open, with a general resemblance to the head of the white oak, but
narrower at the base, with less contorted limbs.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and larger branches thick, dark grayish-brown,
longitudinally striate, with flaky scales; bark of young stems,
branches, and branchlets darker, separating in loose scales which curl
back, giving the tree its shaggy aspect; season's shoots
yellowish-green.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds brown, roundish-ovate, obtuse. Leaves
simple, alternate, 3-8 inches long, 2-4 wide, downy on both sides when
unfolding, at maturity thick and firm, smooth and dark shining green
above, slightly to conspicuously whitish-downy beneath, in autumn
brownish-yellow; obovate, coarsely and deeply crenate or obtusely
shallow-lobed, when opening sometimes pointed and tapering to a
wedge-shaped base, often constricted near the center; leafstalk short;
stipules linear, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile catkins 2-3 inches long, thread hairy;
calyx deeply 3-7-parted, pale yellow, hairy; stamens 5-8; anthers
yellow, glabrous: pistillate flowers tomentose, on rather long, hairy
peduncles; stigmas red.

=Fruit.=--Variable, on stems 1-3 inches long, maturing the first season,
single or frequently in twos: cup rounded, rather thin, deep, rough to
mossy, often with fringed margins: acorn about 1 inch long,
oblong-ovoid, more or less tapering: meat sweet, edible.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in any good
soil, wet or dry, but prefers a position on the edge of moist or boggy
land, where its roots can find a constant supply of water; growth fairly
rapid; seldom affected by insects or disease; occasionally offered by
nurserymen a