5-9-parted, yellow, hairy; divisions oblong, densely pubescent; stamens
5-9; anthers yellow, glabrous: pistillate flowers with hairy scales and
dark red stigmas.

=Fruit.=--Seldom abundant, maturing the first season, variable in size,
on stems usually equal to or shorter than the leaf-stems: cup thin,
hemispheric or somewhat top-shaped, deep; scales small, knobby-thickened
at the base: acorns 3/4-1-1/2 inches long, ovoid-conical, sweet.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a light
gravelly or stony soil; rapid-growing and free from disease; more easily
and safely transplanted than most oaks; occasionally offered by
nurserymen, who propagate it from the seed. Its vigorous, clean habit of
growth and handsome foliage should give it a place in landscape
gardening and street use.

[Illustration: PLATE XLI.--Quercus Prinus.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Sterile flower, back view.
4. Sterile flower, front view.
5. Fertile flowers.
6. Fruiting branch.
7. Variant leaf.

=Quercus Muhlenbergii, Engelm.=

_Quercus acuminata, Sarg._

CHESTNUT OAK.

=Habitat and Range.=--Dry hillsides, limestone ridges, rich bottoms.

Ontario.

Vermont,--Gardner's island, Lake Champlain; Ferrisburg (Pringle);
Connecticut,--frequent (J. N. Bishop, 1895); on the limestone formation
in the neighborhood of Kent (Litchfield county, C. K. Averill); often
confounded by collectors with _Q. Prinus_; probably there are other
stations. Not authoritatively reported from the other New England
states.

South to Delaware and District of Columbia, along the mountains to
northern Alabama; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Indian
territory, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 30-40 feet high, with a trunk diameter of
1-2 feet, attaining much greater dimensions in the basins of the Ohio,
Mississippi, and their tributaries; trunk in old trees enlarged at the
base, erect, branches rather short for the genus, forming a narrow
oblong or roundish head.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and large branches grayish or pale ash-colored,
comparatively thin, flaky; branchlets grayish-brown; season's shoots in
early summer purplish-green with pale dots.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovate, acute to obtuse, brownish. Leaves
simple, alternate; in the typical form as recognized by Muhlenburg, 3-6
inches long, 1-1/2-2 inches wide, glossy dark green above, pale and
minutely downy beneath