Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Common forest trees of North Carolina

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  • !^<s*&~*= -e>-$£%><«f?- REST TREE! -<s>-mp<z&- SCARLET OAK (Qurcus coccinea Muench.) SCARLET OAK, also known as pin, Spanish or spotted oak, occurs usually on dry, rocky, or sandy soils, throughout the uplands of the lower mountains, but is nowhere very abundant or of first importance. It usually reaches a height of 60 or 80 feet, with a trunk diameter of 2 or 3 feet, and is sometimes larger. The branches droop at the ends and form a narrow, open crown and the trunk tapers rapidly. The bark on young stems i s smooth and light brown. On old trunks it is divided into ridges not so rough as those of the black oak and not so flat- topped a s those of the northern red oak. The bark is often mottled or spotted with gray. The inner bark is reddish. The leaves are simple, alternate, somewhat oblong or oval, 3 to 6 inches long, 2y2 to 4 inches wide, usually 7-lobed, the lobes bristle-pointed and separated by rounded openings extending at least two- thirds of the distance to the midrib, giving the leaves a very deeply "cut" appearance. The leaves turn a brilliant scarlet in the autumn before falling. The flowers are of two kinds on the same tree and appear when the leaves are two-thirds or one-half grown. The fruit takes 2 years to mature. The acorn is one-half to 1 inch long, reddish brown, often striped, and about half-enclosed in the cup. The wood is heavy, hard, strong and coarsegrained . The lumber is sold as red oak and has the same uses. It is usually somewhat inferior in quality and sometimes known as pin oak. Scarlet oak is used considerably in ornamental planting. Leaf, SCARLET OAK one-third natural size. Twig one-half natural size. 44
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