Index    Handbook of the Trees of New England by Lorin Low Dame, Henry Brooks

Quercus Muhlenbergii, Engelm. Chestnut Oak.

Quercus acuminata, Sarg.

Habitat and Range.—Dry hillsides, limestone ridges, rich bottoms.

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.

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, 1½-2 inches wide, glossy dark green above, pale and minutely downy beneath; outline lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong, with rather equal, coarse, sharp, and often inflexed teeth; apex acuminate; base wedge-shaped or acute; stipules soon falling. There is also a form of the species in which the leaves are much larger, 5-7 inches in length and 3-5 inches in width, broadly ovate or obovate, with rounded teeth; distinguishable from Q. Prinus only by the bark and fruit.

Inflorescence.—May. Appearing with the leaves; sterile catkins 2-4 inches long; calyx yellow, hairy, segments 5-8, ciliate; stamens 5-8, anthers yellow: pistillate flowers sessile or on short spikes; stigma red.

Fruit.—Maturing the first season, sessile or short-peduncled: cup covering about half the nut, thin, shallow, with small, rarely much thickened scales: acorn ovoid or globose, about 3/4 inch long.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy in New England; grows in all good dry or moist soils, in open or partly shaded situations; maintains a nearly uniform rate of growth till maturity, and is not seriously affected by insects. It forms a fine individual tree and is useful in forest plantations. Propagated from seed.

Plate XLII.—Quercus Muhlenbergii.