Quercus Muhlenbergii, Engelm.

Form.—Height 50-75 feet, diameter 2-3 feet; trunk usually short, sometimes buttressed at the base; crown round-topped with relatively short, ascending branches.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, 4-7 inches long, oblong, tapering at both ends, margins with coarse, sharp-pointed teeth which somewhat resemble those of the Chestnut and Chestnut Oak; bright yellow-green above, pale and pubescent beneath.

Flowers.—May, with the leaves; monoecious; the staminate in long pendulous catkins; the pistillate in short spikes.

Fruit.—Acorns mature in autumn after the flowers; cup enclosing about ½ of the light brown, ¾-inch-long nut; kernel sweet and more edible than that of most other acorns.

Bark.—On trunks moderately rough, the light gray ridges broken into scales; resembles the bark of White Oak.

Wood.—Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, durable, brown with brownish sapwood.

Range.—Vermont and Minnesota south to Florida and Texas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Not common. Observed in the following counties: Boone, Doddridge, Fayette, Grant, Hardy, Kanawha, Monongalia, Morgan, Summers and Webster. This tree is more common near Petersburg, Grant County, and on Long Island Creek, Doddridge County, than at any other places where it was found.

Habitat.—River banks and limestone hillsides.

Notes.—The wood of this oak is inferior to that of some other species and it occurs here too infrequently to be classed as very valuable.