TURKEY OAK
(Quercus CatesbÆi)

The claim that this tree is called turkey oak because turkeys feed on the acorns, is not well founded. In common with nearly all members of the black oak group, to which this species belongs, the acorns of turkey oak are bitter, and unless animals are pressed by hunger they do not eat them. It is evident that the shape of the leaves gives this tree its name. They bear considerable resemblance to the foot of a turkey. There is at least enough similitude to suggest the name, and it is not inappropriate. Many people now use the term without thinking of its origin, and if asked their opinion say that fondness of turkeys for the acorns led to the name.

The tree has other names in different regions. In North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida it is known as scrub oak. The name fits it well in certain places, for when it grows on poor soil and in adversity, it degenerates into a low, straggling thicket, frequently not trees at all, but shrubs. It is called black jack in South Carolina but the name belongs to another species (Quercus marilandica). In the same state it is known as barren scrub oak, because it is very small and is found on poor lands popularly known as barrens. Some call it forked-leaf black jack, but the name is usually shorter, and forked-leaf, or forked-leaf oak, is a name well understood among lumbermen, and the people generally over much of the tree’s range. Some of the leaves show clearly-defined three forks, the middle one longer than the others; but in other leaves, often from the same tree, the forks are not so regularly outlined. This tree, like many other oaks, exhibits considerable variation in the forms of leaves.

There is nothing peculiar in the form and appearance of the acorns. They average about one inch long and three-quarters of an inch wide, and sit in shallow cups. They mature the second year. The bark of old trees is black near the ground, rather rough, and an inch or more thick.

It is difficult to name an average size for turkey oak. The largest trunks are three or four feet in diameter and eighty feet high, but the trees cut for sawlogs are only fifty or sixty feet high and two in diameter, in most of the regions. As previously stated, much of the stand is stunted and some of it is only brush. All sizes are found, from large, first rate trunks down to shrubs. Large trees which grow in forests, prune themselves well and their trunks compare favorably with red oaks.

The tree’s range has its northeastern limit in North Carolina, and extends to Peace Creek, Florida. It is found westward to Louisiana where fair-sized timber grows, but in small quantities. It is usually considered that its best development is in South Carolina and Georgia, but good trees are likely to be found in any part of its range. It is distinctly a tree of the South. It was named by Michaux, the well-known French botanist who visited the southern states early in the nineteenth century, and he named it in honor of Mark Catesby who explored the region much earlier and wrote concerning its trees and other natural history.

Turkey oak is one of the little-known trees of the South, as far as lumbermen are concerned. They know it well enough in the woods, but not at sawmills. When cut into logs it ceases to be turkey oak and becomes red oak, and under that name it goes to the lumber yard, and later to market. Users of red oak lumber do not object to the occasional piece of turkey oak mixed with it—if they ever find it out, which few of them do. Nevertheless, the consensus of opinion among sawmill men is that turkey oak ought to rate below red oak.

Tests of the wood to determine its character and qualities do not justify so low an estimate of turkey oak. Sargent found it stronger and more elastic than white oak, while a little lighter in weight. It is nearly equal to white oak in fuel value. It is hard, compact, and the rings of annual growth are marked by several rows of large, open ducts. The medullary rays are broad and conspicuous. The color is light brown, tinged with red, the sapwood somewhat lighter.

A special investigation of the uses of turkey oak in one of the southern states brought out the fact that it meets requirements well and fills a place in several wood-using industries in that region. Vehicle makers find it satisfactory in a number of places. It is made into bottoms of wagon beds, felloes, bolsters, axles, hubs, hounds, tongues, spokes, standards, sandboards, and reaches. These constitute nearly all parts of heavy vehicles. The wood is made into telegraph brackets, but apparently not in large quantities. Car builders employ it for frames and floors. It is made into ordinary matched flooring and goes in with other oaks. It is used as a general furniture wood, both as outside material, and inside frames. It may be quarter-sawed to advantage. It is employed also as interior finish, which demands lumber of practically the same grades as go into furniture. Mantels of this wood compare favorably with those of red oak. Chair makers cut stock from turkey oak. It is not abundant anywhere, otherwise it would be of much importance.

The forests of the United States contain so many valuable oaks that a scarce and geographically restricted species like turkey oak cannot be expected to attract much attention in the future. Nevertheless, it is a strong, interesting tree. It takes advantage of every opportunity to develop. When an acorn germinates in good soil, and receives sufficient light and moisture, it produces a merchantable tree; but in poor soil and under unfavorable circumstances it becomes a stunted bush only. Woodlots of turkey oak planted in fertile land would probably do as well as most of the southern red oaks under like conditions. The tree is not apt to get justice, because of the prejudice against it.

California Black Oak (Quercus californica) ranges from central Oregon southward through the coast region of California nearly to the Mexican boundary. It occurs also on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas in California. It is not found on the plains or near the sea, but occurs on mountain slopes, low summits, elevated valleys, and in canyons. In the North, it ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 feet and in the South it ascends to 9,000 feet. This far western oak bears more resemblance to the yellow oak (Quercus velutina) of the East than to any other. Trees have been reported 100 feet high and four in diameter, but they are scarce. Seventy-five feet high and two or three feet in diameter are usual dimensions of mature timber. The trees are inclined to be angular in the outlines of their crowns. The leaves fall in autumn, but the acorns persist two years. They sit deep in their rough cups. The trunk is habitually crooked. It leans out of plumb, and lacks the nicely balanced poise which adds to the attractiveness of some oaks. The large boles are usually hollow, dead at the tops, or otherwise defective. That condition is apparently due to old age. Trees stand long after they pass maturity and start on their decline. They die by inches, and not infrequently they decay and crumble by piecemeal both at the bottom and at the top. At best the trunk of this oak is of poor form for saw timber. It divides into large limbs ten or twenty feet from the ground. It is of slow growth, and it reaches old age—possibly as much as 350 years in extreme cases. The wood is very porous, but the pores are not in rows. The medullary rays are thin and distinct. It is not known that any quarter-sawing has been attempted, and it would hardly be profitable. The wood is pale red, exceedingly brittle, firm, light for oak, and it has a distinct odor of tannin with which both the wood and the bark are heavily charged. The principal uses to which this oak is put in California and Oregon are as fuel and ranch timbers, the latter being of the simplest and roughest sort. Its fuel value is high, compared with other woods of the region. Some use was made of the bark for tanning purposes years ago on the Pacific slope, but it does not appear to go to market now.