What lumbermen call red oaks, speaking in the plural, botanists prefer to call black oaks. The difference is only a difference in name for the same group of trees. The general dark color of the bark suggests the name to botanists, while the red tint of the wood appeals more to the lumberman, and he prefers the general name red oaks for the group. They mature their acorns the second year, while the trees belonging to the white oak group ripen theirs the first year. There are other differences, some of which are apparent to the casual observer, and others are seen only by the trained eye--often aided by the microscope--of the dendrologist. Several of the black oaks have leaves with sharp pointed lobes, ending in bristles. This helps to separate them from the white oaks, but not from one another, for the true red oak, the scarlet oak, the yellow oak, the pin oak, and others, have the sharp-pointed lobes on their leaves; while the willow oaks have no lobes or bristles on theirs, yet are as truly in the black oak group as any of the others. The identification of tree species, particularly when they are as much alike as some of the oaks are, is too difficult for the layman if he undertakes to carry it along the whole line; but it is comparatively easy if confined to the leading woods only. An understanding of the geographical range of a certain tree often helps to separate it from others. The knowledge that a tree does not grow in a particular part of the country, is proof at once that a tree in that region resembling it must be something else. If that principal is borne in mind it will greatly lessen mistakes in identifying trees. In accounts of the black oaks in the following pages, a careful delimiting of ranges will be attempted in the case of each. The range of red oak extends from Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick through Quebec and along the northern shore of Lake Huron, west to Nebraska. It covers the Ohio valley and reaches as far south as middle Tennessee. It runs south through the Atlantic states to Virginia, while among the Appalachian mountains the range is prolonged southward into northern Georgia. That is the tree’s extreme southern limit. It reaches its largest size in the region north of the Ohio river, and among the mountain valleys of West Virginia, and southward to Tennessee and North Carolina. It is a northern species. Toward its southern limit it meets the northern part of the Texan red oak’s range (_Quercus texana_). There is some overlapping, and in many localities the two species grow side by side. The red oak is known by that name in all parts of its range, but in some regions it is called black oak, and in others Spanish oak. The latter name properly belongs to another oak (_Quercus digitata_) which touches it along the southern border of its range.