BLUE JACK OAK (_Quercus brevifolia_) bears several names, upland willow oak, to distinguish it from other willow oaks which grow in swamps, sand jack, referring to the land on which it grows, high-ground willow oak, turkey oak, shin oak and cinnamon oak. No reason is known for the last name which is not used outside of Florida. The tree grows in a narrow strip along the coast from North Carolina to Texas, crossing northern Florida. The blue jack oak sometimes attains a height of fifty feet and a diameter of twenty inches; but that is its best. It is usually fifteen or twenty feet high and a few inches in diameter. The leaves are from two to five inches long and quite narrow, closely resembling those of willow. The acorns are abundant, but small. The tree is of so little value that it does not interest the lumberman. It occupies waste land, and may produce a little fuel without crowding more valuable trees, but is in every way inferior to the black jack oak (_Quercus marilandica_), which overlaps its range a little, but is a northern species. The wood of blue jack oak is hard, strong, light brown in color, with darker-colored sapwood. [Illustration] SPANISH OAK [Illustration: SPANISH OAK] SPANISH OAK (_Quercus Digitata_) One of the first difficulties in an attempt to clear up the misunderstandings regarding Spanish oak is to confine the name to the species to which it belongs. That is no easy task, because the name has been applied to numerous oaks in various parts of the country, and without any apparent reason. Some of these bear little resemblance to Spanish oak and grow almost wholly outside its range. It is not a case of mistaking one for the other, for there is no mistake. Some speak of the common red oak as Spanish oak, others bestow that name on yellow oak, others on black jack oak, or scarlet oak, or any one of several others. It appears, however, that the name is not applied to any member of the white oak group. It is said that Spanish oak and Norway pine were named by the same process. Each got its name because it was supposed to be similar to a species in the old country--the pine like an evergreen of north Europe, and the oak like a broadleaf tree of Spain. It was learned later that both the American species were different from those of Europe which they resembled. The peculiar drooping foliage of Spanish oak gives the tree a character which impresses a person who sees the full-leafed crown for the first time. The leaves are six or seven inches long and four or five wide. Their forms vary within wide limits, and their shapes change from week to week while growing. Some have no lobes or sinuses, others have them in rudimentary form only, while in still others they are well developed.