South to Florida; west to Kansas, Indian territory, and Texas. =Habit.=--Farther south, a tree of the first magnitude, reaching a height of 100 feet, with a trunk diameter of 4 feet; in southern New England occasionally attaining in woodlands a height of 50-60 feet; at its northern limit in Massachusetts, usually 10 to 35 feet in height, with a diameter at the ground of 6-12 inches. The trunk throws out stout, tough, and often conspicuously crooked branches, the lower horizontal or declining, forming a disproportionately large head, with dark green, dense foliage. Near the shore the limbs often grow very low, stretching along the ground as if from an underground stem. =Bark.=--Resembling that of the white oak, but rather a darker gray, rougher and firmer; upon old trunks furrowed and cut into oblongs; small limbs brownish-gray, rough-dotted; season's shoots densely tawny-tomentose. =Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, rounded or conical, brownish, scales minutely pubescent or scurfy. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-8 inches long, two-thirds as wide, thickish, yellowish-green and tomentose upon both sides when young, becoming a deep, somewhat glossy green above, lighter beneath, both sides still somewhat scurfy; general outline of leaf and of lobes, and number and shape of the latter, extremely variable; type-form 5-lobed, all the lobes rounded, the three upper lobes much larger, more or less subdivided, often squarish, the two lower tapering to an acute, rounded, or truncate base; sinuses deep, variable, often at right angles to the midrib; leafstalk short, tomentose; stipules linear, pubescent, occasionally persistent till midsummer. The leaves are often arranged at the tips of the branches in star-shaped clusters, giving rise to the specific name _stellata_. =Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, connecting thread woolly; calyx 4-8 parted, lobes acute, densely pubescent, yellow; stamens 4-8, _anthers with scattered hairs_: pistillate flowers single or in clusters of 2, 3, or more, sessile or on a short stem; stigma red. =Fruit.=--Maturing the first season, single and sessile, or nearly so, or in clusters of 2, 3, or more, on short footstalks: cup top-shaped or cup-shaped, 1/3-1/2 the length of the acorn, about 3/4 inch wide, thin; scales smooth or sometimes hairy along the top, acutish or roundish, slightly thickened at base: acorn 1/2-1 inch long, sweet. =Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in New England; prefers a good, well-drained, open soil; quite as slow-growing as the white oak; seldom found in nurseries and difficult to transplant. Propagated from the seed. [Illustration: PLATE XXXVIII.--Quercus stellata.] 1. Winter buds. 2. Flowering branch. 3. Sterile flower, back view. 4. Sterile flower, front view. 5. Fertile flower. 6. Fruiting branch. =Quercus macrocarpa, Michx.= BUR OAK. OVER-CUP OAK. MOSSY-CUP OAK. =Habitat and Range.=--Deep, rich soil; river valleys.