=Fruit.=--Seldom abundant, maturing the first season, variable in size, on stems usually equal to or shorter than the leaf-stems: cup thin, hemispheric or somewhat top-shaped, deep; scales small, knobby-thickened at the base: acorns 3/4-1-1/2 inches long, ovoid-conical, sweet. =Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a light gravelly or stony soil; rapid-growing and free from disease; more easily and safely transplanted than most oaks; occasionally offered by nurserymen, who propagate it from the seed. Its vigorous, clean habit of growth and handsome foliage should give it a place in landscape gardening and street use. [Illustration: PLATE XLI.--Quercus Prinus.] 1. Winter buds. 2. Flowering branch. 3. Sterile flower, back view. 4. Sterile flower, front view. 5. Fertile flowers. 6. Fruiting branch. 7. Variant leaf. =Quercus Muhlenbergii, Engelm.= _Quercus acuminata, Sarg._ CHESTNUT OAK. =Habitat and Range.=--Dry hillsides, limestone ridges, rich bottoms. Ontario. Vermont,--Gardner's island, Lake Champlain; Ferrisburg (Pringle); Connecticut,--frequent (J. N. Bishop, 1895); on the limestone formation in the neighborhood of Kent (Litchfield county, C. K. Averill); often confounded by collectors with _Q. Prinus_; probably there are other stations. Not authoritatively reported from the other New England states. South to Delaware and District of Columbia, along the mountains to northern Alabama; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Indian territory, and Texas. =Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 30-40 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-2 feet, attaining much greater dimensions in the basins of the Ohio, Mississippi, and their tributaries; trunk in old trees enlarged at the base, erect, branches rather short for the genus, forming a narrow oblong or roundish head. =Bark.=--Bark of trunk and large branches grayish or pale ash-colored, comparatively thin, flaky; branchlets grayish-brown; season's shoots in early summer purplish-green with pale dots. =Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovate, acute to obtuse, brownish. Leaves simple, alternate; in the typical form as recognized by Muhlenburg, 3-6 inches long, 1-1/2-2 inches wide, glossy dark green above, pale and minutely downy beneath; outline lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong, with rather equal, coarse, sharp, and often inflexed teeth; apex acuminate; base wedge-shaped or acute; stipules soon falling. There is also a form of the species in which the leaves are much larger, 5-7 inches in length and 3-5 inches in width, broadly ovate or obovate, with rounded teeth; distinguishable from _Q. Prinus_ only by the bark and fruit. =Inflorescence.=--May. Appearing with the leaves; sterile catkins 2-4 inches long; calyx yellow, hairy, segments 5-8, ciliate; stamens 5-8, anthers yellow: pistillate flowers sessile or on short spikes; stigma red.