=Bark.=--Trunk in old trees dark gray, roughly and firmly ridged; inner bark red; young trees and branches smoothish, often marked with dull red seams and more or less mottled with gray. =Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, reddish-brown, ovate to oval, acutish, partially hidden by enlarged base of petiole. Leaves simple, alternate, extremely variable, more commonly 3-6 inches long, two-thirds as wide, bright green and shining above, paler beneath, smooth on both sides but often with a tufted pubescence on the axils beneath, turning scarlet in autumn, deeply lobed, the rounded sinuses sometimes reaching nearly to the midrib; lobes 5-9, rather slender and set at varying angles, sparingly toothed and bristly tipped; apex acute; base truncate to acute; leafstalk 1-1-1/2 inches long, slender, swollen at base. =Inflorescence.=--Early in May. Appearing when the leaves are half grown; sterile catkins 2-4 inches long; calyx most commonly 4-parted; pubescent; stamens commonly 4, exserted; anthers yellow, glabrous: pistillate flowers red; stigmas long, spreading, reflexed. =Fruit.=--Maturing in the autumn of the second year, single or in twos or threes, sessile or on rather short footstalks: cup top-shaped or cup-shaped, about half the length of the acorn, occasionally nearly enclosing it, smooth, more or less polished, thin-edged; scales closely appressed, firm, elongated, triangular, sides sometimes rounded, homogeneous in the same plant: acorn 1/2-3/4 inch long, variable in shape, oftenest oval to oblong: kernel white within; less bitter than kernel of the black oak. =Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in any light, well-drained soil, but prefers a fertile loam. Occasionally offered by nurserymen, but as it is disposed to make unsymmetrical young trees it is not grown in quantity, and it is not desirable for streets. Its rapid growth, hardiness, beauty of summer foliage, and its brilliant colors in autumn make it desirable in ornamental plantations. Propagated from the seed. [Illustration: PLATE XLIV.--Quercus coccinea.] 1. Winter buds. 2. Flowering branch. 3. Sterile flowers, side view. 4. Fertile flower, side view. 5. Fruiting branch. =Quercus velutina, Lam.= _Quercus tinctoria, Bartram. Quercus coccinea_, var. _tinctoria, Gray._ BLACK OAK. YELLOW OAK. =Habitat and Range.=--Poor soils; dry or gravelly uplands; rocky ridges. Southern and western Ontario. Maine,--York county; New Hampshire,--valley of the lower Merrimac and eastward, absent on the highlands, reappearing within three or four miles of the Connecticut, ceasing at North Charlestown; Vermont,--western and southeastern sections; Massachusetts,--abundant eastward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--frequent. South to the Gulf states; west to Minnesota, Kansas, Indian territory, and Texas.