Quercus velutina Lam.

A deciduous tree 70, 80, or more ft high; young shoots at first covered with brownish starry down; buds very downy, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Leaves oval or obovate, 5 to 12 in. long, half to two-thirds as wide; more or less deeply five- or seven-lobed; the lobes ovate or triangular, toothed or nearly entire; upper surface dark green and shining, glabrous or becoming so, lower surface paler, covered with a thin, scattered scurf, and with tufts of down in the vein-axils; stalk 1 to 21⁄2 in. long. Fruits solitary or paired, scarcely stalked; acorns ovoid to hemispherical; cup bowl-shaped, about half-enclosing the acorn, the middle and upper scales loosely imbricated.

Native of eastern N. America, extending well beyond the Mississippi; introduced in 1800 but not common. The bark and acorns of this species are permeated by a yellow principle, and from the former a yellow dye, quercitron, is obtained. Despite its common name (which refers to its dark bark) Q. velutina is one of the red oak group, and among these it is distinguished by its yellow inner bark, large downy buds, and the stellate down on young leaf and shoot. The leaves vary in the depth of the sinuses, which may be quite shallow or reach up to two-thirds of the way to the midrib.

There is a fine specimen of Q. velutina at Kew by the Isleworth Gate, measuring 54 × 73⁄4 ft (1972) (see also ‘Rubrifolia’). Others are: Westonbirt, Glos., in Broad Drive, 70 × 73⁄4 ft (1969); Batsford Park, Glos., pl. 1900, 77 × 83⁄4 ft (1971); Bicton, Devon, 65 × 71⁄2 ft (1968); Curraghmore, Co. Waterford, Eire, 62 × 7 ft (1968).

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Kew, by the Isleworth Gate, 54 × 73⁄4 ft (1972); Knap Hill Nursery, 82 × 121⁄2 ft (1984); Mountfield Court, near Hastings, Sussex, 85 × 103⁄4 ft (1981); Batsford Park, Glos., pl. 1900, 82 × 91⁄2 ft (1980); Colesbourne, Glos., 85 × 83⁄4 ft (1984); Peamore, Devon, 54 × 81⁄2 ft (1983); Killerton, Devon, Car Park, 72 × 8 ft (1983).

cv. ‘Rubrifolia’. – specimens: Kew, pl. 1893, 69 × 61⁄4 ft (1986); Syon House, London, 72 × 63⁄4 ft (1982); Winkworth Arboretum, Godalming, Surrey, 59 × 41⁄2 ft (1978).