and is coarse grained. It is of little value except for fuel. The
bark is used for tannin.

Other common names: _Yellow oak_.

Comparisons: The black oak might sometimes be confused with the _red_
and _scarlet oaks_. The yellow, bitter inner bark will distinguish
the black oak from the other two. The light-colored, smooth bark of
the red oak and the dark, ridged bark of the black oak will
distinguish the two, while the bark of the scarlet oak has an
appearance intermediate between the two. The buds of the three
species also show marked differences. The buds of the black oak are
covered with hairs, those of the scarlet oak have fewer hairs and
those of the red are practically free from hairs. The leaves of each
of the three species are distinct and the growth habits are
different.


RED OAK (_Quercus rubra_)

Distinguishing characters: The *bark* is perpendicularly fissured into
long, _smooth, light gray strips_ giving the trunk a characteristic
*pillar effect* as in Figs. 61 and 94. It has the straightest trunk
of all the oaks. The leaves possess _more lobes_ than the leaves of
any of the other species of the black oak group, see Fig. 62. The
acorns, the largest among the oaks, are semispherical with the cups
extremely shallow. The buds are large and sharp pointed, but not as
large as those of the black oak. They also have a few fine hairs on
their scales, but are not nearly as downy as those of the Black oak.