Rock Chestnut oak. (Q. Prinus Monticola.) This is one of the most ornamental of our oaks, and is found in considerable abundance in the middle states. It has the peculiar advantage of growing well on the most barren and rocky soils, and can therefore be advantageously employed by the landscape gardener, when a steep, dry, rocky bank is to be covered with trees. In deep, mellow soil, its growth is wonderfully vigorous, and it rapidly attains a height of 50 or 60 feet, with a corresponding diameter. The head is rather more symmetrical in form and outline than most trees of this genus, and the stem, in free, open places, shoots up into a lofty trunk. The leaves are five or six inches long, three or four broad, oval and uniformly denticulated, with the teeth more regular but less acute than the Chestnut white oak. When beginning to open in the spring they are covered with a thick down; but when fully expanded they are perfectly smooth and of a delicate texture. Michaux.
