Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1917 — OAK IS A NORTHERN TREE [ARTICLE]

OAK IS A NORTHERN TREE

of That Species to Be Found In Africa, Nor in South America or Australasia. The oak family has been mentioned ns a northern type of trees that has sent extensions southward, as, with several hundred species known, there are none In Africa south of the Mediterranean region, nor in southern South American or Australasia. A remarkable variety of forms in Mexico has been revealed by the recent studies reported by Prof. William Trelease to the National Academy of Scivisions of American oaks, Professor Trelease finds three —Leucobalanus, the white oaks, Erythrobalanus, the red or black oaks, and Protobalanus, a probably "more ancient type with intermediate characteristics; and the total of American species Includes 170 of white oaks, 179 of red, and only 4 of Protobalanus. With a total of 248 species, Mexico has 121 of white oaks, 125 of rod, and 2 of Protobalanus. The 71 species In the United States Include 43 of white oaks, 26 of red, and 2 of Protobalanus, and Central America has 20 species of white and 35 of red oaks; but South America has only 4 specie.?* of red oaks; and a single species of white oaks is all that Is known in the West Indies. About 150 species of American oaks have been traced in Cretaceous and Tertiary fossils. Professor Trelease thinks the American oaks now existing —diverse ns they are—-may lmve till descended from a single late Tertiary type, and that they have developed without direct connection with European oaks.