1740

arboretum and fruticetum.

PART III.

informs us, is from a genuine tree of Q. pedunculMa, although in some of its charactersit apparently approaches (2. sessiliflbra. Perhaps it may be a hybrid between the twospecies; for which reason we have called it (}. s. hybrida. (See Jig. 1579.)

Some other remarkable varieties, mentioned by Mr. Borrer as having been

seen by him in Devonshire, will be found in a succeeding page, under the

head of Geography.

Q. pedunculata and Q. sessiliflora, though sufficiently distinct to be consi-dered species, yet, being very generally found growing together in a wild state,and being used indiscriminately for all the purposes to which the oak is ap-plicable, may be most conveniently treated of together. We might, indeed,in giving their description and geography, treat of them separately; but, inthe history and statistics of the two trees, this would be impossible ; sinceit is not known, at this moment, whether the largest and the oldest oaksof Britain belong chiefly to Q. pedunculata or to Q. sessiliflora. We shallfirst notice the doubts which exist among botanists as to the species towhich the term Rdbur was applied by the ancients; and then proceed totreat of Q. pedunculata and Q. sessiliflora conjointly, under the name of theBritish Oak.

Q. HdAwr. The word Robur, according to some, is taken from robus, theobsolete form of rubeus, red; which, as Burnet observes, would seem a fitname for the red-wooded oak. Festus Pompeius says (lib. i.), “ Materiamquas plurimas venas rufi coloris habet robur dictam.” According to others,.Robur is applied to the oak from robur, strength, in allusion to the qualityof the wood ; and this we think the more probable derivation. Much doubthas been entertained by botanists as to what species or variety the termRobur was applied to by Pliny. That author says (lib. xvi. c. 8.): —“ Gians optima in quercu, atque grandissima, mox esculo; nam roboris parva ;cerro tristis, horrida, echinato calice, seu castanete that is, “ the largest andbest acorn is that of the Quercus, next that of the -E'sculus ; for that of theRobur is small; and then that of the Cerris, rough, and covered with a bristlycalyx, like the chestnut.” From this passage Secondat arrives at the follow-ing conclusion : that the Quercus of Pliny is the chene blanc (Q. pedunculataWilld.'); the R'sculus, the chene male (Q. sessiliflora Sin.) ; and the Rdbur, thechene noir (Q. Tauzin Pers.). Willdenow, and most other Continental bota-nists, suppose the Rdbur of the ancients to have been Q. sessiliflora; but Smith,and other English botanists, consider Q. pedunculata to be the tree referred to.Linnaeus included both sorts under the specific name of /idbur; seeming toregard them as varieties of each other. Flis definition is so framed that it willinclude both species: — “ Q. Rdbur, foliis deciduis, oblongis, superne la-tioribus : sinubus acutioribus; angulis obtusis.” The distinctive charactersof petiolated and subsessile leaves, of pedunculated and sessile acorns,&c., are entirely omitted; and, when the more acute observations of subse-quent botanists again led to their separation, the subspecific synonymes,longo pediculo, and brevi pediculo vel sessiliflora, by which as varieties theyhad been previously known, became the specific names of Q. pedunculata andQ. sessiliflora, The classic adjunct Rdbur, under which Linnasus includedboth species, was restrained by Smith to the first, and was by Willdenowgiven to the second ; and while Willdenow has been followed by the Con-tinental botanists, Smith has been followed by those of Britain. The woodof Q. pedunculata is whitish, vai'ying to drab; that of Q. sessiliflora, whitishbrown, varying to amber ; while that of Q. Tauzin is much darker than either,so much so that the French call it chene noir. Burnet, confounding thewood of the Q. Tauzin with that of Q. sessiliflora var. pubescens, says: —“ The wood is of a deep reddish brown, very like that of old chestnut.Flence I cannot but agree with Martyn, that this is the true Rdbur ofthe ancients; and, if the Linnaean varieties are to be elevated to the rankof species, to this the appellation Rdbur undoubtedly belongs.” (Amcen.Quer., fol. 3.) Burnet, finding that Pliny describes the quality of the wood