CHAP. CV.

CORYLA'CE.®. QUe'rCUS.

1741

of the Fobur as corrupting and rotting in the sea, concludes that theterm never can apply to our English oak. He supposes that it belongsto Q. s. pubescens, confounding, as Martyn does, that variety with Q.Taiizin, which is not even a native of Britain, and is by no means commonon the Continent; but, as the wood of Q. sessiliflora approaches nearer tothat of Q. Tauzin than the wood of Q. pedunculata, our own opinion is,that Willdenow and Burnet have approached nearer to the truth thanSmith.

We have, however, deemed it most convenient to follow Linnaeus, in adopt-ing the term .Robur to designate a group of closely allied species, or perhapsonly varieties.

Description. According to most authors and observers, there is little or nodifference in magnitude or general appearance between the entire full-growntrees of Q. pedunculata and Q. sessiliflora; though some affirm that the formeris a low spreading tree, and the latter a tall conical one. Fig. 1580. is given

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by that eminent artist J. G. Strutt, as characteristic of the general formof both species. Both are described by Smith as large trees; and byWilldenow as trees growing from 30 ft. to 50 ft. high, and as enduring for500 years. According to Bose ( Mem. sur les Chenes, &c.), Q. sessilifloramay be known by its spreading branches, and Q. pedunculata by its com-paratively fastigiate branches and pyramidal form. Some, on the contrary,assert that Q. sessiliflora becomes a loftier and more pyramidal tree thanQ. pedunculata; and this is said to be particularly the case in WyreForest, where, it is stated by Mr. Pearson, gardener to W. L. Childe, Esq.,one of the principal proprietors of the forest, to be almost as different inappearance from Q. pedunculata, as Populus fastigiata is from P. monilifera.At Ken Wood and Woburn Abbey, it cannot be said that the difference inmagnitude and general form is remarkable. We are strongly inclined to be-lieve that there is no important and constant difference between the modeof growth of the two species; because we have found individuals of the one