CHAP. CV.

coryi.a'ceae.

QUE'RCUS.

1743

of I in. to 39 ft.; and to fig.

1585. and fig. 1586., portraits oftwo of the largest trees of Q.sessiliflora in the same park,drawn to the same scale, and bythe same artist. The differencein aspect, however, both whenthe trees are clothed, and whenthey have lost their leaves is considerable. The difference in the leaveswill be rendered obvious by comparing fig. 1583., which represents Q. pe-dunculata, with fig. 1584., which represents Q. sessiliflora. The branchesand spray of Q. sessiliflora are somewhat less tortuous and gnarled thanthose of Q. pedunculata; the bark is whiter, the shoots of the year ratherthicker, and the buds decidedly larger. Q. pedunculata comes rather earlierinto leaf than Q. sessiliflora : the flowers appearing in the former in thebeginning of May, and the fruit ripening in the beginning of October; whilein the latter the flowers appear in the middle of May, and the fruit ripensin November. The leaves of Q. sessiliflora are said by some to be more fre-quently retained on the tree through the winter than those of Q. pedunculata;and hence, it is alleged, the German name of winter eiche for the former, andsommer eiche for the latter: but Willdenow truly observes that trees mayfrequently be found among both species which retain their leaves, in a witheredstate, during the winter. The taproots in both, when young, and in good,deep, loamy or sandy, soil, have been traced to a depth nearly as great as theheight of the tree. (Hanbury and Marshall .) The lateral roots do not runso near the surface of the ground as those of many other kinds of trees,unless the soil is thin and bad. They may sometimes be found several feetunder ground, attaining a great thickness, and extending to a much greaterlength than the branches. The roots of the British oaks never throw upsuckers. The rate of growth of the two species does not appear to be very