1846

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

§ ii. Cerris. Mossy-cupped, or Turkey, Oaks.

Sect. Char. Leaves lobed and sinuated, or dentated; more or less persistent;in some varieties, subevergreen, or evergreen; always dying off' of a dirtywhite, or paper brown; never with any tinge of red or yellow. Budsfurnished with linear stipules.- Fructification generally biennial. Cupsechinate, ramentaceous, or scaly, squarrose.

2 6. Q. Ce'rris L. The bitter, or mossy-cuppecl, Oak.

Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1415.; Willd., No. 75., Baumzucht, p. 350.; Ait., No. 28. y .; N. DuHam., 7. p. 182.; Rees’s Cycl., No. 83.

Synonymes. Q. crinita « and (2, Lam.*Diet., 1. p. 718.; Q. /faliphlce'os Juss. in Hort. Par.} Q.burgundiaca, &c., Bank. ?m,, 420.; Q. Cerris PlinrV, &c., Lob. Icon., 2. 15fi., Dod. Pcmpt., 831.,Ger. Emac., 1345. j Cirrus Dalech. Hist., vol. 1. p. 6. ; the Turkey Oak; the Iron, or Wainscot,Oak: Chene Cerris, Chene chevelu, Chene de Bourgogne, Fr .; Burgundische Eiche, Cerr-eichc,Ger.

Derivation. The specific appellation Haliphlceos was applied by Pliny to an oak with very bitteracorns : but it may be derived from halts, enough, and phloios, bark; in reference to the tendencyto corkiness in the bark. The Iron Oak alludes to the weight of its wood, which is much heavierthan that of the common oak. The term Wainscot Oak refers to its suitableness for lining thewalls of rooms, from the Dutch words, ward, a wall; and schorten, to suspend.

Engravings. N. Du Ham., 7. t. 57. j our fig. 1702. j and the plates of this tree in our last Volume.

Spec. Char., S;c. Leaves on very short stalks,oblong, deeply and unequally pinnatifid ;hairy beneath; lobes lanceolate, acute,somewhat angular. Stipules longer thanthe footstalks. Calyx of the fruit hemi-spherical, bristly. (Smith.) A tree attain-

ing the same height as the British oak,but of much more rapid and vigorousgrowth. A native of France, Italy, Spain,

Austria, and the Levant. Introducedinto Britain in 1735, and not uncommonin plantations. It flowers in April, andripens its acorns, in the climate of London, in October of the second year,and sometimes in the autumn of the first year.

Varieties. There is a great tendency in this species to sport; so that manyvarieties may be selected from every bed of seedlings. It also appears tohybridise with facility, especially with Q. iSiiber; and from this cross thenumerous race of varieties known as the Lucombe, or Exeter, oaks havebeen raised. There are also some varieties of Q. Cerris which appear toowe their origin to geographical circumstances; such as Q. C. austriaca,and Q. C. crinita. The varieties cultivated in British nurseries may, forpractical purposes, be arranged as deciduous, subevergreen, and evergreen.