1856

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

colour. The new evergreen Lucombe oaks are exceedingly rapid intheir growth, and very hardy: they are most ornamental trees; and,for producing an immediate and permanent effect in parks, and onlawns, &c., they have no equal. I have seen several instances of theirgrowing vigorously in bleak exposed situations, where the common oakand elm will not succeed: in the vicinity of the sea they grow withgreat luxuriance; and, in such situations, are equally valuable with theQ. F lex. I send you dimensions and specimens of our large trees ofeach of the three varieties. We propagate them by grafting, in the samemanner as we do the old Lucombe oak. — Robert T. Pmce. ExeterNursery, April 4. 1837.”

Mr. Pince remarks, in a subsequent letter, which accompanied somespecimens of bark of all these varieties:—“ I wish particularly to call yourattention to the specimens of bark of the varieties of the new evergreenLucombe oaks, which I send you herewith. You will observe that theyare very corky. The produce of hybrids often assimilates to one parentmore than to another: and thus, in the varieties of the new Lucombeoak alluded to, there is a great assimilation to the male parent, Q. .Suber, inthe thickness and texture of the bark, the density of the wood, and thedark green, almost black, evergreen foliage; whilst, in the conical shapeof the tree, and its rapid growth, the habits of the female parent areretained. — Id. April 20.”

I Q. O. 10 L. crispa, Q. Lucombedwacrispa Hort., the new Lucombe Oak,

{fig. 1715.) has the leaves somewhatcurled at the edges, and the bark

corky. Fig. 1717. c shows the formof the leaf, in its natural size; andfig. 1718. is a portrait, by Mr. Gendallof Exeter, of the specimen tree in theExeter Nursery; which, 45 years planted, is 63 ft. high; and thediameter of the trunk, at 1 ft. from the ground, is 3 ft. The bark,from the specimens sent to us, bears a close external resemblance tothat of the cork tree, and is above I in. thick.

Q. C. 11 L. suberosa, Q. L. suberosa Hort., {fig. 1717.a) has theleavessomewhat longer, and the bark double the thickness of the precedingvariety; the specimen sent us measuring 2 in. in thickness. The