CHAP. CV.

CORYLa'cE/E.

que'rcus.

1865

1724. is from a sprig apparently of this variety, grown in the Hor-ticultural Society’s Garden, under the name of Q. alba. In Messrs.Loddiges’s arboretum is an oak named Q. squamosa, from a spe-cimen of which Jig. 1725. was taken. This tree, which is 20 ft.

high, has exactly the appearance, bark, and habit of growth of Q.alba, and as it only differs from it in the shape of the leaves, it mayprobably be a variation of this variety.

Desorption. The American white oak, according to Michaux, bears mostresemblance to Q. pedunculate, which is sometimes called the white oak inEurope. Q. alba, in the American forests, is often 70 ft. or 80 ft. high, andwith a trunk 6 ft. or 7 ft. in diameter; but its proportions vary with the soiland climate. Cobbett says that it is “ amongst the least curious and beautifulof the American oaks.” The leaf, he adds, “ is small, and the shape and colournot very handsome.” According to Michaux, the leaves are regularly and ob-liquely divided into oblong rounded lobes, destitute of points or bristles ; andthe indentations are the deepest in the most humid soils. “ Soon after theirunfolding, the leaves are reddish above, and white and downy beneath; whenfully grown, they are smooth, and of a light green on the upper surface, andglaucous underneath. In the autumn they change to a bright violet colour.”(N. Amer. Syl., i. p. 19.) Michaux adds that this is the only American oakthat retains some of its withered leaves till spring The acorns are large, oval,and very sweet; and they are contained in rough, shallow, greyish cups. Theyare borne singly, or in pairs, on long peduncles, “ attached, as in all the specieswith annual fructification, to the shoots of the season.” The fruit is rarely