1878

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

The leaves of Q. rubra die off of a more purplish red than those of most ofthe other kinds in this section ; but they often become yellow before they fall.They vary much in shape, from the age of the plant, or the soil and situationin which it has grown. Fig. 1740., copied from the elder Michaux’s Ilisioiredes Chenes, shows the leaves of a seedling a year old; fig. 1741., from thesame work, those of a tree bearing acorns •, fig. 1742. shows several leavesgathered from trees in England of four or five years’ growth; fig. 1743. isdrawn from a specimen taken from a tree in the Horticultural Society’sGarden; and jf?g. 1744. is a leaf from the splendid full-grown tree in the FulhamNursery, of which there is a portrait in A 1744

our last Volume. By comparing the ^

plates of the trees of this species in ^

1743

our last Volume, it will be seen howexceedingly the leaves vary. Theacorns are sessile, or on very shortpeduncles; they are large, and are produced in great abundance; they arerounded at the summit, and compressed at the base; and they are contained inflat very shallow cups, covered with narrow compact scales. The red oak isone of the most common species in Canada, and the whole of the north of theUnited States. In the states of New York, New Jersey, part of Philadelphia, -and along the whole range of the Alleghanies, it is nearly as abundant as Q.coccinea and Q. tinctoria; but it is much less common in the more southernstates, its perfect developement requiring a cool climate and a fertile soil.The red oak was introduced into France about 1740, and was first plantedon the estate of Du Hamel, at Pittriviers. In England, the first notice thatwe find of the red oak is, that it was cultivated bv Miller in 1739. Since