CHAP. CV.
coryla'cete. que'rcus.
1889
Goklworth Arboretum. The specimen trees at Messrs. Loddiges’s, and onein the Milford Arboretum, were equally beautiful before they were severelycut in, to give more room to the surrounding plants.
IE 20. Q. Catksb/E'/ Willd. The barren Scrub Oak.
Identification. "Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 446.; Pursh FI. Amer. Sept, 2. p. 630. j Michx. Quer., No. 17.;
N. Du Ham., 7- p. 172. j Smith in Rees’s Cycl., No. 62.
Synonymes. Q. r libra /3 Abb. and Smith Ins..\. p. 27.} Q. Asculi divisura, &c., Cat. Car, t 1. t. 23.Engravings Michx. &uer., t. 29, 30.; Cat. Car., 1. t. 23.; and our figs. 1762, 1763.
Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves smooth, oblong, wedge-shaped at the base, deeplyand widely sinuated, on short stalks ; lobes 3 or 5, divaricated, acute, 2- or3-cleft, bristle-pointed. Calyx of the fruit turbinate, half as long as thenut. (Willd.) A shrub or low tree, from 15ft. to 30 ft. high. Introducedin 1823.
Description, $c. The general appearance of this tree is stunted : its trunkis crooked, dividing into branches at 2 ft. or 3 ft. from the ground, and coveredwith a thick, blackish, deeply furrowed bark. The foliage is open, and itsleaves are large, smooth, thick, and cori-aceous towards the close of summer,deeply and irregularly laciniated, andsupported on short petioles. “ Withthe first frost, they change to a dull red,and fall the ensuing month. The acornsare pretty large, of a blackish colour,and partly covered with a fine grey dust,which is easily rubbed off between thefingers: they are contained in thickcups, swollen towards the edge, with theupper scales bent inwards. The oldesttrees alone are productive, and theirfruit never exceeds a few handfuls.”
(N. Amer. Syl., i. p. 86.) Accordingto the younger Michaux, this oak is confined to the lower part of theCarolinas and Georgia. It grows in soils too meagre to sustain any othervegetation, where the light movable sand is wholly destitute of vegetablemould. It is the only species multiplied in the pine barrens; and from thiscircumstance, and its scrubby habit of growth,it has probably obtained the name of the barrenscrub oak. The elder Michaux says that it issometimes found from 30 ft. to 40 ft. high.
The leaves vary very little, as will be seen byfig. 1763., in which a represents a seedling ofone year’s growth, and b a leaf from a planttwo years old. This oak, though not intro-duced till 1823, is supposed to be the onefigured in Catesby’s Carolina, which he calls thered oak with small pedunculated acorns, anddescribes as follows : — “ Bark dark, thick, andstrong, preferable for tanning. Wood coarseand spongy. The acorns vary much in shape ;and the leaves retain no certain form, but sportinto various shapes, more than those of otheroaks.” (Catesb. Carol., i. p. 23.) He adds that the wild pigeons assemblein such numbers on this oak, that they sometimes break down the branches,and leave their dung some inches thick under the trees. The elder Mi-chaux says that Catesby has confounded this tree with Q. rubra; whichis probably the case, as his description accords much better with that species,than this tree. The wood of Q. Catesbce'i is considered excellent as fuel; andit bears a higher price than that of any other oak in America for that purpose.
1762