1892

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

plants of the Black Jack in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, and a treein the arboretum of the Messrs. Loddiges, under the name of Q. aquatica.

¥ 22. Q. aqua'tica Soland. The Water Oak.

Identification. Soland. in Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., 3. p. 357., ed# 2., No. 12.; Willd. Sp. PJ., 4. p. 441.;. Pursh FI. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 628.; Michx. Quer., No. 11.; N. Du Ham., 7. p. 167. j Smith inRees’s CycL, No. 52.

Synonymes. Q. fdliis cuneiformibus, &c., Gron. Virg. ; Q. fblio non serr&to, &c., Cat. Carol. , 1.1. 20. ;

Q. nigra Willd. Sp. PL, 1413. j (3. uliginosa Wangh. Amer., t. 6. f. 18.

Engravings. Michx. Quer., t. 19, 20, and 21.; Cat. Carol., t. 20. j and our fig. 1767.

Spec. Char., §c. Leaves wedge-shaped, smooth; tapering at the base; dilatedand obscurely 3-lobed at the end; the middle lobe largest. Calyx nearlyhemispherical. Nut roundish. (Willd.) A tree,from 40 ft. to 60 ft. high.Introduced before 1723.

Varieties.

I Q. a. 2'ndna ; Q. aquatica Smith and Abb. Ins., ii. p. 117. t. 59.; Q. a.elongata Ait. Hort. Kew., v. p. 290.; Q. dentata Bart. Tran., p. 14.and 28.; Q. nana Willd. Sp. PL, iv. p. 443., Pursh FI. Amer. Sept., ii.628., N. Du. Ham., vii. p. 169., Smith in Rees’s Cycl., No. 55.; thewarf jagged Oak ; is of much lower stature than the species, andhas the leaves nearly sessile, and more distinctly lobed.

5 Q. a. 3 maritima Michx. Quer., No.

11. t. 20. f. 2.; Q.hemisphee'ricaWilld. Sp. PL, iv. p. 443., Bart.

Trav., p. 320., Pursh FI. Amer.

Sept., ii. p. 628., N. Du Ham.,vii. p. 169., Smith in Rees’s Cycl.,

No. 65.; has persistent leaves.

Other Varieties. There is no Ame-rican oak, not even Q. falcata, of whichthe foliage is so variable as of this tree.

On full-grown trees, the leaves aresmooth, shining, and heart-shaped ; orbroad and rounded at the summit, andterminating in a point at the base, asin Jig. 1767.; and on young trees, oron shoots from the root of old trees,the leaves are oval, toothed, oblong,and, in short, of all the different formsshown in fig. 1768., taken from the Histoire des Chenes. In the HortusKewensis, five varieties are enumerated, only differing in the shape of theleaves; but the elder Michaux as-serts that they cannot be propagatedwith certainty even by grafting; andthat all the different kinds may befound on one tree. Even the twowe have given under distinct names,though they are made species by someauthors, are rather variations thanvarieties.

Description, Sfc. The water oakrarely exceeds 40 ft. or 45 ft. in height,with a trunk from 1 ft. to 1 ft. 6 in. indiameter; though it is sometimes found50 ft. or 60 ft. high. The bark, on theoldest trees, is smooth, or very slightlyfurrowed. The acorns, which are of adark brown, and are small and ex-tremely bitter, are contained in shallowslightly scaly cups. They are not

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