1900

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

1780

Q. rigida

i ai Q. I. 6 longifolia Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836; Q.

I. salieifdlia Hurl .; has long and very narrowleaves. There is a fine tree at Sawbridge-worth, from which plants have been pro-pagated in the nursery of Messrs. Rivers.

1 34 Q. I. 7 variegata Hort. has the leaves va-riegated with white. This variety wasbrought into notice in 1836, by Mr Veitchof the Killerton Nursery.

Other Varieties. Q. I. lusitanica Lodd. Cat., ed.

1836, we have not seen, the plant being dead. Q.lusitanica Lam. is thought by Captain S. E. Cookto be identical with the Q. Ballota of the nurseries;and, if so, these two alleged species must be onlyvarieties of Q. /'lex; which, indeed, we believe to be the case.

Willd. is probably also a variety of Q. /'lex; as appear to be Q. castilianaCav., Q. prasina Pers., Q. rotundifolia Lam., and some others ; but, not feel-ing perfectly confident on the subject, we shall treat them as uncertain kindsin our Appendix of European Oaks. Messrs. Lucombe and Pince informus (while this is going through the press), that they have a new variety,which they call Quercus l'/ex iticifolia; but we have not seen a specimen.Description. In favourable situations, in the south of France, Spain, andItaly, and also in the warmest parts of England and Ireland, the Q. /'lexforms a bushy evergreen tree, exceeding the middle size. The trunk isgenerally furnished with branches from the groundupwards; and, being concealed by the dense mass offoliage borne by these branches, the general characterof the species, even when fully grown, is that of animmense bush, rather than that of a timber tree.

When judiciously pruned, or drawn up by othertrees, however, it forms a handsome well-balancedhead on a straight trunk, and with graceful pendentbranches. The roots descend to a very great depth,altogether disproportionate to the height of thetrunk ; for which reason this oak is never found indi-genous to soil with a wet bottom. The bark isblack, thin, hard, and even; sometimes slightly fur-rowed, but never corky. The leaves vary exceedingly in shape and size,from 5 in. in length and nearly 3 in. in breadth (as in Q. I. latifolia and Q././agifolia), to 1 in. in length and a in. in breadth (as in Q. /. crispa) ; or | in. inbreadth and 3 in. in length, as in Q. /. salicifolia. In some plants, the leavesare prickly, like those of the holly; and, when this is the case, the most pricklyare nearest the ground; a circumstance beautifully exemplified in a fine tree atPurser’s Cross. The colour of the leaves is a dark green; and, being convexabove, and quite smooth, they have a fine shining appearance. Their edgesare either revolute and entire, irregularly notched and serrated, furnishedwith mucros, or wavy and spiny-toothed, like the holly. Beneath, they aremore or less hoary or downy ; and in some varieties, such as Q. /. /agifolia,they are on the under side very distinctly feather-nerved. The footstalksare from A in. to § in. in length, and generally downy. The male flowers aredisposed in catkins 1J in. in length, which come out from the axils of the leavesof the preceding year, and towards the extremities of the branches. Thecalyx is campanulate, and the stamens 6, with filaments twice the length ofthe divisions of the calyx. The female flowers are from 4 to 8, sessile, andscattered along a common peduncle, which is from 1 in. to 2 in. in length, andis placed in the axils of the leaves of the current year. They are succeededby acorns, which are oval, smooth, and contained in a cup of from a third toa half of their length, covered with very slender scales, very closely imbricated,