1908

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

In the climate of London, this tree is perfectly hardy; as a proof of which itmay be mentioned that the specimen already referred to, at Purser’s Cross,which is upwards of 40 ft. high, and of which the plate in our last Volumeis a portrait, ripens its fruit every year. From the leaves of this tree, andthose of the specimen of Q. Ballota sent to us from Paris, we are stronglyinclined to think, as we have already stated (p. 1906.), that the latter was avariety of Q. gramuntia, rather than of Q. /'lex; and this is also theopinion of M. Dralet. The rate of growth of Q. gramuntia is much slowerthan that of Q. /'lex. There are plants in the Horticultural Society’sGarden, at Messrs. Loddiges’s, and in the London nurseries. Small plants,in pots, are from Is. 0 d. to 3s. (id. each.

• 32. Q. cocci'feba L. The Kermes, or berry-bearing, Oak.

Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1413.; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 433.; Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 2., 5. p. 283.N. Du Ham., 7. p. ItiO.; Smith in Rees’s Cycl., No. 34 .; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836.

Synonymes. I' lex coccifera Cam. Epit., 774.; I. aculeata cocciglandifera Garid. Aix ., p. 245., Nis-solle in Mttn. Acad. Scien. for 1714, p. 435.; I. coccigera Ger. Emac., p. 1342., Parkinson Thcat.But., p. 1395.; Chene aux Kermes, Fr. ; Kermes Eiche, Ger.

Engravings. Garid. Aix., t. 53.; Mem. Acad. Scien., 1744, t. 17, 18.; N. Du Ham., 7. t. 46.;Wats, llend. Brit.,’ t. 91.; and our fig. 1789. from the N. Du Ham., fig. 1790. from Watson, re-duced to the usual scale, and figs. 1791. and 1792. of the natural size.

Spec. Char., #e. Leaves elliptic-oblong, rigid; smooth on both sides, withspreading, bristly, spinous teeth. Fruit on peduncles; nut ovate. Calyxwith spreading, pointed, somewhat recurved scales. (V. Du Ham.) A lowbushy shrub, a native of the south ofEurope and the Levant; flowering inMay. The whole plant resembles aholly in miniature ; but the leaves, areof a paler green. It varies exceedinglyin the magnitude of the leaves, as maybe seen by comparing/?.». 1791. with Jig.

1792., both of the natural size; theformer from a plant in the GoldworthArboretum, and the latter from one inthe Epsom Nursery. The leaves in theone specimen are nearly four times thelength of those in the other. This oak was cultivated in Britain previouslyto 1683, and is well known as producing the kermes, or scarlet grain, of com-merce. This shrub divides at the ground into a great number of tortuousspreading branches, so as to form a bush of from3 ft. to 5 ft. in height. The leaves are oval, onshort petioles, coriaceous; shining above, glabrouson both sides; sometimes quite entire on theirmargins, but more frequently bordered with scat-tered spiny teeth, like the leaves of the commonholly. The male flowers are on long slenderpeduncles: the female flowers are sessile, from3 to 7 in number, on a rachis from 8 to 15 linesin length: only two or three of these flowers cometo maturity. The fruit is but of a very small sizethe first year, and does not attain maturity till theend of the second. The nuts are oval, and areenveloped for half their length in a cup furnishedwith rough scales terminating in rough points,which are almost woody, spreading, and a little recurved. (Id., vii. p. 160.)Bose, in his Memoire sur les Chenes, says that he has seen this species cover-ing entire hills in Leon and Old Castile, and in other parts of Spain, whereit greatly injures the cattle, and especially the sheep, which can only eatthe very young shoots. The bushes, he says, are only employed as fuel,though they would be useful in the tannery, or for dyeing. There is now,he says, little demand for the kermes, because it cannot be afforded so

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