1918

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

to be closely allied to Q. Turneri: but, the leaves of the former will alwaysbe found to be somewhat downy beneath; while those of Q. Turneri areperfectly smooth, and of the same colour on both sides. Neither sortappears to show the least indication, at present, of corkiness in the bark;though trees of Q. Siiber in both places, standing near them, have thebark decidedly corky. Unless, therefore, we could see the tree at Versailles,we cannot decide whether the plant in British gardens is that discoveredby Desfontaines, or not. If it is, it certainly appears much more nearlyallied to the group Cerris than to that of I' lex. The tree in Loddiges’sarboretum is 7 ft. high, and, in February, 1837, had lost every leaf; as had,with the exception of a very few, that in the Horticultural Society’s Garden,in 1835, when it was of about the same age and size. After all, wethink it extremely probable, that the tree at Muswell Hill is the Q. Pseudo-Aiiber of Desfontaines; but as we have not seen the acorns, either of thattree, or of the Q. I’seudo-.Siiber in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, orat Messrs. Loddiges’s, we should not consider ourselves justified in decidingon the point. We may possibly be able to do so in our Supplement.

b. Natives of North America.

§ ix. VirSntes. Live Oaks.

Sect. Char. Leaves oblong-lanceolate; dentate, and variously cut whenyoung; but, on full-grown trees, quite entire. Bark smooth, black. Fruc-tification biennial. Cup imbricate. Nut long. Low trees, or shrubs; rathertender in Britain, and not attaining a timber-like size north of London.

1 36. Q. vi'rens Ait. The green, or Live, Oak.

Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., 3. p. 356., ed. 2., 5. p. 287.; N. Du Bam. 7. p. 151.; Willd.Sp. Pi., 4. p. 425.; Pursh Ft. Amer. Sept., p. 626.; Michx. Quer., No. 6.; Smith in Rees’s Cycl.,No. 5.

Synonymes. Q. Phyllos /3 Lin . Sp. PI., 1412. j Q. sempervlrens Banister and Walt. Car., 234.Engravings. Michx. Quer., 1. 10, 11.; N. Amer. Syl., 1. t. 12 ; our Jigs. 1802. and 1803 ; and the platej, of this tree in our last Volume.

Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves coriaceous, elliptic-oblong, revolute, entire, point-less; obtuse at the base; clothed with starry down beneath. Fruit stalked.Nut oblong. ( Willd. and Smith.')

Description. The live oak is commonly 40 ft. or 45 ft. high, with a trunkfrom I ft. to 2 ft. in diameter; but it is sometimes much larger; and a hollowtree of it was felled at Charleston, which had a trunk 24 ft. in circumference.“ Like most other trees,” says Michaux, “ it has, when insulated, a wide andtufted summit. Its trunk is sometimes undivided for 18 ft. or 20 ft.; but itoften ramifies at half this height, and, at adistance, has the appearance of an old appleor pear tree.” ( N.. Amer. Syl., i. p. 58.) Thebark is blackish and hard. The wood isheavy, compact, fine-grained, and of a yellow-ish colour, which deepens as the tree advancesin age. The number and closeness of theconeentric circles evince the slowness of itsgrowth, and the probability of its great dura-tion, from the much larger proportion offibrous than of cellular tissue in its compo-sition. The leaves are oval, coriaceous, ofa dark green above, and whitish beneath;they persist during several years, but are par-tially renewed every spring. On old trees,growing wild in the forests, they are alwaysentire, as shown in fig. 1802.; but, on seed-lings of 2 or 3 years old, they are very dis-tinctly toothed, as in fig, 1803. On trees growing in cool soils, or reared inplantations, they are one half larger than those on the trees usually found in a