CHAP. CV.
coryla'ceaj. si/e'rcus.
1889
Goldworth 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.
£ 20. Q. Catesb.eV 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. rhbra /3 Abb. and Smith Ins., 1. p. 27.; Q. .E'sculi divisilra, &c., Cat . Car., 1.1. 23.
Engravings Michx. Quer., t. 29, 30.; Cat . Car., 1.1. 23.; and our./igs. 1762, 1763.
Spec. Char., fyc. 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 15 ft. to 30 ft. high. Introducedin 1823.
to the lower part of themeagre to sustain any other
Description, fyc. 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
Carolinas and Georgia. It grows in soils too -- a . - .
vegetation, where the light movable sand is wholly destitute of vegetab emould. 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. 1^63., 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 sportiw j? shapes, more than those of other
oaks. ( Catesb . Carol., i. p. 23.) He adds that the wild pigeons assembleffl 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-that Catesby has confounded this tree with Q. rubra; which,, T ro ™oly the case, as his description accords much better with that species,ith*™ S tr ? e: w °od of Q. Catesbce'i is considered excellent as fuel; and
ears a higher price than that of any other oak in America for that purpose,
6 G 2