CHAP. CV.

coryla'ce/E. quf/rcus.

1921

Spec. Char., $c. Leaves elliptic-oblong, sharply serrated, coriaceous; denselywoolly beneath. Fruit in axillary solitary spikes. Calyx scaly, withoutprickles. (Smith.) “ Native of the mountains of Upper Nepal; floweringin April. (Buchanan.) The Parbutties call it Banza, or Banja; theNawars, Soshi stringali. This is atree of vast dimensions, with ascaly bark, and rigid, brown, wartybranches,clothed, when young, withdense white down. Leaves alter-nate, somewhat 2-ranked, stalked,elliptic-oblong; sometimes ratherobovate, pointed; from 3 in. toS in. in length, and 2 in. or morein breadth; strongly and sharplyserrated, except at the very base,which is more or less rounded, and occasionally unequal; the upper surfacegreen, shining, and naked (except when young),but not quite smooth to thetouch; the under clothed with fine, dense, uniform, brownish, woolly pubes-cence, and marked with prominent, parallel, but not very crowded,obliquely transverse veins. Footstalks stout, downy, scarcely 1 in. long.Stipules ovate, membranous, deciduous. Male flowers in short, dense,hairy spikes, at the base of the young shoots, as they protrude from the bud.Calyx with 5 or 6 teeth. Anthers about 6, sessile. Female flowers, asfar as Dr. Buchanan could observe, on a separate tree, in very short, soli-tary, axillary spikes. Acorns either solitary, or several crowded together ;small, ovate, hairy, half-covered by their scaly unarmed cups.” (Smith inRees's Cycl.) Professor Don, in his Prodromus Floras Nepalensis, had de-scribed Q. lanuginosa and Q. oblongata as two species; but he has sinceinformed us that the specimen which he had of Q. oblongata being veryimperfect, he is now disposed to refer it to Q. lanata. Dr. Royle, in hisIllustrations of the Botany, Sfc., of the Himalayas , observes that the loftysummits of these mountains are covered with snow until May and June.“ The snow not melting until the sun has reached its most northern limit,the increase of temperature is great and sudden, and the vegetation propor-tionably rapid.” (p. 20.) “ In ascending the Choor Mountain, on the 9thof May, at first the ordinary Himalayan trees, such as Rhododendron arbo-reum and Quercus lanata, were met with; the pines then made their appear-ance. Every thing looked like the revival of spring: some of the trees andshrubs were putting forth new leaves, and others were in full flower. Higherup, patches of snow were seen; and beyond this every thing had a wintryaspect: the snow lay in masses, though detached, having melted away fromround the trunks of many trees and the blocks of gneiss rock. At first, theConiferse and other trees were intermixed with oaks ; but, latterly, the oakgrew alone. Q. semicarpifdlia formed the forest. On emerging from this, thereis only a short ascent to the peak.” (p. 21.) Q. lanata was introduced about1818, and was first planted at Kew. There are now (1837) plants of it10 ft. high against the walls in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, and infront of one of the stoves at Kew, which produce acorns. In the arboretumof Messrs. Loddiges, and in that at Flitwick, plants of this species -havestood out, without any protection, in the open garden for several years;but they are annually killed down within a short distance of the ground.There are small plants in pots, at Messrs. Loddiges’s, which bear acorns.

i 39. Q . annula'ta Smith. The ring -cupped Oak .

ftniificatkm. Smith in Rees’s Cycl., No. 22.

sywnmKs. Q. Phullata Ham. MSS., D. Don Prod. FI. Nep, p. 57.; ? a. Kamrohpit D. Don, 1. c.;u. giauca Lodd. Cat. , ed. 1836: ? Q. glauca Thunb .; ? Q. acuminata Hort.

graving. Our Jig. 1805.

Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, pointed; dentately-serrated, excepttowards the base; somewhat glaucous and downy beneath. Fruit spiked.

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