p 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



X 



Vol. XV.] New York, December 4, 1888. [No. 12. 



A Recent Discovery of Hybrid Oaks on Staten Island. 



> 



By Arthur Holltck. 



Plates LXXXIII-LXXXV. 



One day during the past summer Mr. \Vm. T. Davis, of 

 Tonipkinsville, Staten Island, brought to me some leaves of an 

 oak tree which he had found growing in the neighborhood of 

 Tottenville, Staten Island, N. Y. To my surprise and dehght I 

 recognized them as belonging to Qtierciis hcterophylla, Michx, 

 the celebrated '' Bartram Oak." Ow September 2d we visited 

 the locahty and found not only typical Q, heterophylla, but also 

 a number of other peculiar forms, evidently hybrids, and including 

 & Rtidkmi^ Britton. On September 22d the trees were again 

 visited ; a careful study was made of them and their surroundings 

 ^nd a fine series of leaves and fruit collected. Probably no better 

 opportunities for observation or finer specimens for study and 

 comparison have ever been obtained, and the results have proved 

 to be highly interesting. Two recognized species are added to the 

 local flora of Staten Island and to the flora of New York State, and 

 the northern range of Q. hclerophylla is extended about thirty miles 

 horn its nearest previously-reported station. Considerable new 

 light is also shed upon the question of the proper status of this 

 latter form, in the botanical world, whether as a species, a variety 

 or a hybrid, and, if the latter, what species are the probable parents. 

 The limits of this paper forbid an extensive review oi the lit- 

 erature concerning these two interesting oaks, but for the benefit 

 <^f all who may wish to study the subject I would refer to the ac- 

 count of Q, Riuikini, by Dr. N. L. Britton, in Vol. IX. No. 2, of 

 t'je Bulletin, and for Q. hcterophylla to Mr. L C. Martindale's 

 *' Notes on the Bartram Oak," read before the West New Jersey 

 Surveyors' Association, Jan. 6, 1880, and subsequently pubhshed 

 11^ pamphlet form by the author. As, however, everyone may 



