* 
+ 
uin, to Sin. long, slender, three to eight-flowered. 
A, Soft. to 50ft. 
m 
* 
AN ENCYCLOPÆDIA 
‘OF HORTICULTURE. 
461 
Nymphæaceæ—continued. 
The _order comprises eight genera and about thirty-five 
species. Examples: Cabomba, Nelumbium, Nymphea, 
Victoria. i i 
NYSSA (from Nyssa, a water-nymph; in allusion to 
the habitat of some of the species). Tupelo-tree. ORD. 
Cornacee. A small genus (five or six species) of mostly 
hardy trees or shrubs, inhabiting the North-eastern, 
temperate, and warmer parts of America, also the 
Eastern Himalayas, the Khasia Mountains, and the 
` Malayan Islands. Flowers small, at the apices of the 
illary peduncles, in crowded heads or shortly racemose. 
Drupe oblong. Leaves alternate, petiolate, entire, or the 
younger ones dentate-lobed. The species are not much 
grown in this country; their chief attraction is the in- 
tense deep scarlet colour which the leaves assume in 
the autumn. Nyssas thrive best in low, damp, moist 
situations, such as peat swamps. Propagated by im- 
ported seeds, and by layers. : 
N. capitata (capitate). Ogechee Lime. fl., sterile ones capitate ; 
` fertile ones solitary, on very short peduncles. fr. an oblong drupe 
ps l. large, shortly-stalked, oblong, oval, or obovate, mucro- 
ate 
or acute, tomentose beneath. Swamps of South United 
States. Small tree. ; 
N. multiflora (many-flowered). fl. ‘greenish ; fertile peduncle 
ay. 
mg. l. rather thick, dark green, oval or o 
, tomentose when young, at * shining 
in. to Sin. long, crimson autumn. 
turning bright 
North ica, 1824. orn. N. villosa, 
N. villosa (villous). A synonym of N. multiflora. 
Jr. dark blue, zin. 
. ovate, 
ve, 
= NYSSACEÆ. Syncnymous with Cornacee. 
OAK. Oak is the name indiscriminately given to any 
member of the large genus Quercus, which contains about 
300 species, principally distributed over the temperate 
regions of the Northern hemisphere. Within the tropics, 
in America, Oaks occur on the mountains as far South as 
Columbia, and, in Asia, to the Malayan Archipelago. The 
genus is entirely absent from Africa (except the Mediter- 
ranean region), Madagascar, Australia, the South Sea 
Islands, &.; and, so far, no Oaks have been found in New 
Guinea. Whether looked at from the standpoint of number 
of species, or from the value of a large number of them 
from a purely commercial point of view, the genus Quercus 
ge by far the most important one in the family Cupulifere. 
As a forest-tree—at any rate, in the British Isles—the 
common Oak is that which undoubtedly occupies the first 
place. 
massive, rugged stems and twisted branches furnish an 
element of picturesqueness which is unique in character. 
Several of the exotic species, however, far surpass our 
native one in the brilliancy of the colours assumed by the 
decaying leaves in autumn, as well as in the rate of 
growth; many of the evergreen and sub-evergreen ones, 
too, are amongst the most beautiful of hardy trees. The 
British Oak (Quercus Robur) is found both in Europe and 
Asia, almost up to the Arctic circle. As might naturally 
be expected with such an extended geographical distribu- 
2 
markedly from any found in this country. 
tion, there are very many forms, some of which differ 
Of these 
latter, the two principal are pedunculata, with sessile 
leaves and long peduncles, and sessiliflora, with stalked 
leaves and very short peduncles. For convenience of 
reference, these forms are accorded specific rank under 
Quercus, and the principal garden forms are de- 
scribed under each. 
* The great age attained by the Oak is proverbial; the 
age of some of the famous old trees —the Cowthorpe Oak, 
for example—has been estimated at 1800 years. That just 
mentioned is, or was, the largest Oak in England. In 
the “Gardeners Chronicle,” n. s., vol. xvi., p. 134, the 
following particulars are given respecting this tree. It 
may, however, be better to state that the Oak in question 
is growing near Wetherby, in Yorkshire, but. that its ruins 
For landscape effects, too, on a large scale, the 
Oak—continued. ia 
only now remain. The circumference: at 3ft. from the 
ground, in 1776, was 48ft. The height of the tree as a 
ruin was 85ft.; in 1880; the writer of the article on 
| “Tree Lore,” from which the above data are gleaned, 
noticed that the old tree still had a few green leaves., 
The following quotation was given in a Nottingham 
paper, two years ago, in reply to inquiries respecting 
“the present condition of the trees of Sherwood Forest.” 
The information is contained in an article by Mr. W. 
Senior, in Cassell’s ‘“ Picturesque Europe, on The 
Forest Scenery of Great Britain,“ in which that writer 
states, that at Welbeck there is the Greendale Oak, 
which is estimated by one authority to be 700, and 
by another 1500, years old. This Oak is probably 
the Methusaleh of his race, although it may be noted 
_ that there are few forests which do not, through 
| their local historians, advance plausible claims for a 
like distinction. 
| ago, was deprived of its heart by the eccentric desire, 
of a former owner to make a tunnel through the 
The Greendale Oak, nearly 150 years 
trunk. This novel piece of engineering was effected 
without any apparent injury to the tree; an opening 
was made, through which a Duke of Portland drove 
a carriage. and six horses, and three horsemen could 
ride abreast.. This arch is 10ft. 3in. high, and 6ft. 3in. 
wide. A cabinet, made from the excavated Oak wood, 
| for the Countess of Oxford, is one of the curiosities 
of Welbeck Abbey (the seat of the Duke of Port- 
land). It is ornamented with a representation of this 
grand old tree, which is now shored. and supported 
against the elements, before which it must, ere long, 
succumb. . The Spread Oak of Thoresby extends its arms 
over 180ft. of ground, and can give shelter to 1000 horse- 
men. In the hollow of Major Oak, seven persons have 
| dined with comfort; and that, of course, is impossible 
| without unrestricted elbow-room. 
This tree is remark- 
ably perfect in form, the true type of a sturdy Oak that 
is still prepared to brave the battle and the breeze.“ 
It would be out of place here to dilate upon the value 
of English Oak; but the following data respecting its 
durability may be of interest. In the Museum No. 1 
at Kew is a block of Bog Oak, a portion of a tree 
found below the Roman (Hadrian’s) Wall, in cutting 
the canal from Carlisle to the Solway. Firth, in 1823. 
According to Bruce’s Roman Wall,” a quantity of 
posts and rails were made of the trunks, and used for 7 
fences. There is also a portion of a pile of old London 
Bridge—apparently as sound as it was the day it was 
first worked—taken up in 1827, after having been in 
use about 650 years. Amongst other interesting speti- . 
mens is a part of an Oak beam from the Council C Ber 
in the White Tower, Tower of London; this- is supposed* 
to be coeval with the building of the Tower of London 
by William Rufus, and the adze-marks of the woodmen 
or builders of that period are distinctly visible. 
Cork is obtained from the thick bark of Quercus Suber, 
a common South European Oak. Kermes is the insect 
which yields a scarlet dye nearly equal to cochineal, and 
is the carlet mentioned in Scripture; it feeds on 
Q. coccifera, an Oak from Asia Minor, &. The acorn 
cups of Q. Agilops are largely imported from the Levant 
for the purposes of tanning, dyeing, and making ink. The 
Oak Galls of commerce are yielded by Quercus infectoria, 
also a native of the Levant; these are much more rich in 
tannin than those produced in this country. See also 
Quercus. > 
Insect Pests. The number of these is legion. In 
Kaltenbach's Pflanzenfeinde,“ there are 537 species of 
German insects recorded as living, more or less, on 
Oaks, and the number might be largely increased were 
the compilation continued up to the present date. Many 
of them, it is true, live habitually upon other trees, 
and on shrubs, only occasionally attacking Oaks, and 
. 
