Supposed Hybrid of the Black and Shingle Oaks 317 



Two trees which I have recently discovered in a wood near the north- 

 western (northern) corner of the District of Cokmibia, have proved 

 unusually interesting. That these should be called Quercus Leana and 

 not Q. heterophylla I maintain for the following reasons: Their resem- 

 blance to Q. heterophylla as it exists in the Herbarium of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture is not sufficiently close to warrant this name, the 

 leaves being l^roader and less lobed. They do agree substantially 

 with the specimens of Q. Leana in that herbarium. They do agree 

 remarkably well with the tree which Mr. W. R. Smith, Supt. of the 

 U. S. Botanical Gardens, has raised in his grounds from an acorn of 

 Q. imbricaria. Finally on considering the locality in which these trees 

 were found, it seems impossible to believe that Q. Phellos can have 

 entered into the combination. In the entire wood where they are 

 situated not an individual of that species exists. It is wholly wanting 

 throughout the region of Rock Creek on which the grove is located. 

 On the contrary the prevailing oak there is Q. imbricaria although both 

 varieties of Q. coccinea are also frequent. It cannot therefore be justly 

 claimed that this new discovery constitutes a revival of the famous 

 Bartram oak, since this was decided on the highest authority to be either 

 a form of Q. Phellos or a union of that species with Q. coccinea var. 

 tinctoiia. It is none the less however a botanical curiosity. 



Sargenf^ next takes up the subject and says: 



This tree has generally Ijeen considered a natural hybrid between 

 Q. imbricaria and Q. coccinea ovQ. tinctoiia. It is now known in several 

 widely scattered localities, from the neighborhood of Washington, D. C. 

 to Missouri, and there seems no reason .... why, if Q. hetero- 

 phylla, which many excellent observers have always considered a hybrid, 

 is included as a species in the American Sylva, Q. Leana should not be 

 included also. It should follow immediately after Q. imbricaria with 

 which its relationship is obvious. 



Following this I can find no mention of Q. Leana until 1909 

 when Mr. Saur'' gives a description of the three trees, imbricaria, 

 velutina, and Leana, and notes the following facts pointing toward 

 the conclusion that Leaiia is a hybrid between velutina and 

 imhricaria: 



1. Hundreds of acorns have been planted but there is no record 

 of one having germinated. 



2. The leaves closely resemble those of the shingle oak. 



3. The few specimens discovered are isolated from each other. 



4. The cup and the fruit l)ear marked resemblance to those of the 

 black oak. 



* Garden and Forest, vol. ii, p. 471. 



6 Plant World, vol. 12, No. 9, Sept., 1909. 



