to tKOCEEDlNGS OF THE 



Yet these toy-like oaks are unqiiestiouably of great age — 

 jjpobably well over 500 years — as has been proved roughly by 

 cuttiug sections in order to count the number of concentric 

 (annual; rings. This has been done on several occasions; but the 

 results iiave not been conclusive, owing chielly to the narrowness 

 and closeness of the rings, due to extreme slowness of growth, 

 from the hard conditions under which the trees exist. 



The trees are remarkable also, apart from their small size, by 

 reason of their fantastically-gnarled and twisted branches, remind- 

 ing one strongly of the tiny Japanese trees grown in ])ots for 

 decorative purposes. A feature still more unusual (at any rate, 

 so far as oaks are concerned) is the extent to which even the 

 topmost branches of the older trees are overgrown by huge masses 

 of moss, long shaggy lichen, and the common Folypodium vuhjare, 

 giving them an enormously bulky appearance. The interior of 

 Wistman's Wood presents, indeed, an altogether strange and 

 weird aspect, as seen from photographs siiouu, believed to be the 

 first of their kind taken. Yet, in spite of many statements to 

 the contrary, the trees appear healthy (there being none either 

 dead or dying). Moreover, they produce acorns, though few in 

 number; there are also young trees. 



The Wood has long been known, and there have been many 

 notices of it in print. The earliest w as, probably, that of Tristram 

 Kisdon, written just three centuries ago, which shows the wood 

 to have been then almost exactly the same, in all respects, as 

 now. The others (which include an '" Ode" to the wood) are, for 

 the most part, too incorrect, or too pervaded by ideas of "Druids" 

 and " Pyxies '' as inhabitants of the wood, or too tinged with 

 poetic fanc}^ legend, and superstition, to present many points of 

 scientific interest. The present is believed to be the first adequate 

 description of the wood. 



Wistman's Wood, though it belongs to the Duchy of Cornwall, 

 ought to be scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Act or 

 placed under the protection of the National Trust. 



A discussion followed : Dr. D. II. Scott referred to the annual 

 rings, enquiring whether the author had observed two rings in a 

 year, when the original show of leaves had been devoured by 

 caterpillars, but renewed from the midsummer shoot. Mr. D. J. 

 Scourlield (visitor) remarked that the Japanese trees were dwarfed 

 in some measure by special pruning, and that the oaks in Wist- 

 man's Wood were self-pruned. Mr. H. N. Dixon hoped that 

 some local society would study the flora of this W^ood from an 

 ecological point of view ; he compared the growth in this case to 

 rain-forest in the temperate zone. Dr. E. J. Salisbury pointed 

 out that the native oak-woods are composed of Quercus sessilijlora. 

 Mr. C. C. Lacaita enquired if the acorns were plentiful ; in the 

 Western Highlands the oaks produced but few acorns. Mr. Miller 

 Christy replied briefly. 



Mrs. AoNES Arber, D.Sc, F.L.S., gave an account of her 

 paper " On the Leaf-tips of certain Monocotyledons." 



