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ARBORETUM [vol. vi 



rated and in some respects quite dissimilar they both lie on the border 

 of the coastal plain, just below the piedmont, and there appear to be 

 many points of similarity both in the topography and in the flora. In 

 his note regarding the Alabama Oak, Harper says: "It grows mostly 

 towards the edges of the Pocosin, but not in the sand-hills vegetation. 

 It is one of the commonest species there." 



It has been stated that Quercus arkansana is intermediate in characters 

 between Q. marilandica and Q. nigra, but although there is a certain super- 

 ficial resemblance in the foliage to some small-leaved forms of the former, 

 it really has much less in common with that species than with the Water 

 Oak. The short depressed acorns with very shallow cup, small buds, 

 slender branchlets and its habit of growth all indicate a nearer relation- 

 ship to the group to which Quercus Phellos, Q. nigra and Q. obtusa be- 

 long, and in the fruit and in texture and pubescence of the leaves there 

 is some resemblance to Q. imbricaria. Harper compares the Alabama 

 trees also to Q. myrtifolia and Q. microcarya; all of which suggests the 

 apparent fact that it has no near counterpart amongst living American 

 Oaks. In the original description Sargent compares it with Q. marilandica, 

 but only to point out that it differs in almost all essential morphological 

 characters from that species. In the Arkansas localities where it is so 

 abundant I have had excellent opportunities for examining and comparing 

 living specimens. There is a certain amount of variability in the habit 

 and appearance of different individuals, in the character of the bark, 

 the size of fruit, size and lobing of the leaves and amount of pubescence. 

 However, these variations are not greater than are found in any other 

 species with which I am acquainted, and not nearly so great as in most 

 other Oaks. This, of course, should be expected, since the area is so limited 

 and the ecological conditions under which the trees are growing are com- 

 paratively uniform. I think it no exaggeration to say that there is no 

 species of American Oak that is more true to type or more easily recogniz- 

 able in the field. Assuming that Quercus arkansana is a valid species, in the 

 generally accepted sense of that term, the possibility must also be con- 

 sidered that it may hybridize with other species of black and red Oaks 

 with which it comes in contact. These, in the order of frequency in which 

 they occur, are Quercus rubra, Q. Shumardii, Q. Phellos and along the 

 margins of its range Q. velutina and Q. marilandica. On a narrow gravelly 

 ridge near Yellow Creek I found one tree which, from the character of the 

 foliage and rough bark, I suspected of being a hybrid between Q. arkansana 

 and Q. marilandica. As there has been no fruit on the trees there for the 

 past two years, owing to late frosts, I have not yet been able to confirm 

 this definitely. 



Since the discovery of Quercus arkansana several attempts have been 

 made at the Arnold Arboretum to propagate it from seeds and to get it 

 into cultivation. At present there is a specimen growing in the Oak group, 

 raised from seed collected by Professor Sargent in 1909. This is now a 



