NOTICES OF NEW OR RAKE GAEDEN PLANTS. 185 



which was afterwards identified with Q. Brantii, when the young 

 Oaks were old enough to be determined. The strong coarse erect 

 woody scales of the cup, bordered by a row of recurved hooks, 

 and more than half as long as the blunt-ended acorn, offer a ready 

 means of recognition. After growing the plant for two years it 

 has been ascertained that the species is deciduous, not evergreen 

 as had been supposed ; and this renders it almost certain that 

 another name of it is Quercus persica, of Jaubert and Spach, as 

 appears from specimens (No. 1 15) collected by Kotschy in March, 

 1842, between Abuschir and Schiras, where it is represented to 

 be a common tree. All the plants that were raised from 

 Mr. Layard's acorns have been distributed among Fellows of the 

 Society fond of arboriculture. 



At the same time another Oak was raised very like Q. Brantii, 

 and supposed to be a variety of it, of which there is reason to 

 believe that the annexed cut represents the acorn. 



Acorn of Quercus Brantii var. ! 



The size and form of the acorns of Q. Brantii are so remarkable 

 as to justify a conjecture that it was this very species which was 

 occasionally employed by the Assyrians to decorate their sacred 

 tree, before which King Sennacherib is represented standing, on 

 a Royal cylinder figured by Mr. Layard. (Discoveries in the 

 ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, p. 160.) 



The hai'diness of the species is not yet absolutely proved, but 

 there is also no reason to doubt it. 



Two other acorns, with erect scales on the cups and want- 

 ing the inner row of recurved hooks, were also received from 



