206 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



for that reafon, got the name of the willow-leafed 

 oak, and which thrives in that country by the wa- 

 ter's-fide *. She has placed it, togedier with fmall 

 and pendent leaves affixed to pliant tails, like thofe 

 of the afpin, on the water-oak, which grows there 

 in the marmes. But when fhe intended to plant 

 them in dry and parched foils, (he united to them 

 leaves of ten inches in breadth, adapted to the re- 

 ception of rain-water, fuch are thofe of the fpecies 

 known by the name of the black oak in that 

 country. 



It may be neceffary farther to obferve, that the 

 place where any fpecies of plant produces the 

 fined fruit, determines it's principal genus. Ac- 

 cordingly, though the oak has it's fpecies fcattered 

 about every where, it muft be confidered as 

 of the genus of mountain-trees ; becaufe that 

 which grows on the mountains of America, and 

 there diftinguifhed by the name of the cheftnut- 

 leafed oak, yields the largeft acorns, and is one of 

 the greateft trees in that part of the world; whereas 

 the water-oak, and the willow-leafed oak, rife to 

 no great height, and produce very fmall acorns. 



The fruit, as we have feen, is the invariable 

 character of the plant. To it, accordingly, Na- 



* See the figures of itfin Father Charlevoix, his Hiftory of 

 New France, vol. iv. 



tu re 



