THE SEEDLINGS OF THE LIVE OAK AND 

 WHITE OAK. 



By W. C. Cokee. 



In the Plant World for May, 1911, Mr. Isaac Louis has an 

 interesting article on the germination of the acorn of Quercus 

 virginiana. So far as I know his figures of the live oak seed- 

 ling are the first published, but he overlooks the previous publi- 

 cation of most of the facts by others. 



The appearance of a tuberous swelling on the root of the 

 seedling of this species was first discovered by Mr. William 

 St. J. Mazyck, of Georgeto^vn, South iCarolina, who, by letters 

 and specimens, called the attention of several botanists to the 

 fact. Among those he communicated with were Dr. George 

 Engelmann, of St. Louis, and Mr. Thomas Meehan, of Ger- 

 mantown, Pennsylvania. In the Transactions of the Academy 

 of Science of St. Louis, Vol. IV, 1880, Dr. Engelmann has an 

 article on "The Acorns and their Germination," which opens as 

 follows : 



"The structure of the acorns and the germination of the 

 oaks seem to be so well known, that I did not pay much further 

 attention to it until my interest was excited by the information 

 that the germinating live-oak developed little tubers, well known 

 to the negro children, and greedily eaten by them. The notes 

 and specimens obtained from my South Carolina correspond- 

 ents, Messrs. H. W. Ravenel, W. St. J. Mazyck (who was the 

 first to notice this), and Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, enabled me to 

 examine the germinating live-oak and to compare it with other 

 oaks in this condition." 



After describing the usual process of sprouting in oaks he 

 says: 



"The process in Q. virens^ is essentially the same ; it differs 

 somewhat in that the connate stalk of the cotyledons remains 

 more slender, but elongates more, mostly to the extent of one 

 inch or even more; the cuticle and the upper part of the root 



^Quercus virens Ait is another name for the live oak, Quercus virginiana Mill. 



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