CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CER.  QUE’RCUS. 188] 
edition of the Hortus Kewensis (iii. p.357.). Wangenheim was the first author 
who distinguished it as a species. It was one of the plants sent to France by 
the elder Michaux in 1786, and formed part of the plantations at Rambouillet ; 
where, we are informed by the younger Michaux, there was a tree of it which, 
about 1819, was 45 ft. high. Gee p- 141.) 
Properties and Uses. The wood of the scarlet oak is of very little value in 
the arts, and it makes very poor fuel. It decays rapidly, and is too porous to 
contain wine or spirits. The principal use made of it in America is for staves to 
make casks for dry goods. The bark is employed in tanning, but is not equal to 
that of the Q. rubra. This tree produces galls, which, in America, are applied 
to the same purposes as the European galls of commerce. In landscape-gar- 
dening, the scarlet oak, like most of the other kinds of this section, is parti- 
cularly adapted for planting in the margins of woods or groves on a flat sur- 
face ; or for scattering in irregular masses throughout a wood on a declivity, 
the surface of which is seen from below. For small groups near the eye it is 
also well adapted; though the beauty of the foliage of young trees must be 
acknowledged to be inferior to that of Q. ribra and Q. falcata. The long 
footstalks of the leaves, and the absence of deep sinuosities in the leaves of 
young trees, give, with reference to picturesque effect, Q. coccinea the same 
relation to Q. ribra that Q. sessiliflora has to Q. pedunculata. 
Statistics. In the environs of London, at Syon, 77 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 9 in., 
and of the head 44ft.; at Kenwood, Hampstead, 38 years planted, it is 50 ft. high, the diameter of 
the trunk 1] ft. 11 in., and of the head 40 ft. In Devonshire, at Bystock Park, 22 years planted, it is 
25 ft. high : in Hampshire, at Strathfieldsaye, it is 90 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 4 in., and 
of the head 54 ft. : in Somersetshire, at Hurton House, 15 years planted, it is 20 ft. high ; at Mam- 
head, 30 ft. high, with a trunk 2ft. 3in. in diameter; some leaves of this tree which were sent to us 
measured 8}in. across, and 14in, in length : in Surrey, at St. Ann’s Hill, 30 years planted, it is 56 ft. 
high, the diameter of the trunk 7 ft., and of the head 48 ft. ; at Oakham, 42 years planted, it is 60 ft. 
high ; and at Deepdene, 10 years planted, it is 18 ft. high: in Sussex, at Kidbrooke, 25 vears planted, it 
is 14ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 6in., and of the head 16 ft.: in Wiltshire, at Wardour 
Castle, 30 years planted, it is 45 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 2ft., and of the head 30 ft.; at Long- 
ford Castle, it is 60 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 3 ft. 6in., and of the head 77 ft. : in Hertfordshire, 
at Oldenham, 34 years planted, it is 50 ft. high, the diameter of the head 20 ft. : in Lancashire, at 
Latham House, 30 years planted, it is 36ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 16in., and of the head 
36 ft. : in Pembrokeshire, at Stackpole Court, 30 years planted, it is 20 ft. high, the diameter of the 
trunk 1 ft. 6in., and of the head 15 ft. : in Warwickshire, at Combe Abbey, 60 years planted, it is 
70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2ft. 9in., and of the head 61 ft. ; at Springfield, 30 years 
planted, it is 29 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 7in.; and at Allesley, 26 years planted, it is 40 ft. 
high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. : in Worcestershire, at Croome, 75 years planted, it is 90 ft. high, 
the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., and of the head 30 ft. : in Yorkshire, at Ripley Castle, 16 years lanted, 
it is 28 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 9in., and of the head 10 ft. ; at Knedlington, near Howden, 
10 years from the acorn, it is from 14 ft. to 16 ft high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 6in., and of the 
head 11 ft. In Scotland, in Ross-shire, at Brahan Castle, it is 55 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 
1 ft. 8in., and of the head 50ft. In Germany, in Cassel, at Wilhelmshoe, 50 years old, it is 6 ft. high. 
In Austria, at Vienna, in Rosenthal’s Nursery, 17 years old, it is 24ft. high; the diameter of the 
trunk 1lin., and of the head 23 ft. In France, at Rambouillet, it is 50 ft. high. In Italy, in Lom- 
bat gd Monza, 16 years planted, it is 16ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 4in., and of the 
head 1 : 
¥ 16. Q. ampr’cua Willd. The ambiguous, or grey, Oak. 
Identification. Michx. Arb., 2. p. 120.; North Amer. Syl. 1. p. 98.; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 2 
p. 630., not Humboldt. 
Q. borealis Michz. N. Amer. Syl., 1. p. 98. 
ngravi zs. Michx. Arb., t. 24., N. Amer. Syl, 1. t. 26.; our fig. 1749.; and the plate of this tree 
in our Jast Volume. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves sinuated, glabrous, acute at the base ; sinuses some- 
what acute. Cup somewhat shield-shaped. Nut roundish-ovate, (Michx.) 
A tree, varying from 40 ft. to 60 ft. high. Introduced in 1800. 
Description, §c. The grey oak, according to the younger Michaux, forms, in 
America, a tree from 40 ft. to 60 ft. high, and with a trunk 1 ft. Gin. in diameter. 
It bears a close analogy to the red oak in its foliage, and to the scarlet oak 
in its fruit; whence Michaux has given it the specific name of ambigua. It 
has also another peculiarity, in blossoming every year, though it takes two, 
three, and, in very cold climates, four years to mature its fruit. The leaves 
are large, smooth, and deeply sinuated ; the indentations being sharper and 
more angular than those of the leaves of Q. coccinea. The acorns are of 
the middle size, rounded at the end, and contained in scaly top-shaped cups. 
The grey oak is found farther north than any other American species. The 
elder Michaux found it on the St. Lawrence, near Quebec, in N. lat. 47° 50’. 
