CHAP. CV. CORYLA CEZ. QUE!RCUS. 1907 
Lamarck; and whether both sorts may not be 
merely varieties of Q. ex. Sir J. E. Smith 
says Linnzus confounded a variety of Q. I‘lex, 
which he had received from Magnol’s herba- 
rium, with Q. gramiintia, which Smith, as quoted 
above, has correctly described, apparently from 
a living plant. From a tree bearing this name at 
Purser’s Cross, which produces fruit annually, 
this oak certainly appears to be closely allied to 
Q. Ilex ; but it is, nevertheless, very distinct, and 
is, doubtless, as well entitled to be considered a 
species as many others recognised as such by 
botanists. Captain 8. E. Cook, who paid great 
attention to this oak when in Spain, has the 
following remarks on it: —“ This species is 
quite distinct from the Q. ‘lex, its nearest con- 
gener. The leaves are thicker, more rounded at 
the point, of a dull glaucous green, and the tree 
altogether is of a more compact and less grace- 
ful form than the Italian ilex. The great and essential difference, however, 
consists in the acorns, which are edible, and, when in perfection, are as good 
as, or superior to, a chestnut. To give this sweetness, they must be kept ; 
as, at first, they have a considerable taste of the tannin, like those of the 
other species, which disappears in a few days, and accounts 
for the scepticism of some writers, who assert that both 
sweet and bitter are the produce of the same tree, and that 
their sweetness is no character. These are the edible acorns 
of the ancients, which they believed fattened the tunny fish 
on their passage from the Ocean to the Mediterranean; a | 
fable only proving that the acorns grew on the delicious | 
shores and rocks of Andalusia, which, unhappily, is no longer 
the case. Remains of them may, however, still be traced in |jj 
the west; and they fattened the swine which produced the | 
celebrated salted meats of Malaga and that vicinity. These 
are the bellotas, which Teresa, the wife of Sancho Panza, 
gathered herself in La Mancha, where they grew in the 
greatest perfection, and sent to the duchess, wishing, instead 
of their being only the best of their kind, they were the rt 
size of ostrich eggs. I have frequently seen them produced 1788 
by individuals, and offered to the company, as bon-bons are in some 
countries, with a sort of apology for their small intrinsic value, from their 
size and flavour. This species is, beyond question, very hardy; I believe 
even more so than the ilex of Italy. It ascends the sides of the sierras 
in the inclement region of the centre of Castile; and, in Arragon, is seen 
within the limits of the Pinus sylvéstris and P. uncinata; as also in the 
cold and wintry valley of Andorre. The widest forests of it are now in 
Estremadura, where the best sausages, and other salted meats, are made 
from the vast herds of swine which are bred in them. This species ought 
to be denominated Q. hispanica, instead of a weak and obscure name from 
a wood (which, I have heard, no longer exists), where the tree may possibly 
not have been a native, although the climate and soil of Lower Languedoc 
very much resemble that of the two regions of Spain to which this tree is 
confined.” (Sketches in Spain, vol. ii. p. 246.) As a proof of the hardiness 
of this tree, Dralet mentions that he found it growing on the crest of the 
mountains of the Andorras, where the snow covers the surface for several 
months during the year ; and this circumstance, he says, explained to him 
the reason why the kings of Spain had succeeded in getting it to grow in 
the park at the Prado, near Madrid, where they had tried in vain to cultivate 
the olive. (See T'raité, &e., p. 176.; see, also, Gard. Mag., vol. iy. p. 69.) 
Gu 3 
