CHAP. CV. CORYLA‘CER. QUE’RCUS. 1919 
wild state, and are often denticulated 
even on old trees. The acorns are of 
an elongated oval form, nearly black, 
and are contained in greyish pedun- 
culated cups. The fruit is sometimes 
very abundant, and it germinates with 
such ease, that, if the weather is rainy 
at the season of its maturity, many 
acorns are found on the trees with 
the radicle unfolded. In British gar- 
dens, this tree is no where found 
higher than a large shrub, it requiring 
rather a warmer climate to attain a 
timber-like size. There is a tree at 
Kew, between 40 ft. and 50 ft. high ; 
and a handsome small tree at the 
Duke of Devonshire’s, and some in 
the Hackney arboretum. In the 
neighbourhood of Paris, the live oak and Q. aquatica, Bose informs us, are 
the only two American species that are found to be tender. 
Geography and History. The live oak is confined to the maritime parts 
of the southern states of North America, where it is known by the name of 
the live oak. Its most northern boundary is Norfolk, in Virginia. “ From 
Norfolk it spreads along the coast for a distance of 1500 or 1800 miles, ex- 
tending beyond the mouth of the Mississippi. The sea air seems essential to 
its existence; for it is rarely found in forests upon the mainland, and never 
more than 15 or 20 miles from the sea.” (Michx.) It is most abundant, and 
of the best quality, on the shores of the bays and creeks of the southern 
states; and on the fertile islands, which lie in great numbers scattered along 
the coasts for several hundreds of miles. “ I frequently saw it,” says Michaux, 
* upon the beach, or half-buried in the movable sands upon the downs, where 
it had preserved its freshness and vigour, though exposed during a long lapse 
of time to the fury of the wintry tempest, and to the ardour of the summer's 
sun.” (N. Amer. Syl., i. p.58.) The live oak was one of those discovered 
by Banister, and it was by him called Q. sempervirens. Catesby, in his 
Natural History of Carolina, p. 17., describes it as a pyramidal tree, 40 ft. high, 
in the salt marshes of Carolina. He adds that the acorns are remarkably 
sweet, and were used by the Indians to thicken their venison soup, and for 
expressing an oil, which was very much like the oil of swect almonds. The 
first record of this tree that we have in England is, that it was in cultivation 
by Miller in 1739; but it does not appear to have been much planted, as we 
have not received an account of any old trees of this species now existing in 
England. In America, there is said to be a very large live oak at Goose 
Creek, near Charleston, which measures 45 ft. in circumference close to the 
ground, and 18 ft. 6in. at its smallest part: its largest limb is 12 ft. 6in. in 
girt. A modern traveller, Mr. Stuart, in his Three Years in North America, 
published in 1833, thus speaks of the live oak, whilst describing his journey 
from Georgetown to Charleston: —“ On this day’s journey, I first saw, and 
in great numbers, the most valuable of the American trees, the Quércus 
virens, the most durable of oaks. It flourishes most on lands adjacent to salt 
water. It is almost as heavy as lignum vite (Guaiacum officinale). Its trunk 
is generally not long; but its crooked branches frequently spread over more 
than a quarter of an acre of ground. The wood of this tree is almost incor- 
ruptible. It was on account of the abundance of this tree in Florida, fit for 
building ships of war, that the Americans showed the great anxiety, which 
was at last gratified in 1819, to add Florida to their extensive territories, and 
which has led the general government, since its acquirement, to lay out very 
large sums in the preservation and establishment of live oak plantations in 
Florida. Indeed, I have heard of the formation of plantations on a large scale 
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