QUERCUS. 



261 



QCISQUALIS. 



removed to the genus Cydonia. 

 There is a variety with pink and 

 white flowers. All the kinds he 

 longing to the genus Pyrus are 

 quite hardy, and will grow freely in 

 any common garden-soil, and they 

 may all be raised from seeds, or 

 grafted on the Wild Crab, or Wild 

 Pear, or on the Hawthorn, which, 

 though belonging to the genus 

 Cratffi'gus, is very nearly allied to 

 Pyrus. 



QUAKING-GRASS.— SeeBRfzA. 

 Quassia. — Simaricbacece. — 

 Stove shrubs, natives of the East 

 Indies, the bark, wood, and root of 

 which are so intensely bitter, that 

 an extract from the bark of some of 

 the species is used as a substitute 

 for hops in making beer, and also 

 as a poison for flies and aphides. 

 Q. amdra is very ornamental from 

 its long upright racemes of bright 

 scarlet flowers, the petals of which 

 are curiously twisted together. The 

 plants flower freely, if allowed 

 plenty of heat. They should be 

 gro-ft-n in loam mixed with peat or 

 sand; and they are propagated by 

 cuttings. 



Queen's Needlework. — Spi- 

 rcia salicifdlia. — See Spir^^a. 



Que'rcus. — Amentacece, or Ctc- 

 puUferce. — The Oak. — The species 

 are chiefly forest trees, but Q. I'lex, 

 the evergreen Oak, and some of its 

 varieties, may be treated as shrubs, 

 and are very ornamental on lawns, 

 and in pleasure-grounds. Some of 

 the kinds of the Turkey Oak, Q. Cer- 

 ris, are also very ornamental, par- 

 ticularly Q. C. Lucombeana, which 

 grows rapidly and forms a very 

 handsome pyramidal tree. It ought, 

 however, to be purchased in pots, 

 as it produces but few lateral roots, 

 and seldom grows well if it is trans- 



planted from the open groimd. The 

 American Oaks are very handsome, 

 particularly for the colours their 

 leaves take in winter. Q. coccinea 

 and Q. rubra have deeply cut leaves, 

 which become of a beautiful red in 

 autumn ; as do the leaves of Q. pa- 

 Imtris, which are more elegantly 

 shaped than those of any of the 

 other kinds. Some of the dwarf 

 American Bear Oaks, such as Q. 

 Banister i and Q. ilici folia, do not 

 grow above two or three feet high ; 

 and they are called Bear Oaks, 

 because in their native countries 

 the bears can eat their acorns, 

 without climbing. 



Quince. — See Ctdo'nia. 



Qdincunx. — A mode of planting 

 trees in rows, by which the plants 

 in one row are opposite the spaces in 

 the next ; so as to form a succession 

 of diamonds. — See fig. 45. 



^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 



FIG. 45. — TKEES IN QUIXCUXX. 



Quisqua'lis. — Combretdcece. • — 

 A stove climber, a native of the East 

 Indies, with singular flowers ; and 

 large and handsome leaves. The 

 flowers are shaped something like 

 those of the Jasmine, but with an 

 excessively long tube, and a very 

 small limb, which, when it first ex- 

 pands, is white, but which after- 

 wards becomes pink, getting darker 

 and darker, till it finally becomes of 

 a blood-red. The plant should be 

 grown in loam and peat, and it is 

 propagated by cuttings struck in 

 sand under a hand-glass. 



