AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



361 



Q. 



QUA 



Quadri. A term of Latin origin, signifying 

 four times, as Quadrangular, four-angled ; 

 Quadrifoliate, four-leaved; Quadrifid, four- 

 cleft. 



Quakers and Shakers. A common name for 

 Briza media. 



Quaking Grass. The common name of Briza 

 maxima, etc, which see. 



Quamash. See Camassia esculenta. 



Qua'moclit. Cypress Yine. From kyamos, a 

 Kidney Bean, and klitos, dwarf ; the species of 

 this genus resembles the Kidnej' Bean in 

 their climbing stems, but are less tall. Nat. 

 Ord. ConvolvulacecB. 



A somewhat extensive genus of half-hardy 

 climbing annuals and green-house perennials. 

 Q. vulgaris, perhaps better known as Ipomcea 

 Qxmmoclit, is the beautiful Cypress Vine of 

 our gardens. Of this species there are three 

 varieties, with scarlet, white, and rose-colored 

 flowers, all natives of the East Indies. The spe- 

 cies are quite common in the Southern States, 

 having escaped from the gardens into the 

 fields and hedgerows. These beautiful annu- 

 als are not as much grown north of New York 

 as they should be, the difficulty having been 

 to get them started sufficiently early for a sat- 

 isfactory season of flowering. By sowing the 

 seeds in pots, in the house or in a hot-bed, 

 early in April, they will come forward earh', 

 and may be turned out into the open border, 

 when all danger from frost is past. The 

 plants thus started will grow twenty feet 

 high in a season, and be completely covered 

 with flowers for at least three months. The 

 seed may be sown where wanted to grow. If 

 the ground is made flne and rich, and the 

 seeds soaked in hot water before being sown, 

 there will be no difficulty in getting a very 

 fine display, though not of as long duration as 

 if started in pots. Q. coccinea, is the small- 

 flowered, heart-shaped-leaved Ipomcea, or 

 Star Ipomcea (see Ipomce,a), a very free-flower- 

 ing species from the East Indies. It is per- 

 fectly hardy, and difficult to exterminate 

 when once planted. This genus is included 

 under Ipomcea, by some botanists. 



Qua'ssia. Linnaeus applied this name to a tree 

 of Surinam in honor of a negro slave Quassi, 

 who used its bark as a remedy for fever, and 

 enjoyed such a reputation among the natives 

 as to be almost worshiped by some, and sus- 

 pected of magic by others. Nat. Ord. Sima- 

 rubacece. 



Q. amara, the only known species, is a veiy 

 ornamental, low-growing tree, native of Gui- 

 ana. It produces long, upright racemes of 

 bright scarlet flowers, the petals of which are 

 curiously twisted together. They flower 

 freely if in a green-house vrith plentj- of heat ; 

 their size, however, will not warrant their 

 general introduction. The wood is intensely 

 bitter, and the extract is used as a substitute 

 for hops in making beer. Drinking cups are 

 made from the woou, for the ionic quality 

 it is supposed to impart to the water if 

 allowed to stand in them a short time before 



QUE 



drinking. The wood of this tree is the Quas- 

 sia of commerce. 



Quebec Oak. Quercus alba. 



Queen Lily. See PhcEclranassa. 



Queen of the Meado-vy. See Spircea Ulmaria, 

 and S. Salicifolia. 



Queen of the Prairies. Spirma lobata. 



Queensland Plum. See Davidsonia. 



Que'rcitron. See Quercus tinctoria. 



Que'rcus. The Oak. From the Celtic qtier, 

 fine, and cuez, a tree ; others derive it from 

 the Greek word choiros, a pig ; because those 

 animals feed on the acorns. Nat. Ord. Cupu- 

 lifera. 



An extensive genus of well-known trees, 

 comprising about one hundred and fifty spe- 

 cies, chiefly confined to the northern regions 

 of the globe, being rarely met in the southern 

 hemisphere. They are mostly trees of large 

 size ; a few only may be considered shrubs. 

 A number of the species are evergreen, one of 

 the most valuable of the class being Q. virens, 

 or Live Oak, which grows from Virginia 

 southward, and the value of the timber 

 increases, because of its quality, the further 

 south it is found. Q. alba. White Oak; Q. 

 tinctoria, the Quercitron, Black, Dyer's, or yel- 

 low-barked Oak, and Q. Frinus, the Chestnut 

 Oak, furnish the most valuable timber for the 

 mechanic arts. The "Washington Oak, at 

 Fishkill-on-Hudson, is of the latter species, 

 and is one of the historical old trees of this 

 country, of which the "Garden and Forest," 

 December, 1888, says : 



"Washington's headquarters remained on 

 the west bank of the Hudson, between New- 

 burgh and New Windsor, from the spring of 

 1782 to August 18th, 1783 ; and during this 

 time he crossed the river frequently for the 

 purpose of visiting the troops in camp upon 

 Fishkill Plain, near the village of that name. 

 The most convenient landing-place on the 

 east bank was upon a long, low point of land 

 formed to the north of the mouth of Fishkill 

 Creek, known as ' Presqu'ile,' and here, 

 according to the tradition of the locality, 

 under two large Oak trees, Washington 

 always mounted and dismounted from his 

 horse as he started and returned from the 

 camp. 



"One of these trees alone remains; its 

 companion was blown to the ground on the 

 10th of August, 1881. The stoiy of Washing- 

 ton's connection with these two Oaks seems 

 to be abundantly substantiated. The Com- 

 mander-in-Chief was often accompanied on 

 these excursions from his headquarters to 

 the camp at Fishkill by his Adjutant-General, 

 William Denning, whose son, also William 

 Denning, at that time fourteen years of age, 

 was sometimes allowed to join the party. 

 The impressions made upon the boy by the 

 incidents of this period were not effaced ; and 

 many years later, in 1822, after a life of travel 

 and adventure, he returned to the Hudson 

 and purchased from a member of the Ver- 

 plank family the point of land, and the old 



